I reckon Plaxico Burress has been punished enough for stuffing a handgun into the waistband of his sweatpants. He has a hole in his leg, and he can't play football. Also, he is now a known dumbass who will never live the moment down. Any other punishment is just piling on at this point.
My liver appears to have started functioning properly again, so I am going to celebrate by drinking more than I should.
Mrs Vache Folle agreed not to get each other any Christmas gifts this year. I hope she holds up her end, because I really didn't get her anything. She has a birthday on the 27th, so I have to get something for that. Our 25th anniversary is three days after that, but we never get anniversary presents. I reckon we'd as soon forget that day.
I rooted for Obama in the election because I didn't want the GOP to win. Somewhere along the way I developed unrealistic expectations about the Obama regime and actually began to care about the administration. I've done this before with sports teams, so should know I have this tendency. Well, looking at Team Obama and the Warren thing has helped me to set those irrational feelings aside. Team Obama looks way more competent than anything the GOP could have cobbled together and way less corrupt, but there's nothing visionary or special about it. I reckon they are marginally less likely to get me killed over the next four years than a McCain regime.
I read somewhere that Obama is a "libertarian paternalist" as described by Sunstein and Thaler in Nudge. I'm about a third of the way through the book and like what I read about "choice architecture" and policymaking that depends not on coercion but on facilitating good choices. I hope Obama really subscribes to something like this.
Do SUV drivers believe that the laws of physics are suspended in their case? I'm trying not to get killed on the icy roads, and SUVs are passing me at speeds that would be excessive under the best of conditions. As far as I know gravity still applies to SUVs as do Newton's laws.
Speaking of gravity and what have you, I caught a show on one of the educational channels about a Portuguese physicist who theorizes that the speed of light used to be faster and that there is no need to posit dark energy to explain accelerated expansion of the universe. HIs theory is known as VSL (variable speed of light) and it pisses other physicists off. I don't know why a physicist would take a cosmological theory personally, but evidently they do.
Is it just me, or did Luke seem really go to great lengths to arrange for Jesus to be born in Bethlehem? Apparently, the census he cites didn't happen or didn't require anyone to travel. It would be more plausible to have Joseph and Mary get out of town because of the questionabe circumstances surrounding Mary's pregnancy.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Monday, December 22, 2008
Movies that Want Making
Some movies are so great that it makes no damned sense to remake them. Take The Day the Earth Stood Still or The In Laws or The Out of Towners. Pointless remakes all. Old TV shows are not an adequate basis for a movie. Sequels usually suck. What I'm getting at is that there are lots of opportunities for filmmakers to do original work, and there are some works of literature that are overdue for theatrical movie versions.
I enjoyed the Sharpe's Rifles miniseries based on the Cornwell novels with Sean Bean as a credible Richard Sharpe, but the production values were not so great and the show reached a limited audience. Richard Sharpe is an extraordinary action hero whose exploits could be a franchise. A hard core sergeant in His Majesty's Army in the Napoleonic era finds himself commissioned an officer. He faces incompetent fellow officers from the privileged classes who bought their rank as well as the unstoppable French military machine. You have espionage, sex, violence, intrigue and everything you need for a series of action adventures. I see Christian Bale as Richard Sharpe.
It's a damned pity that only one of the Patrick O'Brian novels about Captain Aubry and Doctor Maturin has been made into a movie. There were about twenty novels in the series, and each one would make a damned fine film. This is also a ready made franchise with an enormous fan base. Get to it, Hollywood! I liked Heath Ledger for Captain Aubry, but his death makes that hard to pull off.
I enjoyed the Sharpe's Rifles miniseries based on the Cornwell novels with Sean Bean as a credible Richard Sharpe, but the production values were not so great and the show reached a limited audience. Richard Sharpe is an extraordinary action hero whose exploits could be a franchise. A hard core sergeant in His Majesty's Army in the Napoleonic era finds himself commissioned an officer. He faces incompetent fellow officers from the privileged classes who bought their rank as well as the unstoppable French military machine. You have espionage, sex, violence, intrigue and everything you need for a series of action adventures. I see Christian Bale as Richard Sharpe.
It's a damned pity that only one of the Patrick O'Brian novels about Captain Aubry and Doctor Maturin has been made into a movie. There were about twenty novels in the series, and each one would make a damned fine film. This is also a ready made franchise with an enormous fan base. Get to it, Hollywood! I liked Heath Ledger for Captain Aubry, but his death makes that hard to pull off.
Earth Stood Hard as Iron, Water Like a Stone
It snowed more than a foot on Friday and then another half a foot on Sunday. This morning, it was zero outside, and even the dogs were anxious to get back inside what with the wind chill. Everything is beautiful, but it sure is a pain in the ass getting around. I reckon it could be worse.
Some have said that the almanac calls for a brutal winter. I do not accept this. I would like a relatively mild winter.
Some have said that the almanac calls for a brutal winter. I do not accept this. I would like a relatively mild winter.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
The Roster of the Hellbound and Other Observations
Although I have on occasion speculated about who might be headed for the flames of hell, I really don't know who, if anyone, is going to hell. Rick Warren doesn't know either, but he seems to think that he does. If I were even a little less loving, I'd deem it a delicious irony if Rick Warren found himself in hell for inciting hatred against gays and Jews and Muslims and who knows who else.
The truth is that I just don't believe in hell any longer, and I don't really want anybody to go there. I will be very surprised if it turns out that there really is a hell that involves anything more painful than having to live with what a douche you were in life forever.
I don't know why I'm so disappointed by Obama's selection of Warren as invocation giver. I wanted to think Obama was different, that he was smart. Now here he is reaching across the aisle to folks who would never do the same if they were in power. During the election, I heard some folks proclaim that Democrats and Republicans want the same things but have different ideas about how to achieve them. That's just not true. The GOP doesn't want what Democrats want or what most humans want. They're evil, I tell you, so no good can come of reaching out to them. If you have them down, finish them off!
For most of human history, it was pretty much impossible to be rich without being evil. You had to have slaves or serfs or the like and a system in place to keep other rich bastards and the masses from killing you. Now you can inherit the products of evil without ever having been especially evil yourself. It may even be possible to get rich without screwing people over, but I reckon it's still a whole lot easier to go the evil route.
The truth is that I just don't believe in hell any longer, and I don't really want anybody to go there. I will be very surprised if it turns out that there really is a hell that involves anything more painful than having to live with what a douche you were in life forever.
I don't know why I'm so disappointed by Obama's selection of Warren as invocation giver. I wanted to think Obama was different, that he was smart. Now here he is reaching across the aisle to folks who would never do the same if they were in power. During the election, I heard some folks proclaim that Democrats and Republicans want the same things but have different ideas about how to achieve them. That's just not true. The GOP doesn't want what Democrats want or what most humans want. They're evil, I tell you, so no good can come of reaching out to them. If you have them down, finish them off!
For most of human history, it was pretty much impossible to be rich without being evil. You had to have slaves or serfs or the like and a system in place to keep other rich bastards and the masses from killing you. Now you can inherit the products of evil without ever having been especially evil yourself. It may even be possible to get rich without screwing people over, but I reckon it's still a whole lot easier to go the evil route.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Snow on Snow
Snow is falling hard right now and has been for a couple of hours. It's three inches deep on the deck, and 12 inches are expected by nightfall. I stayed home so as to avoid having to drive in the mess, so I'm enjoying the beauty of it. Mrs Vache Folle is at work in Manhattan and is supposed to go to the Knicks game tonight. By the time she gets to the train station in Southeast, everything should have been plowed pretty well. She has the CRV with 4 wheel drive and shouldn't have any problems once she digs out from the plows' having covered the parked cars with snow.
I just realized I don't have any alcohol!
I just realized I don't have any alcohol!
A Random Thought about God
To anyone who follows science, even superficially, the concept of God is so much greater and more transcendent than it could possibly have been for the ancients. Their world was so much smaller, and their God had a much smaller portfolio.
Of course, my own personal world, if I did not inform myself about the cosmos or events on the planet, would be small indeed. It would consist of my work, my home, my church, my small circle of acquaintances and kinfolk. A God in charge of my small sphere would have a lot less to do than the God who informs the Universe and its billions of light years in scope.
Because my God also takes in the Universe, it that much more wonderful that He takes any notice of me at all. To know the love of such a God is beyond describing. The best I can do is patch together some inadequate metaphors.
Of course, my own personal world, if I did not inform myself about the cosmos or events on the planet, would be small indeed. It would consist of my work, my home, my church, my small circle of acquaintances and kinfolk. A God in charge of my small sphere would have a lot less to do than the God who informs the Universe and its billions of light years in scope.
Because my God also takes in the Universe, it that much more wonderful that He takes any notice of me at all. To know the love of such a God is beyond describing. The best I can do is patch together some inadequate metaphors.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
More on Booze
I've never been a big fan of girly drinks. If I'm in the islands, I might have a pina colada or a cuba libre or six, but otherwise I like my whiskey straight or with water or seltzer. I take gin with tonic unless I'm having a martini.
Vodka's a different story. Unlike Mrs Vache Folle, the Slavic Pricess, I have never acquired a taste for straight vodka, although I drank a lot of it in Poland to be polite and to avoid appearing to be a pussy in fron of Mrs VF's kinsmen. I like raspberry juice in vodka, something the Carpathian cousins turned us on to.
The other day Mrs VF came home with Absolut pear vodka and cranberry juice cocktail. There had been a tasting at the liquor store. This is a fantastic combination. The carnberry juice realy brings out the pear flavor.
Vodka tonic is my usual vodka delivery system. Sometimes I'll have a vodka martini, although I won't go out of my to get a martini.
Perhaps starter drinks were less available when I was a youngster (the drinking age was 18 in Georgia in those days), but I managed to skip the stage where you drink grain alcohol punch, schnapps of any kind, or wine coolers. I'll enjoy a Mike's Hard Lemonade now and then, but I don't really consider it an alcoholic beverage. My carpool companion, who is fifteen years my junior, is still hooked on starter drinks. I bought him some root beer schnapps because he had raved about it, and he was thrilled to get it. He still goes for Jaegermeister and Goldschlager, and his wife favors the Bartles & Jaymes. He has actually tried Zima. In his defense, he loves Johnnie Walker Blue and orders shots of it at corporate outings as long as the bill can't be traced to him.
The Kids in the Hall once did a skit about a man who became an alcoholic on girly drinks. It was hilarious. I think he had a blender on skid row so he could make daquiris.
Girly drinks will frak you up. The sugar and other fillers make for a huge hangover and potential projectile vomiting. Mrs VF learned in Bermuda many years ago to avoid drinks that are blue or green. Keep it claen if you don't want to suffer on the morrow.
Vodka's a different story. Unlike Mrs Vache Folle, the Slavic Pricess, I have never acquired a taste for straight vodka, although I drank a lot of it in Poland to be polite and to avoid appearing to be a pussy in fron of Mrs VF's kinsmen. I like raspberry juice in vodka, something the Carpathian cousins turned us on to.
The other day Mrs VF came home with Absolut pear vodka and cranberry juice cocktail. There had been a tasting at the liquor store. This is a fantastic combination. The carnberry juice realy brings out the pear flavor.
Vodka tonic is my usual vodka delivery system. Sometimes I'll have a vodka martini, although I won't go out of my to get a martini.
Perhaps starter drinks were less available when I was a youngster (the drinking age was 18 in Georgia in those days), but I managed to skip the stage where you drink grain alcohol punch, schnapps of any kind, or wine coolers. I'll enjoy a Mike's Hard Lemonade now and then, but I don't really consider it an alcoholic beverage. My carpool companion, who is fifteen years my junior, is still hooked on starter drinks. I bought him some root beer schnapps because he had raved about it, and he was thrilled to get it. He still goes for Jaegermeister and Goldschlager, and his wife favors the Bartles & Jaymes. He has actually tried Zima. In his defense, he loves Johnnie Walker Blue and orders shots of it at corporate outings as long as the bill can't be traced to him.
The Kids in the Hall once did a skit about a man who became an alcoholic on girly drinks. It was hilarious. I think he had a blender on skid row so he could make daquiris.
Girly drinks will frak you up. The sugar and other fillers make for a huge hangover and potential projectile vomiting. Mrs VF learned in Bermuda many years ago to avoid drinks that are blue or green. Keep it claen if you don't want to suffer on the morrow.
Beer is God's Gift
When we lived in the Pacific Northwest, we became huge beer snobs. We went to tastings and festivals and befriended home brewers who made quality product. I knew some nanobrewers who sold to a handful of taverns in the local area, and I favored brew pubs. I never missed a chance to tour a brewery.
To be honest, I started on the raod to beer snobbery in Washington DC. First, visits to the Rathskellar down by Dupont Circle, where they served every beer in the world it seemed, exposed me to the rich variety of beers, ales and stouts. For a time, I was an aficianado of bad beer and tried to make my way through every variety of "Pennsylvania piss" that I could get my hands on. The final verdict on best bad beer: Lion's Head Lager.
I favored John Courage and Bass Ale (on tap). I loved Guinness and Harp in a black and tan. Mrs Vache Folle had a soft spot for Elephant Malt Liquor. She still does when I can find it.
I haven't had a beer in months. I don't know why. I still love it. It's just not so easy to lay hands on the good stuff. I don't know how to choose from the proliferation of craft style beers that the macrobreweries are putting out. Maybe I'm afraid that I'll like something that isn't cool because I'm no longer surrounded with beer snob peers to keep me in line with what's good and what's not. Also, beer gives me gas like nobody's business nowadays. It had better be worth it what with the suffering it causes.
To be honest, I started on the raod to beer snobbery in Washington DC. First, visits to the Rathskellar down by Dupont Circle, where they served every beer in the world it seemed, exposed me to the rich variety of beers, ales and stouts. For a time, I was an aficianado of bad beer and tried to make my way through every variety of "Pennsylvania piss" that I could get my hands on. The final verdict on best bad beer: Lion's Head Lager.
I favored John Courage and Bass Ale (on tap). I loved Guinness and Harp in a black and tan. Mrs Vache Folle had a soft spot for Elephant Malt Liquor. She still does when I can find it.
I haven't had a beer in months. I don't know why. I still love it. It's just not so easy to lay hands on the good stuff. I don't know how to choose from the proliferation of craft style beers that the macrobreweries are putting out. Maybe I'm afraid that I'll like something that isn't cool because I'm no longer surrounded with beer snob peers to keep me in line with what's good and what's not. Also, beer gives me gas like nobody's business nowadays. It had better be worth it what with the suffering it causes.
Atheists I Can Live With; Christianists GIve me the Heebiejeebies
As I was driving through Myers Corners on my home from the market, I spied a church sign that read "Why do atheists curse a God they don't think exists?" If the author of the sign cares to know, the answer is "they don't". I have never known an atheist who cursed God or any combination of gods or demigods or any supernatural being. They don't believe in curses any more than they believe in God. Clearly, the author of the sign has a problem with atheists and feels comfortable accusing them of something ridiculous. I'm okay with atheists as I understand that they believe what they believe in the same arbitrary and involuntary way that I believe what I believe. I don't worry about them at all. I worry about other Christians, especially those whose views on the teachings of Jesus are so opposed to my own.
Take Rick Warren. Please. I first became aware of Warren when I partcipated in a churchwide program "40 Days of Purpose" based on Warren's "Purpose Driven Life". As Calvinists we, at least in my small group, overlooked Warren's Arminianism and droning on about how he wanted to "win one more for Jesus" as if he had anything to do with whether anyone was saved. It wasn't a deep program, but it was okay, and I had a slightly favorable impression of Warren. When he came out and argued that evangelicals neded to be "for" things, like fighting poverty, instead of "against" things all the time, I admired his leadership.
This didn't last long. If Warren was not complicit in John McCain's cheating on the rules of the forum at Saddleback, his refusal to condemn it was dishonorable. Most recently, Warren went on Sean Hannity. Worse, he endorsed state sposored murder as Biblical pursuant to Romans 13. This allowed me to relegate Warren to the category of Christianist wanker and to stop paying him any heed.
Now Obama has invited the murder endorser to deliver the invocation at his inauguration. I hope this is to give everyone a chance to scrutinize Warren as much as Jeremiah Wright was scrutinized. Let's take the blasphemy spewed forth by Warren, Hagee, Paisley and their ilk and compare and contrast it with Wright's more controversial utterances. I don't think most Americans really know what these Christianists stand for and that their skin would crawl if they understood. If they thought Wright was scary, they'll really freak when they get to know the religious right for what it really is.
Take Rick Warren. Please. I first became aware of Warren when I partcipated in a churchwide program "40 Days of Purpose" based on Warren's "Purpose Driven Life". As Calvinists we, at least in my small group, overlooked Warren's Arminianism and droning on about how he wanted to "win one more for Jesus" as if he had anything to do with whether anyone was saved. It wasn't a deep program, but it was okay, and I had a slightly favorable impression of Warren. When he came out and argued that evangelicals neded to be "for" things, like fighting poverty, instead of "against" things all the time, I admired his leadership.
This didn't last long. If Warren was not complicit in John McCain's cheating on the rules of the forum at Saddleback, his refusal to condemn it was dishonorable. Most recently, Warren went on Sean Hannity. Worse, he endorsed state sposored murder as Biblical pursuant to Romans 13. This allowed me to relegate Warren to the category of Christianist wanker and to stop paying him any heed.
Now Obama has invited the murder endorser to deliver the invocation at his inauguration. I hope this is to give everyone a chance to scrutinize Warren as much as Jeremiah Wright was scrutinized. Let's take the blasphemy spewed forth by Warren, Hagee, Paisley and their ilk and compare and contrast it with Wright's more controversial utterances. I don't think most Americans really know what these Christianists stand for and that their skin would crawl if they understood. If they thought Wright was scary, they'll really freak when they get to know the religious right for what it really is.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Christmas Ettiquette
It's still too soon to say Merry Christmas unless you preface it with "If I don't speak to you again before the holidays..." That's the official rule at this point. You can't start the early blessings any time before December though even if you don't expect to see the person until after Christmas. So, don't wish anyone Merry Christmas in July even though you don't expect to see them until January.
Right now, Happy Holidays is very appropriate in just about any setting. I reckon Advent is a holiday and celebrate the Advent season. I'm also big on the Epiphany. And Yule. And the Winter Solstice. So, there are many holidays for which blessings are proper. And why shouldn't I have a Happy Hannukah just because I'm not Jewish? Don't I deserve a prosperous and joyful Kwaanza?
If you don't really mean it, keep your blessing. Or give whatever blessing you really feel like giving. It's the same rule as applies to everyday blessings. If you're not up to an entire Good Day, then give a Good Afternoon or even a Nice Late Morning. Don't give out too big of a blessing, either. Never wish anyone Merry Christmases Forever and Ever because it will be awkward when you see them in subsequent years and have to remind them that you already gave them a lifetime supply of Christmas blessings.
Right now, Happy Holidays is very appropriate in just about any setting. I reckon Advent is a holiday and celebrate the Advent season. I'm also big on the Epiphany. And Yule. And the Winter Solstice. So, there are many holidays for which blessings are proper. And why shouldn't I have a Happy Hannukah just because I'm not Jewish? Don't I deserve a prosperous and joyful Kwaanza?
If you don't really mean it, keep your blessing. Or give whatever blessing you really feel like giving. It's the same rule as applies to everyday blessings. If you're not up to an entire Good Day, then give a Good Afternoon or even a Nice Late Morning. Don't give out too big of a blessing, either. Never wish anyone Merry Christmases Forever and Ever because it will be awkward when you see them in subsequent years and have to remind them that you already gave them a lifetime supply of Christmas blessings.
Prohibition
On Repeal Day, I went to the gym and bade the ladies at the desk a Happy Repeal Day, as is the custom of the country. They did not know what Repeal Day was, but one of them suggested that a national holiday would be in order when I explained it. The other lady, however, fretted about "all those drunk drivers". It hit me then that the draconian drunk driving laws we have seen enacted in the last thirty years are a kind of back door Prohibition, at least for people who like to drink in saloons. For those of us who drink alone at home, drunk driving laws are not an issue (except that we have to wait to start drinking until we're pretty sure we're not going out again).
One of my conspecifics at work, a lady of Irish descent, explained that she understood that Prohibition back in the day had been a reaction to all the new immigrants who liked to drink in saloons and be drunk in public. It wasn't aimed at them as drank at home. I'm not sure I agree since the temperance crusaders aimed for temperance for all wherever they preferred to drink, but I imagine the sight of immigrant louts passed out in the gutter in a pool of their own vomit went a long way toward garnering public support.
Where I grew up, it was "dry". You could not buy or sell alcohol in the confines of the county. You could go to Tennessee and get it. Some folks (the Ridleys and the Vaughns come to mind) made a nice living selling liquor in violation of the law. Every few years they'd collaborate with the Baptist preachers to keep the town dry. Of course, many folks made a little wine or beer, and some made whiskey for their own consumption. Mainly, drinking was reckoned to be a huge sin, much like dancing or coeducational swimming.
My great grandpappy was a huge booze hound right until he died from non booze related old age. My maternal great uncles were notorious sots. None of my nearer kin drank at all. It was just too much effort.
I started my drinking career at 14 with Boone's Farm Strawberry Hill Apple Wine. It made me so sick that I did not let a drop pass my lips for four years. That's when I discovered bourbon and began my love affair with the water of life.
One of my conspecifics at work, a lady of Irish descent, explained that she understood that Prohibition back in the day had been a reaction to all the new immigrants who liked to drink in saloons and be drunk in public. It wasn't aimed at them as drank at home. I'm not sure I agree since the temperance crusaders aimed for temperance for all wherever they preferred to drink, but I imagine the sight of immigrant louts passed out in the gutter in a pool of their own vomit went a long way toward garnering public support.
Where I grew up, it was "dry". You could not buy or sell alcohol in the confines of the county. You could go to Tennessee and get it. Some folks (the Ridleys and the Vaughns come to mind) made a nice living selling liquor in violation of the law. Every few years they'd collaborate with the Baptist preachers to keep the town dry. Of course, many folks made a little wine or beer, and some made whiskey for their own consumption. Mainly, drinking was reckoned to be a huge sin, much like dancing or coeducational swimming.
My great grandpappy was a huge booze hound right until he died from non booze related old age. My maternal great uncles were notorious sots. None of my nearer kin drank at all. It was just too much effort.
I started my drinking career at 14 with Boone's Farm Strawberry Hill Apple Wine. It made me so sick that I did not let a drop pass my lips for four years. That's when I discovered bourbon and began my love affair with the water of life.
Monday, December 15, 2008
News People are Vapid and Stupid by Definition
I have mostly kept my boycott of TV news, except I've caught some Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann and the BBC. Also, cable news if often on at the gym, and I catch a bit of CNN, FOX or the business channels. Except for Olbermann and Maddow and the BBC, I have to say that the folks on the cable news by and large don't seem to know what they are talking about. The guests they have on are no better informed, either. Most of what passes for political discussion is about as enlightening as listening to the old farts swapping lies down in front of the hardware store or in the barber shop.
Why is this so? Do American viewers simply demand vapidness and stupidity? They don't seem to have a whole lot of choice since most of the networks feature vapid and stupid all day and all night. Is it because of the way TV "journalists" are created? Perhaps the vapid and stupid select themselves for careers in TV news, or their guidance counsellors steer them into that profession.
I knew a lot of Communication majors in college. Many of them aspired to TV news careers. Not one of them was any kind of genius. They interned at the local network affiliates or the then infant cable news networks. After school, the lucky ones got jobs in small markets as TV correspondents, weekend anchors or weather readers. If they were photogenic and shameless, they might get into a large market and, if they were really vapid and stupid, into national news.
Look at the hugely successful TV news stars. Chris Matthews? Britt Hume? Kudlow and Kramer? Not a genius among them. David Gregory, a huge wanker without the sense God gave a duck, is getting a big break.
Walter Cronkite would roll over in his grave if he were dead.
Why is this so? Do American viewers simply demand vapidness and stupidity? They don't seem to have a whole lot of choice since most of the networks feature vapid and stupid all day and all night. Is it because of the way TV "journalists" are created? Perhaps the vapid and stupid select themselves for careers in TV news, or their guidance counsellors steer them into that profession.
I knew a lot of Communication majors in college. Many of them aspired to TV news careers. Not one of them was any kind of genius. They interned at the local network affiliates or the then infant cable news networks. After school, the lucky ones got jobs in small markets as TV correspondents, weekend anchors or weather readers. If they were photogenic and shameless, they might get into a large market and, if they were really vapid and stupid, into national news.
Look at the hugely successful TV news stars. Chris Matthews? Britt Hume? Kudlow and Kramer? Not a genius among them. David Gregory, a huge wanker without the sense God gave a duck, is getting a big break.
Walter Cronkite would roll over in his grave if he were dead.
When is a Bribe not a Bribe? When it's a Campaign Contribution.
I'm having a hard time differentiating between what Governor Blagowhatsit of Illinois is accused of doing and what politicians do all the time. Is it unusual for a governor to expect some kind of favor in return for naming your preferred candidate to the Senate? No, but you're not supposed to say it out loud.
There are lots of circumstances where folks are supposed to pretend that they are disinterested when they clearly are very interested or to act is if they are not doing what they are clearly doing. Take churches, for instance. They do "outreach" or "evangelism", not marketing. They are, in many respects, no different from any other enterprise, but it would be offensive to acknowledge this by using ordinary business language. You have to conceal what everyone already knows.
In politics, everyone knows that you give money to a politician's campaign in order to influence how he will vote or, at best, because you expect that he will vote your way. It's not bribery as long as you don't say out loud that it's specifically in consideration of political acts even though everyone knows that it's in consideration of political acts. Nobody believes for an instant that the NRA or any special interest group gives money to candidates simply because they reckon they are good for America. They are buying the politician. He has probably announced in advance whom he would like to be sold to in order to facilitate getting payments fast, but he's still for sale.
There are lots of circumstances where folks are supposed to pretend that they are disinterested when they clearly are very interested or to act is if they are not doing what they are clearly doing. Take churches, for instance. They do "outreach" or "evangelism", not marketing. They are, in many respects, no different from any other enterprise, but it would be offensive to acknowledge this by using ordinary business language. You have to conceal what everyone already knows.
In politics, everyone knows that you give money to a politician's campaign in order to influence how he will vote or, at best, because you expect that he will vote your way. It's not bribery as long as you don't say out loud that it's specifically in consideration of political acts even though everyone knows that it's in consideration of political acts. Nobody believes for an instant that the NRA or any special interest group gives money to candidates simply because they reckon they are good for America. They are buying the politician. He has probably announced in advance whom he would like to be sold to in order to facilitate getting payments fast, but he's still for sale.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Frosty Winds Made Moan
There was an ice storm this morning just south of my house. We had floods instead of ice. The good news was that the extra fortification I had done to the pond on either side of the weir held off the flood. The bad news is that the overflow went somewhere else, and now I'll have to repair that area. The back yard was pretty flloded this morning.
My car pool companion had to take an alternate route to my house because the road he usually takes was closed, perhaps due to downed trees or powerlines. The trees along the Taconic were so heavily laden with ice and bent so low that I feared at times that I would hit them with the Civic. I am thankful that the road itself was not icy during the commute, just flooded. The Saw Mill Parkway was closed north of where we get on it, and traffic was backed up for miles going the other direction.
It has been a crazy week weatherwise. It was nigh on 60 degrees on Wednesday, freezing on Thursday, and icy or rainy on Friday. December has been unusually harsh. If I win the lottery, I'm getting a winter residence somewhere warm.
My car pool companion had to take an alternate route to my house because the road he usually takes was closed, perhaps due to downed trees or powerlines. The trees along the Taconic were so heavily laden with ice and bent so low that I feared at times that I would hit them with the Civic. I am thankful that the road itself was not icy during the commute, just flooded. The Saw Mill Parkway was closed north of where we get on it, and traffic was backed up for miles going the other direction.
It has been a crazy week weatherwise. It was nigh on 60 degrees on Wednesday, freezing on Thursday, and icy or rainy on Friday. December has been unusually harsh. If I win the lottery, I'm getting a winter residence somewhere warm.
Iranian Agents May Assassinate Rick Warren According to the Bible
Steve Scott has a great series on Romans 13. In the latest installment (http://fromthepew.blogspot.com/2008/12/re-thinking-romans-13-part-17-punishing.html), he addresses Rick Warren's endorsement of state sponsored murder because governments are established to punsih evildoers. Isn't everyone an evildoer in some sense? Haven't we all fallen short? What if a government wanted to punish Rick Warren for fomenting violence against a sitting head of state? Under Rick's interpretation, Iranian agents could legitimately come to his house and murder him as long as they reckon he is an evildoer.
Imagine the guard in a Nazi concentration camp who, thanks to Romans 13, could feel no guilt whatsoever about murdering Jews by the trainload. After all, the state had declared Jews to be evildoers. And Nero, about whom Paul appeared to be writing in Romans 13, had declared Christians to be evildoers, so it was perfectly right for him to use them as torches or as lion food.
What I wonder is this. Is Rick Warren stupid, evil, or does he have some other defect?
Imagine the guard in a Nazi concentration camp who, thanks to Romans 13, could feel no guilt whatsoever about murdering Jews by the trainload. After all, the state had declared Jews to be evildoers. And Nero, about whom Paul appeared to be writing in Romans 13, had declared Christians to be evildoers, so it was perfectly right for him to use them as torches or as lion food.
What I wonder is this. Is Rick Warren stupid, evil, or does he have some other defect?
More on Autoworkers
Mrs Vache Folle pointed me to an article in the NY Times that breaks down autoworker compensation. The graphic above says it all ( http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2008/12/10/business/20081210_LEONHARDT_GRAPHIC.html)
The major difference between domestic autoworkers who work for the Big Three and those who work for alien automakers is in legacy liabilities for retirees. The aliens haven't been here long enough to build up a legacy. So insisting that autoworkers bear the principal burden of cost cutting makes no sense at all. Current workers aren't getting anything from the pensioners or on behalf of the pensioners. Besides, as the article points out, labor costs represent only about 10% of the cost of a vehicle. Screwing autoworkers won't make much difference. Of course, some folks just like to screw workers whenever they can.. They positively hate working people, especially unionized workers.
I don't blame autoworkers for the condition of the Big Three. I blame management. As much as I'd like to see management get its comeuppance, I don't want to see hundreds of thousands of autoworkers in the unemployment line or millions of other workers who depend on the car business. It's not a very convenient time for the auto industry to collapse.
Why does the GOP want the country to go into a deep eceonomic depression? Family values. When you're facing starvation, you're more dependent on family, and you can't afford those decadent luxuries and sinful entertainments that you used to enjoy.
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
Smegma
Smegma is one of my favorite words in the English language, and I reckon that it is underutilized. It's a fabulous word to describe a wide range of disgusting substances. "Pardon me, but it looks as though you have some of that toddler smegma on your sleeve." "The subway poles and straps are coated with a fine layer of hobo smeg." "Smeghead" is a delightful way to describe an unpleasant person. "Smeggy" perfectly describes the feeling one has after a long flight or other times one is feeling not so fresh.
We named the fruit of the ginko tree "smegmapples" because they smell like rotting flesh and cover the ground with disgusting stinky goo as they decompose.
Sometimes, I like to use "smeg" as an expletive. Try it instead of "shit" now and then. It works.
We named the fruit of the ginko tree "smegmapples" because they smell like rotting flesh and cover the ground with disgusting stinky goo as they decompose.
Sometimes, I like to use "smeg" as an expletive. Try it instead of "shit" now and then. It works.
Ideas to Improve the VA
I have an idea for General Shinseki as he takes over the Veterans Affairs Ministry. Reduce the department's dependency on the VA Hospitals in providing medical services. Instead, provide veterans with health care with providers of their choice by paying for that care in a manner similar to health insurance. Provide training and programs for local hospitals and physicians and nurses across the country in the kinds of medical problems that veterans present. This will make it more convenient for veterans who don't happen to live near a VA facility and will spread the know how for dealing with extreme trauma and other war related health problems throughout the medical professions. Also, it will make VA hospitals compete for veterans' custom, and this is bound to result in much needed improvements.
In terms of disabilty benefits, I reckon it's high time to revise the schedule for rating disabilities to eliminate the extremely subjective and arbitrary criteria for awarding benefits. Let's come up with objective criteria for as many disabilities as we can.
In terms of disabilty benefits, I reckon it's high time to revise the schedule for rating disabilities to eliminate the extremely subjective and arbitrary criteria for awarding benefits. Let's come up with objective criteria for as many disabilities as we can.
Christmas is About Cookies
As a favor to a choirmate, I sang with the community chorus at the town Christmas tree lighting ceremony on Sunday evening. This was remarkable for being a Christmas party that had been completely secularized. Santa was everywhere, as was Frosty the Snowman. We sang about snow and merriment and Santa Claus. The town served coffee and doughnuts. I can't believe tax dollars went for this, but it was fun for the kids who showed up.
Mrs Vache Folle has been on a baking frenzy. It's a holiday tradition for her to bake and for me to get rid of the product by sharing with workmates, the choir, anyone I can. She's a fabulous baker, and I am doomed to obesity.
Here's Mrs VF's famous holiday fruitcake cookie recipe, or what I call the best cookies ever:
Mix 1 cup melted unsalted butter, 1 cup of packed brown sugar, 3 eggs, 1/2 cup milk, 2 tablespoons of cream sherry (not the crappy cooking sherry from the supermarket, please), and a teaspoon of cinnamon.
Add 3 cups of flour and a teaspoon of baking soda.
Here's the fun part. Add 6 chopped up slices of candied (or dried) pineapple, 1 cup chopped red candied cherries, 1 cup chopped green candied cherries, 2 cups chopped dates, 1 15 ounce box of white raisins, and 4 cups of chopped pecans or walnuts. Originally, the recipe (as it came from my mother) called for 7 cups of nuts, but it's just not possible to get that many nuts into the batter.
Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes.
The batter is to die for.
Mrs Vache Folle has been on a baking frenzy. It's a holiday tradition for her to bake and for me to get rid of the product by sharing with workmates, the choir, anyone I can. She's a fabulous baker, and I am doomed to obesity.
Here's Mrs VF's famous holiday fruitcake cookie recipe, or what I call the best cookies ever:
Mix 1 cup melted unsalted butter, 1 cup of packed brown sugar, 3 eggs, 1/2 cup milk, 2 tablespoons of cream sherry (not the crappy cooking sherry from the supermarket, please), and a teaspoon of cinnamon.
Add 3 cups of flour and a teaspoon of baking soda.
Here's the fun part. Add 6 chopped up slices of candied (or dried) pineapple, 1 cup chopped red candied cherries, 1 cup chopped green candied cherries, 2 cups chopped dates, 1 15 ounce box of white raisins, and 4 cups of chopped pecans or walnuts. Originally, the recipe (as it came from my mother) called for 7 cups of nuts, but it's just not possible to get that many nuts into the batter.
Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes.
The batter is to die for.
Thursday, December 04, 2008
Merry Repeal Day
75 years ago tomorrow, prohibition was appealed. December 5th should be a national holiday. Moreover, every December 5th should be marked by the repeal of at least one stupid prohibition on something. Let's start with pot. Them as want to keep pot criminal should be required to justify the costs and the anguish created by criminalization.
Who Says Gov't Has No Sense of Humour?
Say you're getting on in years and you want to check on Medicare benefits on the handy dandy web site that the government has set up on the internets. You go to https://myportal.medicare.gov/ to sign in and discover that you're having a senior moment and can't remember the password the government sent you. You're in luck! There's a Forgot Password Link. Guess what you get when you click on Forgot Password:
"Error
You can't use the Forgot Password link until you have successfully logged onto MyMedicare.gov using the password mailed to you by CMS."
But you're in luck! There's a link to Return to Welcome and Sign In Page where you will get a chance to start over and discover that you've forgotten you're password. But You're in luck! There's a Forgot Password Link...
I imagine that there have been some old folks who have been trying to log on for weeks now.
"Error
You can't use the Forgot Password link until you have successfully logged onto MyMedicare.gov using the password mailed to you by CMS."
But you're in luck! There's a link to Return to Welcome and Sign In Page where you will get a chance to start over and discover that you've forgotten you're password. But You're in luck! There's a Forgot Password Link...
I imagine that there have been some old folks who have been trying to log on for weeks now.
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
SPAM
At the supermarket some weeks ago, I happened to notice a new product: SPAM LITE. I suppose it's designed for folks who want to eat mystery meat from a can but don't want as much fat as regular SPAM.
I like SPAM. My mother used to make sandwiches of SPAM, Velveeta, and Wonder Bread and cut them into animal shapes with cookie cutters. I called them my "dog meat sandwiches" because my favorite shape was that of a dog. I continues to eat SPAM until I married. Even afterwards, I bought a supply of SPAM for Mrs Vache Folle's and my first extended camping trip together. She declined to eat it and fed it to our beagles. I have not tasted SPAM since 1988, but I assume it's still the same high quality loaf of meat slurry as it always was.
In Seattle, there was an annual SPAM sculpture contest near the Kingdome I don't think canned meat is used enough as an artistic medium. Vienna Sausages have all sorts of possibilities in the visual arts. Deviled ham and potted meat would make a fine mortar to bind together SPAM, Vienna sausages and other meaty elements into an artsitic installation.
Once in law school, we made a birthday cake out of SPAM. We put cream cheese frosting on it and told the birthday boy that it was carrot cake. It took two bites for him to figure out it was meat.
The best way to prepare SPAM is to slice it and fry the slices. The same goes for bologna, another slurry based food product.
There was no SPAM in C-Rations, at least not the ones I had to eat. SPAM would have been a huge improvement. The only edible entree in the C-Ration menu was the beans and franks. The worst was something we called beef with shrapnel. Later. we got MREs which were rations in boiling bags. Of course, we were always under light discipline in the field and couldn't heat them up. The cold chicken a la king in a bag was like eating puke. I would have taken SPAM any day.
I like SPAM. My mother used to make sandwiches of SPAM, Velveeta, and Wonder Bread and cut them into animal shapes with cookie cutters. I called them my "dog meat sandwiches" because my favorite shape was that of a dog. I continues to eat SPAM until I married. Even afterwards, I bought a supply of SPAM for Mrs Vache Folle's and my first extended camping trip together. She declined to eat it and fed it to our beagles. I have not tasted SPAM since 1988, but I assume it's still the same high quality loaf of meat slurry as it always was.
In Seattle, there was an annual SPAM sculpture contest near the Kingdome I don't think canned meat is used enough as an artistic medium. Vienna Sausages have all sorts of possibilities in the visual arts. Deviled ham and potted meat would make a fine mortar to bind together SPAM, Vienna sausages and other meaty elements into an artsitic installation.
Once in law school, we made a birthday cake out of SPAM. We put cream cheese frosting on it and told the birthday boy that it was carrot cake. It took two bites for him to figure out it was meat.
The best way to prepare SPAM is to slice it and fry the slices. The same goes for bologna, another slurry based food product.
There was no SPAM in C-Rations, at least not the ones I had to eat. SPAM would have been a huge improvement. The only edible entree in the C-Ration menu was the beans and franks. The worst was something we called beef with shrapnel. Later. we got MREs which were rations in boiling bags. Of course, we were always under light discipline in the field and couldn't heat them up. The cold chicken a la king in a bag was like eating puke. I would have taken SPAM any day.
What's With Catholics?
One of my conspecifics told me that the Vatican opposes a UN resolution calling on all nations to decriminalize homosexuality. We're talking about countries that execute people for homosexuality, and the Roman Catholic hierarchy is OK with that.
I have tried to keep an open mind about Catholicism, and most of the Catholics I have known don't seem all that crazy, but the Roman Catholic Church is really starting to freak me out with its political positions. I admit that the whole authoritarian underpinnings of Catholicism have always made it very unattractive to me, even creepy. I know that religions are all equally nutty when you get right down to it, but Catholicism's authoritarianism leads to very unfortunate results in the world if it is allowed to hold sway. Remember when the Catholic Church could kill you? And did? I get the feeling that Benedict would be all too happy to get back some of that temporal power.
Lately, the clergy has been holding its monopoly over access to God over the heads of believers who voted for Obama or who are not in favor of violence to prevent and punish abortion or stem cell research. Of course, most American Catholics whom I know just roll their eyes and ignore the Catholic heierarchy. They don't reallly believe that priests have magical powers. (The ones who take seriously the threat of being kept from God probably didn't vote for Obama anyway.) The Church doesn't seem to have a position on other issues like war which also kills a lot of children. At least, there are no threats against those who voted for an avowed warmonger.
It's also hard to respect an institution when its leader announces that my religion is false and that my church is not a real church because it's not Catholic. Bite me, Benedict. I don't recognize your authority no matter how big your hat is. You're just another preacher albeit of a mega mega church.
I have tried to keep an open mind about Catholicism, and most of the Catholics I have known don't seem all that crazy, but the Roman Catholic Church is really starting to freak me out with its political positions. I admit that the whole authoritarian underpinnings of Catholicism have always made it very unattractive to me, even creepy. I know that religions are all equally nutty when you get right down to it, but Catholicism's authoritarianism leads to very unfortunate results in the world if it is allowed to hold sway. Remember when the Catholic Church could kill you? And did? I get the feeling that Benedict would be all too happy to get back some of that temporal power.
Lately, the clergy has been holding its monopoly over access to God over the heads of believers who voted for Obama or who are not in favor of violence to prevent and punish abortion or stem cell research. Of course, most American Catholics whom I know just roll their eyes and ignore the Catholic heierarchy. They don't reallly believe that priests have magical powers. (The ones who take seriously the threat of being kept from God probably didn't vote for Obama anyway.) The Church doesn't seem to have a position on other issues like war which also kills a lot of children. At least, there are no threats against those who voted for an avowed warmonger.
It's also hard to respect an institution when its leader announces that my religion is false and that my church is not a real church because it's not Catholic. Bite me, Benedict. I don't recognize your authority no matter how big your hat is. You're just another preacher albeit of a mega mega church.
Blessed One
It bothers some wingnuts that President-elect Obama's given name means "Blessed One" or some such thing. I don't reckon that they've considered that all the Presidents have had given names that meant something. John means "God is gracious", and I don't hear anyone freaking out about that. James means "Supplanter"; George means "Farmer"; Andrew means "Manly". William means something to do with the desire for protection or a helmet. Go figure what that means in connection with President Clinton. Ronald is a royal advisor. Richard is a wealthy ruler. Lyndon is "flexible". Franklin is a free man. Warren is a preserver. Herbert is a bright ruler. Calvin is bald. Woodrow is a trail through the forest. Theodore is God's gift. Grover is from a grove. Chester is a fortress. Martin is warlike. Benjamin is the son of my right hand.
Unless you have one of those made up names like the Palin kids, your name means something. You could do worse than Blessed One.
Unless you have one of those made up names like the Palin kids, your name means something. You could do worse than Blessed One.
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
Diffusion
I have been a student of human migration over the years and was taught that the history of mankind's movements involved a series of mass replacements of entire populations. The Indo Europeans replaced the paleolithic inhabitants of Europe (except for some Basques). The Celts replaced the earlier denizens of Erin and Albion. The Anglo-Saxons drove the Celts to the fringes. You get the picture.
Recent genetic studies have not borne this out. Indo Europeans did not enter Europe in massive numbers. Their languages were adopted, but the population of Europe is still made up mostly of the descendants of the paleolithic foragers who first colonized the subcontinent. The population of the British Isles does not show any legacy of mass replacements in its genes. Everything we thought we knew about European prehistory is pretty much wrong.
I'm heartened by this. Mass murder appears to be a relatively recent innovation.
I watched "Naked Archaeologist" the other evening, and I was amazed at the lengths the host was willing to go to "prove" the historical accuracy of the Biblical accounts of King Solomon. For him, if Solomon did not build the gates at Megiddo and Gezer and some other place, as written in the Bible, then Solomon probably didn't even exist. The likely explanation that the writers of the Solomonic history concluded wrongly that Solomon built the gates in question (they date to a century after Solomon) seemed not to have occurred to him. The guy's thought processes were completely boxed in. Perhaps this is what happened with the guys who wrote the now debunked narrative of European migrations and population replacements. They had it in their heads that language diffusion was proxy for gene flow, so they interpreted everything in that light.
You know how everyone in the "Tain" rides around in war chariots? How come there haven't been any chariots dug up in Ireland? I reckon that the charioteers never made it to the Emerald Isle, just their stories.
Recent genetic studies have not borne this out. Indo Europeans did not enter Europe in massive numbers. Their languages were adopted, but the population of Europe is still made up mostly of the descendants of the paleolithic foragers who first colonized the subcontinent. The population of the British Isles does not show any legacy of mass replacements in its genes. Everything we thought we knew about European prehistory is pretty much wrong.
I'm heartened by this. Mass murder appears to be a relatively recent innovation.
I watched "Naked Archaeologist" the other evening, and I was amazed at the lengths the host was willing to go to "prove" the historical accuracy of the Biblical accounts of King Solomon. For him, if Solomon did not build the gates at Megiddo and Gezer and some other place, as written in the Bible, then Solomon probably didn't even exist. The likely explanation that the writers of the Solomonic history concluded wrongly that Solomon built the gates in question (they date to a century after Solomon) seemed not to have occurred to him. The guy's thought processes were completely boxed in. Perhaps this is what happened with the guys who wrote the now debunked narrative of European migrations and population replacements. They had it in their heads that language diffusion was proxy for gene flow, so they interpreted everything in that light.
You know how everyone in the "Tain" rides around in war chariots? How come there haven't been any chariots dug up in Ireland? I reckon that the charioteers never made it to the Emerald Isle, just their stories.
Monday, December 01, 2008
My Long Weekend
I caught a glimpse of a bumber sticker the other day that read "We Say Merry Christmas". Okay. When do they say it? All the frakking time? I want a bumper sticker that reads "We Say See You in Hell", because that's what we say sometimes. I probably won't utter the words Merry Christmas until December 23rd or so.
We were on our way to the mall in Poughkeepsie to take Mrs Vache Folle's nephews shopping. They had earned money doing chores around the house that morning and had gotten their Christmas money from Mrs VF, so they had a few bucks to toss around. The mall was a zoo, and I should have taken a Xanax before I went there. The mall forbids youths to enter without an adult escort on weekend evenings after 4, so there were lots of mall thugs harassing teenagers for godonlyreallyknows what for. There was lots of noise and "music" and shiny things, and I was way overstimulated. Note to self: avoid mall on Saturday after Thanksgiving. Even Barnes & Noble was a madhouse.
We took the lads to an all you can eat buffet before we hit the mall, and I began to worry if we might not be banned from the place. They ate prodigious quantities of food, especially the ten year old (six plates). Their mother must go broke at the grocery store feeding those ravenous maws.
Ellis Island was worth doing. The Statue of Liberty not so much.
We were on our way to the mall in Poughkeepsie to take Mrs Vache Folle's nephews shopping. They had earned money doing chores around the house that morning and had gotten their Christmas money from Mrs VF, so they had a few bucks to toss around. The mall was a zoo, and I should have taken a Xanax before I went there. The mall forbids youths to enter without an adult escort on weekend evenings after 4, so there were lots of mall thugs harassing teenagers for godonlyreallyknows what for. There was lots of noise and "music" and shiny things, and I was way overstimulated. Note to self: avoid mall on Saturday after Thanksgiving. Even Barnes & Noble was a madhouse.
We took the lads to an all you can eat buffet before we hit the mall, and I began to worry if we might not be banned from the place. They ate prodigious quantities of food, especially the ten year old (six plates). Their mother must go broke at the grocery store feeding those ravenous maws.
Ellis Island was worth doing. The Statue of Liberty not so much.
Friday, November 28, 2008
Thanksgiving Tradition
Mrs Vache Folle and I started a new Thanksgiving tradition yesterday. We went to the gym, did some housecleaning and had dinner at Jaipore, a fabulous Indian restaurant in Brewster. We had chicken korma, tender morsels of chicken in a cashew sauce, and Kashmiri lamb rogan josh, melt in your mouth lamb with a spicy tomato based curry sauce. We also got an okra dish that was remarkable in that it didn't have any okra in it, just cold raw onions in sour cream. It will not be part of the tradition going forward.
Today, we're supposed to take Mrs VF's nephews to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty where we will meet some old friends from Seattle. Tomorrow, I'm going to put the kids to work cleaning the gutters and picking up dog poop in the back yard. I'll pay them, Mrs VF will give them some cash for Christmas, and we'll take them to the mall to spend it. If that doesn't jump start the economy, I don't know what else we can do. We'll also patronize the Cold Stone Creamery and the Buffet next to the Good Will. Sunday, they'll be gone.
Today, we're supposed to take Mrs VF's nephews to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty where we will meet some old friends from Seattle. Tomorrow, I'm going to put the kids to work cleaning the gutters and picking up dog poop in the back yard. I'll pay them, Mrs VF will give them some cash for Christmas, and we'll take them to the mall to spend it. If that doesn't jump start the economy, I don't know what else we can do. We'll also patronize the Cold Stone Creamery and the Buffet next to the Good Will. Sunday, they'll be gone.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Evolution
Occasionally, I encounter a Creationist who deploys the usual talking point that saying that complex organisms evolved is like saying that a windstorm in a pile of airplane parts could produce a fully operational airliner. This analogy shows only that its user has absolutely no understanding of how the theory of evolution by natural selection works. To be apt, the analogy would have to include a mechanism for eliminating anything that wasn't an airliner, in which case you'd eventually get an airliner. Like evolution, it might take a very long time.
Or I'll get the trusty "if we evolved from monkeys, why are there still monkeys" argument. This, like the Chewbacca defense, is hard to rebut because it is nonsensical on so many levels. I don't usually bother. I don't care if yahoos believe in evolution or not because it isn't going to make any difference to anyone. It's not as if the world is losing some brilliant scientific minds or anything.
And let's say some local school system aims to teach "intelligent design". If they want to consign the children of their community to ignorance of scientific reasoning and principles, who am I to interfere? Those kids are probably pretty much doomed anyway, whether via nature or nurture, since they live in such a community. The smart ones, if there are any, will figure it out, and whether the rest have a grasp of science is of no consequence since they will never be called upon to do any scientific thinking in their whole lives.
I can see where a mischievous biology teacher could have a lot of fun with intelligent design in the classroom. He could give his pupils an assignment to design an experiment or research project that would use intelligent design theory to make predictions or that would support intelligent design. Then he'd give everyone who didn't problematize the theory an F.
If only there were grants for scientific research using intelligent design. I'd apply for one. I should qualify even though I'm not a professional scientist, because intelligent design is not even science.
Or I'll get the trusty "if we evolved from monkeys, why are there still monkeys" argument. This, like the Chewbacca defense, is hard to rebut because it is nonsensical on so many levels. I don't usually bother. I don't care if yahoos believe in evolution or not because it isn't going to make any difference to anyone. It's not as if the world is losing some brilliant scientific minds or anything.
And let's say some local school system aims to teach "intelligent design". If they want to consign the children of their community to ignorance of scientific reasoning and principles, who am I to interfere? Those kids are probably pretty much doomed anyway, whether via nature or nurture, since they live in such a community. The smart ones, if there are any, will figure it out, and whether the rest have a grasp of science is of no consequence since they will never be called upon to do any scientific thinking in their whole lives.
I can see where a mischievous biology teacher could have a lot of fun with intelligent design in the classroom. He could give his pupils an assignment to design an experiment or research project that would use intelligent design theory to make predictions or that would support intelligent design. Then he'd give everyone who didn't problematize the theory an F.
If only there were grants for scientific research using intelligent design. I'd apply for one. I should qualify even though I'm not a professional scientist, because intelligent design is not even science.
On Suffering
Bart Ehrman's God's Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question-Why We Suffer takes a look at the ways in which Biblical authors dealt with the problem of suffering. This seems to have evolved from a rather straightforward God blesses the righteous and smites the unrighteous to the apocalyptic notion that God has let evil run amok in the world but will return soon and make things right. Neither of these, or the others in between, is satisfactory to Ehrman or to me. In between are such notions that suffering is the consequence of sin. What then do we make of hurricanes and tsunamis?
Like Ehrman, I am drawn to the proposition that suffering is a mystery. Unlike Ehrman, I am resigned to it and too afraid to stand in any kind of judgment of God. The unsatisfactory account of suffering in the Bible is, I reckon, a failure of imagination and discernment on the part of Biblical authors and scholars, and it is up to us to reinterpret it in a way that makes sense.
These views of suffering continue to resonate. The primitive view of an alternatively approving and wrathful God is alive and well in the megachurches and among televangelists. The apocalyptic view is way too popular considering that the imminent end never comes.
I reckon that suffering is inherent in the human condition. This is what we are and how God has made us. A prerequisite condition to our existence as humans is a world with dangerous meteorological, geological, biological and social phenomena. These are the sine qua non of what we are. This is not to say that we do not condole with those who suffer. On the contrary, the work of the Kingdom is to mitigate suffering, to console the hurting and to transform the world into one where suffering is increasingly bearable. Let us not look to the next life; rather, let us, with joy and gratitude, embrace this life and make it the best life it can be.
We might never have existed at all, you know. We might never have become sentient and capable of experiencing suffering. God is not finished with humanity yet. He is not finished with me.
Like Ehrman, I am drawn to the proposition that suffering is a mystery. Unlike Ehrman, I am resigned to it and too afraid to stand in any kind of judgment of God. The unsatisfactory account of suffering in the Bible is, I reckon, a failure of imagination and discernment on the part of Biblical authors and scholars, and it is up to us to reinterpret it in a way that makes sense.
These views of suffering continue to resonate. The primitive view of an alternatively approving and wrathful God is alive and well in the megachurches and among televangelists. The apocalyptic view is way too popular considering that the imminent end never comes.
I reckon that suffering is inherent in the human condition. This is what we are and how God has made us. A prerequisite condition to our existence as humans is a world with dangerous meteorological, geological, biological and social phenomena. These are the sine qua non of what we are. This is not to say that we do not condole with those who suffer. On the contrary, the work of the Kingdom is to mitigate suffering, to console the hurting and to transform the world into one where suffering is increasingly bearable. Let us not look to the next life; rather, let us, with joy and gratitude, embrace this life and make it the best life it can be.
We might never have existed at all, you know. We might never have become sentient and capable of experiencing suffering. God is not finished with humanity yet. He is not finished with me.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Miscellaneous Crap
My nutjob neighbor down the road is still displaying a sign calling Barack Obama "Redistributor in chief". He's also flying his USG flag at half mast. Doesn't he realize that redistribution is going on right now and has been for decades? The Bush regime has been especially adept at redistributing taxpayer money to corporations and military contractors and rich people.
I've come across a few folks who have pondered moving to a gulch and withholding their "productivity". In most cases, I don't think the rest of the world would notice. Who are these so called "productive" people anyway? Bankers, lawyers, financiers, executives? Nah. We're all pretty much parasites, or at best symbiotes akin to the bacteria in our guts. We might add some value to the organism (or not) but we're not what drives it. The working and middle classes are the engine of prosperity. There's probably not a lot of Randians on the assembly line at GM, but I bet you'd find a few in the executive cafeteria driving the company into the ground.
I have been thinking about how our "contributions" to school taxes can be viewed as a kind of investment (it's involuntary, but I feel better if I can imagine a return). If we pay approximately $10,000 per year in school taxes and this pays to educate half of a child in our district, after 12 years of education and 4 years of college, we will have paid $155,000 (including a modest rate of interest). If the beneficiary starts paying into Social Security right away and we live just 25 years after retirement, we'll get our money back. Also other half students we have supported will be paying into the system, so we may very well come out ahead. Unless we die too soon. This way we get the benefit of children to support us in our old age without actually having to have any around. It's win-win.
Why does society let any business get "too big to fail"? Who benefits from the embiggening of companies? If we bail out the car companies, let's break them up into smaller entities.
I've come across a few folks who have pondered moving to a gulch and withholding their "productivity". In most cases, I don't think the rest of the world would notice. Who are these so called "productive" people anyway? Bankers, lawyers, financiers, executives? Nah. We're all pretty much parasites, or at best symbiotes akin to the bacteria in our guts. We might add some value to the organism (or not) but we're not what drives it. The working and middle classes are the engine of prosperity. There's probably not a lot of Randians on the assembly line at GM, but I bet you'd find a few in the executive cafeteria driving the company into the ground.
I have been thinking about how our "contributions" to school taxes can be viewed as a kind of investment (it's involuntary, but I feel better if I can imagine a return). If we pay approximately $10,000 per year in school taxes and this pays to educate half of a child in our district, after 12 years of education and 4 years of college, we will have paid $155,000 (including a modest rate of interest). If the beneficiary starts paying into Social Security right away and we live just 25 years after retirement, we'll get our money back. Also other half students we have supported will be paying into the system, so we may very well come out ahead. Unless we die too soon. This way we get the benefit of children to support us in our old age without actually having to have any around. It's win-win.
Why does society let any business get "too big to fail"? Who benefits from the embiggening of companies? If we bail out the car companies, let's break them up into smaller entities.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Center-Right?
I keep hearing folks remark that America is "Center-Right", but nobody ever seems to ask them what they mean by that. Just where is this Center of which they speak?
Let us imagine the political spectrum as a straight line in keeping with the usual metaphor. If that line is infinite in length, as straight lines are, then any point on the line would be the "center" because there would be an infinite length on either side of the point. If America is even one point to the right, would that make it "Center-Right"? And what would that even mean? Nothing really unless you have some definition of the center.
Let's suppose instead that the political spectrum is a line segment with a finite length, in which case the center would be a point precisely halfway along the segment's length. The attributes of the center would depend on where one placed the end points of the segment. If I take the right hand point as National Socialism under Hitler and the left hand point as Hutterite communal society, where would America be? Would it be closer to Hutterite life or to Nazi Gemany? What if I take a Taliban-like theocratic tyranny as my right hand point and Western European Socialism as the left?
To compound the problem, how does one quantify degrees of leftness or rightness so as to render a precise measure of where the center is located?
And while we're at it, what does "America" mean? I hope I'm not Center-Right or any kind of right, and lots of folks I know who claim to be conservatives aren't really right wing at all when you examine their views. They're more like classical liberals.
I reckon America is Center-Left, and I am confident in this pronouncement because I realize that it is a meaningless statement.
Let us imagine the political spectrum as a straight line in keeping with the usual metaphor. If that line is infinite in length, as straight lines are, then any point on the line would be the "center" because there would be an infinite length on either side of the point. If America is even one point to the right, would that make it "Center-Right"? And what would that even mean? Nothing really unless you have some definition of the center.
Let's suppose instead that the political spectrum is a line segment with a finite length, in which case the center would be a point precisely halfway along the segment's length. The attributes of the center would depend on where one placed the end points of the segment. If I take the right hand point as National Socialism under Hitler and the left hand point as Hutterite communal society, where would America be? Would it be closer to Hutterite life or to Nazi Gemany? What if I take a Taliban-like theocratic tyranny as my right hand point and Western European Socialism as the left?
To compound the problem, how does one quantify degrees of leftness or rightness so as to render a precise measure of where the center is located?
And while we're at it, what does "America" mean? I hope I'm not Center-Right or any kind of right, and lots of folks I know who claim to be conservatives aren't really right wing at all when you examine their views. They're more like classical liberals.
I reckon America is Center-Left, and I am confident in this pronouncement because I realize that it is a meaningless statement.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Choir Stuff
Advent is on the way, and the choir is rehearsing a series of Magnificats. One, by Rutter, is especially challenging, and I've been practicing it at home with the score and a CD. I reckon I'll have it down by the time we perform it.
This year, the Christmas Eve services are less of a show by the choir, so we won't have many difficult pieces to learn. Instead, we're doing more interesting music during the Sundays in Advent. I like this change. I'd much rather build up a better and bigger repertoire of anthems for Sundays than put on a musical extravaganza for the part time Christians who show up for Christmas Eve. Let's see if the carol singing and Christmas story don't inspire visitors more than what has been in the past pretty much a concert.
The choir works pretty hard, and I suppose that's a deterrent to new participants. The new choir member drive last year yielded one new regular, an outstanding soprano and flautist in her twenties. On the other hand, we seem to be losing one of the older sopranos. Oddly, sopranos have been in short supply of late, and the men have been at their full strength of seven singers. With an average age of 56 years, the men's section probably won't last long at this strength. I suppose as long as we can field an octet, we'll be OK.
There's no farm team. We have choirs for small children but no youth choir. The youth are doing their own thing at a Sunday evening service, and young adults have been spun off to a satellite. I reckon that older teenagers would be a huge asset to the choir if they could tolerate hanging with us codgers. Perhaps with outreach, some could be enticed to serve the church by enduring choir membership. We could at least find out what's keeping younger (30-50) singers away.
If we don't do something, the concept of the chancel choir might just fade away, and all we'll have left are contemporary groups leading praise songs. Man, I hate me some repititious praise songs, and I don't think I would be able to drag myself to a contemporary service week after week. I get enough Power Point at work, thank you very much.
This year, the Christmas Eve services are less of a show by the choir, so we won't have many difficult pieces to learn. Instead, we're doing more interesting music during the Sundays in Advent. I like this change. I'd much rather build up a better and bigger repertoire of anthems for Sundays than put on a musical extravaganza for the part time Christians who show up for Christmas Eve. Let's see if the carol singing and Christmas story don't inspire visitors more than what has been in the past pretty much a concert.
The choir works pretty hard, and I suppose that's a deterrent to new participants. The new choir member drive last year yielded one new regular, an outstanding soprano and flautist in her twenties. On the other hand, we seem to be losing one of the older sopranos. Oddly, sopranos have been in short supply of late, and the men have been at their full strength of seven singers. With an average age of 56 years, the men's section probably won't last long at this strength. I suppose as long as we can field an octet, we'll be OK.
There's no farm team. We have choirs for small children but no youth choir. The youth are doing their own thing at a Sunday evening service, and young adults have been spun off to a satellite. I reckon that older teenagers would be a huge asset to the choir if they could tolerate hanging with us codgers. Perhaps with outreach, some could be enticed to serve the church by enduring choir membership. We could at least find out what's keeping younger (30-50) singers away.
If we don't do something, the concept of the chancel choir might just fade away, and all we'll have left are contemporary groups leading praise songs. Man, I hate me some repititious praise songs, and I don't think I would be able to drag myself to a contemporary service week after week. I get enough Power Point at work, thank you very much.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
I Told You I Was Sick
I am under a doctor's care for hypercholesterolemia and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The COPD is sometimes aggravated by allergies, and it is what I usually get treated for. My cholesterol level has been way down into normal territory thanks to Vytorin, but my blood test day before yesterday showed abnormal liver function, and the phlebotomist insisted that I make a follow up appointment RIGHT NOW WITHOUT DELAY! So, I'm going in this afternoon to see the doctor. Could it be that taking Vytorin and being a booze hound at the same time don't really go together? That's what I'm hoping, that I just need to lay off alcohol (which I could if I wanted to but have not wanted to although I could easily do so) and everything will get back to normal.
Of course, my hypochondraic tendencies have emerged and are running at full speed. I'm a nervous wreck. I've avoided looking on the web for the possible significance of abnormal liver function readings becuae I know that I'll just hone in on the worst possible case and convince myself that I've got that.
When I was at the VA, I had to review medical records of veterans who were appealing decisions of the regional offices, and I invariably became convinced that I had whatever it was that the veteran I was working on had. This would go away when I got to the next case and discovered that I instead had what the new veteran had. Of course, I never had anything seriously wrong with me.
Unfortunately, I had a hiatal hernia, a condition which manifests itself with crushing chest pain radiating up the neck and feeling an awful lot like a heart attack. You can imagine that I was convinced that I was having a massive coronary when I had my first major attack. Later in life, I sometimes fretted that my hital hernia was masking a real heart problem and that I was dying of heart disease all along thinking I was having a bad case of indigestion. Of course, my EKGs have all been normal, and my chest pain never comes with exertion, just with eating too quickly or the wrong things.
My anxiety neurosis often manifests itself as physical symptoms such loose stool, irritable bowel, abdominal pains, headaches (brain tumors?), fatigue or tachycardia. If I didn't take Zoloft (ask your doctor if it's right for you) and an occasional Xanax, I'd be caught in a spiral of anxiety induced symptoms that I would interpret as deadly diseases that would elevate my anxiety in turn worsening the symptoms.
The weird thing is that I rarely go to the doctor for the symptoms that worry me, perhaps because I fear confirmation or because I know on some level that I'm just being nutty.
UPDATE: As I hoped, I just have to lay off the alcohol and retest.
Of course, my hypochondraic tendencies have emerged and are running at full speed. I'm a nervous wreck. I've avoided looking on the web for the possible significance of abnormal liver function readings becuae I know that I'll just hone in on the worst possible case and convince myself that I've got that.
When I was at the VA, I had to review medical records of veterans who were appealing decisions of the regional offices, and I invariably became convinced that I had whatever it was that the veteran I was working on had. This would go away when I got to the next case and discovered that I instead had what the new veteran had. Of course, I never had anything seriously wrong with me.
Unfortunately, I had a hiatal hernia, a condition which manifests itself with crushing chest pain radiating up the neck and feeling an awful lot like a heart attack. You can imagine that I was convinced that I was having a massive coronary when I had my first major attack. Later in life, I sometimes fretted that my hital hernia was masking a real heart problem and that I was dying of heart disease all along thinking I was having a bad case of indigestion. Of course, my EKGs have all been normal, and my chest pain never comes with exertion, just with eating too quickly or the wrong things.
My anxiety neurosis often manifests itself as physical symptoms such loose stool, irritable bowel, abdominal pains, headaches (brain tumors?), fatigue or tachycardia. If I didn't take Zoloft (ask your doctor if it's right for you) and an occasional Xanax, I'd be caught in a spiral of anxiety induced symptoms that I would interpret as deadly diseases that would elevate my anxiety in turn worsening the symptoms.
The weird thing is that I rarely go to the doctor for the symptoms that worry me, perhaps because I fear confirmation or because I know on some level that I'm just being nutty.
UPDATE: As I hoped, I just have to lay off the alcohol and retest.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
I Really Am an Indian
I got a copy of one of my ancestors' applications for Cherokee citizenship. My great great great grandfather, Bayless J. Edwards, claimed that his mother was a full blooded Cherokee with the maiden name of Polly Redbird. If I don't have any other Indian ancestors, this would make me 1/128th Cherokee, not enough to permit me to open my own casino but enough to permit me to rant about the victimization of my people by the White Man.
Although this particular application was denied based on Polly's not having been enrolled in the tribe on a specified date, I have little reason to doubt Grandpappy Bayless's claims other than that the census taker in 1850 put her down as white. Polly's husband, Henry Edwards, and Polly were both born in North Carolina in about 1780 or so when the western part of the state was occupied primarily by the Cherokee. Intermarriage was not unusual among early settllers. Henry and Polly were early setlters in the Dahlonega area in the 1830s and moved further into Northwest Georgia as the Cherokees retreated. Since they were not inhabitants of the Cherokee nation and made no tribal claims, they were under no obligation to move when the tribe was evacuated to Oklahoma in the late 1830s. Their children and grandchildren passed for white. although that side of my family has long acknowledged Cherokee heritage even before it was fashionable to do so.
I hope someday to obtain confirmation of Bayless's claim, perhaps through DNA testing.
My genealogical research is difficult because so many of my ancestors were illiterate mountaineers who left few records of their marriages, births and deaths aside from long lost Bible entries. They certainly left no wills. So any information or documentation that I find is a treasure.
So, I wasn't lying when I filled out all those EEOC questionnaires by claiming that I'm multi-racial. I'm an African American because my ancestors came from Africa (60,000 years ago); I'm HIspanic because I had some ancestors from Spain (dating back to the 13th century); I'm Asian because my ancestors came from Asia (over the Bering Land Bridge 12,000 years ago), and I'm Native Americam because of Polly Redbird and possibly others. I haven't figured out a way to be Australian or Pacific Islander yet.
Although this particular application was denied based on Polly's not having been enrolled in the tribe on a specified date, I have little reason to doubt Grandpappy Bayless's claims other than that the census taker in 1850 put her down as white. Polly's husband, Henry Edwards, and Polly were both born in North Carolina in about 1780 or so when the western part of the state was occupied primarily by the Cherokee. Intermarriage was not unusual among early settllers. Henry and Polly were early setlters in the Dahlonega area in the 1830s and moved further into Northwest Georgia as the Cherokees retreated. Since they were not inhabitants of the Cherokee nation and made no tribal claims, they were under no obligation to move when the tribe was evacuated to Oklahoma in the late 1830s. Their children and grandchildren passed for white. although that side of my family has long acknowledged Cherokee heritage even before it was fashionable to do so.
I hope someday to obtain confirmation of Bayless's claim, perhaps through DNA testing.
My genealogical research is difficult because so many of my ancestors were illiterate mountaineers who left few records of their marriages, births and deaths aside from long lost Bible entries. They certainly left no wills. So any information or documentation that I find is a treasure.
So, I wasn't lying when I filled out all those EEOC questionnaires by claiming that I'm multi-racial. I'm an African American because my ancestors came from Africa (60,000 years ago); I'm HIspanic because I had some ancestors from Spain (dating back to the 13th century); I'm Asian because my ancestors came from Asia (over the Bering Land Bridge 12,000 years ago), and I'm Native Americam because of Polly Redbird and possibly others. I haven't figured out a way to be Australian or Pacific Islander yet.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
James Hartline, False Prophet
You know how I said Newt Gingrich was Douche of the Day? Well, James Hartline is Douche of the Week!
The wildfires in California? Caused by the gays, says Hartline:
"Each time homosexual activists attempt to force their agenda on California, there have been raging, massive, incinerating fires sweeping across the California landscape…
…The more that homosexual activists press their battle in California, the more there will be great calamaties (sic) in this state."
I have a few observations. Firstly, how does Hartline know that God is punishing California because of gays? Maybe He’s punishing California because of anti-gay activities by proponents of Prop 8. Maybe James Hartline is the cause of the fires and until he is run out of town calamities will ensue.
Secondly, there are always wildfires or earthquakes or mudslides or some such things in California, so gay advocacy or anti-gay advocacy and disasters coincide only because they coincide in what we sometimes refer to as coincidence, or the act of coinciding.
Thirdly, God ordained these fires from the beginning of time, and there was nothing anyone could have done to prevent them. James Hartline is a false prophet. He does not know the Mind of God.
The wildfires in California? Caused by the gays, says Hartline:
"Each time homosexual activists attempt to force their agenda on California, there have been raging, massive, incinerating fires sweeping across the California landscape…
…The more that homosexual activists press their battle in California, the more there will be great calamaties (sic) in this state."
I have a few observations. Firstly, how does Hartline know that God is punishing California because of gays? Maybe He’s punishing California because of anti-gay activities by proponents of Prop 8. Maybe James Hartline is the cause of the fires and until he is run out of town calamities will ensue.
Secondly, there are always wildfires or earthquakes or mudslides or some such things in California, so gay advocacy or anti-gay advocacy and disasters coincide only because they coincide in what we sometimes refer to as coincidence, or the act of coinciding.
Thirdly, God ordained these fires from the beginning of time, and there was nothing anyone could have done to prevent them. James Hartline is a false prophet. He does not know the Mind of God.
Douche of the Day: Newt Gingrich
Newt Gingrich frets over "gay and secular fascism":
"I think there is a gay and secular fascism in this country that wants to impose its will on the rest of us, is prepared to use violence, to use harassment. I think it is prepared to use the government if it can get control of it. I think that it is a very dangerous threat to anybody who believes in traditional religion."
This is among the stupidest things Newt Gingrich has ever said and wins him Douchebag of the Day!
If Newt reckons that gay folks’ boycotting people who worked to deprive them of their civil rights is fascism, he needs a better dictionary or to use the one that he has. Private, voluntary, peaceful action of this sort is just about as non-fascist as it gets. And what about "homophobic and religious fascism"? Wouldn’t gay haters who boycott Disney or McDonalds also be fascists by Newt’s reasoning?
Frankly, Newt sounds like the apologists for the slavocracy who fretted about abolitionists or segregationists who fretted about enlightened racial attitudes. In each case, the traditionalists (slaveowners, racists, homophobes) were already using the government to sustain their values (slavery, segregation, and discrimination based on sexual orientation) and characterized a potential loss of power as the other sides’ "use of government" to impose its will. The reactionaries are imposing their will, but that’s evidently OK.
Gays with equal rights pose no threat to traditional religion unless traditionalists consider it threatening to be held up to ridicule and contempt for their anachronistic opinions. When black folks were guaranteed civil rights, you could still be a racist bastard. There’s nobody standing in your way even now, but you no longer enjoy widespread acceptance of your views. When gays get equal rights, you can still be a gay hating loon, but you’re not going to get very many folks outside of your cult to respect your opinion.
Abraham Lincoln’s address at Cooper Union comes to mind. What, Lincoln asked, would satisfy the advocates of slavery?
"..what will convince them? This, and this only: cease to call slavery wrong, and join them in calling it right. And this must be done thoroughly - done in acts as well as in words. Silence will not be tolerated - we must place ourselves avowedly with them. Senator Douglas' new sedition law must be enacted and enforced, suppressing all declarations that slavery is wrong, whether made in politics, in presses, in pulpits, or in private. We must arrest and return their fugitive slaves with greedy pleasure. We must pull down our Free State constitutions. The whole atmosphere must be disinfected from all taint of opposition to slavery, before they will cease to believe that all their troubles proceed from us."
This is precisely what the authoritarians demand of us on the question of homosexuality. Not only must we tolerate their homophobia but we must affirm it with all our hearts. Otherwise, we are "fascists".
"I think there is a gay and secular fascism in this country that wants to impose its will on the rest of us, is prepared to use violence, to use harassment. I think it is prepared to use the government if it can get control of it. I think that it is a very dangerous threat to anybody who believes in traditional religion."
This is among the stupidest things Newt Gingrich has ever said and wins him Douchebag of the Day!
If Newt reckons that gay folks’ boycotting people who worked to deprive them of their civil rights is fascism, he needs a better dictionary or to use the one that he has. Private, voluntary, peaceful action of this sort is just about as non-fascist as it gets. And what about "homophobic and religious fascism"? Wouldn’t gay haters who boycott Disney or McDonalds also be fascists by Newt’s reasoning?
Frankly, Newt sounds like the apologists for the slavocracy who fretted about abolitionists or segregationists who fretted about enlightened racial attitudes. In each case, the traditionalists (slaveowners, racists, homophobes) were already using the government to sustain their values (slavery, segregation, and discrimination based on sexual orientation) and characterized a potential loss of power as the other sides’ "use of government" to impose its will. The reactionaries are imposing their will, but that’s evidently OK.
Gays with equal rights pose no threat to traditional religion unless traditionalists consider it threatening to be held up to ridicule and contempt for their anachronistic opinions. When black folks were guaranteed civil rights, you could still be a racist bastard. There’s nobody standing in your way even now, but you no longer enjoy widespread acceptance of your views. When gays get equal rights, you can still be a gay hating loon, but you’re not going to get very many folks outside of your cult to respect your opinion.
Abraham Lincoln’s address at Cooper Union comes to mind. What, Lincoln asked, would satisfy the advocates of slavery?
"..what will convince them? This, and this only: cease to call slavery wrong, and join them in calling it right. And this must be done thoroughly - done in acts as well as in words. Silence will not be tolerated - we must place ourselves avowedly with them. Senator Douglas' new sedition law must be enacted and enforced, suppressing all declarations that slavery is wrong, whether made in politics, in presses, in pulpits, or in private. We must arrest and return their fugitive slaves with greedy pleasure. We must pull down our Free State constitutions. The whole atmosphere must be disinfected from all taint of opposition to slavery, before they will cease to believe that all their troubles proceed from us."
This is precisely what the authoritarians demand of us on the question of homosexuality. Not only must we tolerate their homophobia but we must affirm it with all our hearts. Otherwise, we are "fascists".
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Lactation
There's an interesting thread over at Pandagon about Salma Hayek's breasfeeding her thirteen month old child: http://pandagon.net/index.php/site/comments/boobie_jokes/
How long is it appropriate to breastfeed? It's none of my frakking business, but it would not be outside the range of normal variation in higher primates to extend it for as much as four to five years. So, I'm not one to comment on Ms Hayek's preferences in this regard except to accept and affirm them as her choices to make. More power to her and her child.
Is it appropriate to admire the breasts of a lactating woman? It depends on how you express your admiration, I reckon, but it would be damn near impossible for me not to admire Ms Hayek's features. I have always admired her beauty and talent since I became aware of her. She is extremely attractive, and she is no less attractive now that she is lactating.
How long is it appropriate to breastfeed? It's none of my frakking business, but it would not be outside the range of normal variation in higher primates to extend it for as much as four to five years. So, I'm not one to comment on Ms Hayek's preferences in this regard except to accept and affirm them as her choices to make. More power to her and her child.
Is it appropriate to admire the breasts of a lactating woman? It depends on how you express your admiration, I reckon, but it would be damn near impossible for me not to admire Ms Hayek's features. I have always admired her beauty and talent since I became aware of her. She is extremely attractive, and she is no less attractive now that she is lactating.
The American Family Association has a cool product in the merchandising section of its website.
It’s a burning cross! The AFA sales pitch says it all:
"Decorate this holiday season with the Original Christmas Cross to remind your friends, family, neighbors, and all who drive by your home, office, or church of the real meaning of Christmas."
Hat tip to AMERICAblog http://www.americablog.com/2008/11/because-nothing-says-christmas-like.html
Friday, November 14, 2008
Stimulate Me!
Robert Reich is calling for a major stimulus:
“Fiscal hawks and conservative supply siders notwithstanding, a major stimulus is in order. Government is the spender of last resort, and the nation is coming close to its last resort.”
The bailout of the tycoons isn’t going to shore up the economy. Consumer spending is the key to recovery, but consumers aren’t going to be spending if they fear for their jobs. So the government will have to step in and stimulate the economy and prime the job creation pump.
Like Reich, I’d like to see money spent on things that have lasting value, such as major infrastructure projects. It’s about time to build new bridges and tunnels and repair old ones. How about some monorails or super trains? Or hydrogen stations?
And if we run out of infrastructure, we can start beautifying our cities with fabulous monuments and statues and works of art and architecture for the ages. Pyramids would also be cool. And how about giving the wingers something and building that wall on the Mexican border? Let’s make it even more impressive than the Great Wall of China or Hadrian’s Wall. I’m talking something you can see from outer space.
Speaking of outer space, let’s ramp up exploration efforts and mine the moon.
These projects will employ a lot of people and will attract tourists for millennia. They’ll eventually pay for themselves.
Some new levees and fire breaks would be nice as well, and we’d save in the long run on flood and fire damage.
And how about free child care for everyone so they can all go to work and start spending again? Lots of jobs will be created for teachers and lunch ladies and janitors by such a program. And they’ll need houses and cars and consumer goods, too.
Legalize pot and put America’s farmers to work.
“Fiscal hawks and conservative supply siders notwithstanding, a major stimulus is in order. Government is the spender of last resort, and the nation is coming close to its last resort.”
The bailout of the tycoons isn’t going to shore up the economy. Consumer spending is the key to recovery, but consumers aren’t going to be spending if they fear for their jobs. So the government will have to step in and stimulate the economy and prime the job creation pump.
Like Reich, I’d like to see money spent on things that have lasting value, such as major infrastructure projects. It’s about time to build new bridges and tunnels and repair old ones. How about some monorails or super trains? Or hydrogen stations?
And if we run out of infrastructure, we can start beautifying our cities with fabulous monuments and statues and works of art and architecture for the ages. Pyramids would also be cool. And how about giving the wingers something and building that wall on the Mexican border? Let’s make it even more impressive than the Great Wall of China or Hadrian’s Wall. I’m talking something you can see from outer space.
Speaking of outer space, let’s ramp up exploration efforts and mine the moon.
These projects will employ a lot of people and will attract tourists for millennia. They’ll eventually pay for themselves.
Some new levees and fire breaks would be nice as well, and we’d save in the long run on flood and fire damage.
And how about free child care for everyone so they can all go to work and start spending again? Lots of jobs will be created for teachers and lunch ladies and janitors by such a program. And they’ll need houses and cars and consumer goods, too.
Legalize pot and put America’s farmers to work.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Lieberman on a Leash
I can't stand the treacherous Joe Lieberman, but I can understand why the Democrats would keep him around. The alternative for him is the wilderness with the other stupid Republicans, so he will surely be on his very best behavior and a short leash. He will be doing a heap of behind the scenes groveling and will have to be the loyalest of loyalists from here on out. He won't do this because he's loyal but because it is what he has to do for his own sake. I guess he is loyal, to himself that is, and the Democrats can count on him to do what he thinks is right for his own career.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
I'm Boycotting a Lot of Folks Now
There are a lot of folks out there who want to control every aspect of my life and impose their moral and cultural sensibilities on me by force. I'm going to pray for them and try to love them, but I'm also going to avoid doing business with them whenever I can.
I've already put Mormons on my list. Now I'm adding the Catholic Church and their major backers. And the Christianist nutzoids in the religious right. When I figure out which products and services enrich these folks, I'm going to avoid them. No dollars for douchebags, say I.
I've already put Mormons on my list. Now I'm adding the Catholic Church and their major backers. And the Christianist nutzoids in the religious right. When I figure out which products and services enrich these folks, I'm going to avoid them. No dollars for douchebags, say I.
Which is Worse, Killing Civilians or Pointing Out that Civilians are Being Killed?
In a comment thread at Death Wore a Feathered Mullet, Vast Right Wing Conspirator complained that there had been no outrage on the left when Obama sugg sted that more resources in Afghanistan would mean fewer airstrikes and dead civilians https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=12369382&postID=5677258034520274177.
The right wing outrage machine had that one covered in any event, and it is true that the US has been killing civilians in airstrikes. What strikes me is that we are supposed to be outraged not by the deaths of civilians but by mentioning the deaths of civilians.
The right wing outrage machine had that one covered in any event, and it is true that the US has been killing civilians in airstrikes. What strikes me is that we are supposed to be outraged not by the deaths of civilians but by mentioning the deaths of civilians.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Baptism by Proxy
I can't get worked up about Mormons' baptizing my dead relatives by proxy. Do you want to know why? It's because I don't believe that Mormon baptism by proxy does anything. It signifies nothing. My dead relatives' eternal souls are unaffected.
Which is sillier? Believing in baptism by proxy or getting pissed about it even though you don't believe in it?
Besides, if the Mormons turn out to be right, our dead relatives will thank them.
Which is sillier? Believing in baptism by proxy or getting pissed about it even though you don't believe in it?
Besides, if the Mormons turn out to be right, our dead relatives will thank them.
Monday, November 10, 2008
East Ridge Fuzz Out of Control
My niece and her partner have been harassed by the East Ridge police department into penury. The cops have intimidated would be customers by spreading lies about their being drug dealers and threatening customers with adverse consequences if they are seen around the store. The store sells auto accessories such as rims and spinners and what have you, so the clientele is vulnerable to police harassment. My niece's partner is not a drug dealer and never has been. He's a retailer whose only crime is that he is a Palestinian-American. He is a good family man who is simply trying to make a living in the auto accessory business.
He won a settlement from the Dalton police department a few years ago when he caught two officers on his security cameras breaking into his store and talking about how they were going to have to plant some drugs. The harassment was so bad that they closed the store and moved to Florida for a few years. They missed their families in North Georgia, however, so moved back to the area and opened a store in the suburbs of Chattanooga. Evidently, the Dalton cops got the East Ridge cops to pick up where they had left off.
I need to help them find a lawyer who would be willing to take on the East Ridge fuzz.
He won a settlement from the Dalton police department a few years ago when he caught two officers on his security cameras breaking into his store and talking about how they were going to have to plant some drugs. The harassment was so bad that they closed the store and moved to Florida for a few years. They missed their families in North Georgia, however, so moved back to the area and opened a store in the suburbs of Chattanooga. Evidently, the Dalton cops got the East Ridge cops to pick up where they had left off.
I need to help them find a lawyer who would be willing to take on the East Ridge fuzz.
Prop 8
I can't figure out why churches and denominations reckon it's a good idea to write discrimination against gay couples into the marriage laws. If your religious beliefs are such that you cannot tolerate homosexuality, then by all means refrain from marrying someone of the same sex or refrain from welcoming gay folks into your congregations. But there's no Biblical basis for going around funding antigay initiatives or advocating legislation that harms or disadvantages gays. How does that help the cause of religious freedom? It doesn't. It seeks to impose a single religious viewpoint on everyone.
Maybe in soldiarity with gays, we straight folks could stop marrying and accepting the special privileges that the state grants to heterosexual couples. Or we could lobby the state to get out of the marriage business altogether. Who needs the state telling us whom to marry and what the marriage contract means? Get the state out of the divorce business as well. How would you like that, fundies?
I'm on board with the boycott of Utah on account of Mormon funding of Prop 8 in California, and when I find out which businesses contributed to the initiative, I'll boycott them, too.
I have come to believe strongly that Christians should be open and affirming toward our homosexual brothers and sisters. If we love them, we will want them to be happy. It's as simple as that.
Maybe in soldiarity with gays, we straight folks could stop marrying and accepting the special privileges that the state grants to heterosexual couples. Or we could lobby the state to get out of the marriage business altogether. Who needs the state telling us whom to marry and what the marriage contract means? Get the state out of the divorce business as well. How would you like that, fundies?
I'm on board with the boycott of Utah on account of Mormon funding of Prop 8 in California, and when I find out which businesses contributed to the initiative, I'll boycott them, too.
I have come to believe strongly that Christians should be open and affirming toward our homosexual brothers and sisters. If we love them, we will want them to be happy. It's as simple as that.
An Attitude of Gratitude
The theme at church the next few weeks is gratitude. Sunday's sermon was an exhortation to be grateful for God's creation. The preacher brought in a log he had split to show how he had marvelled at the presence of an insect that had burrowed into the log and how he had realized how amazing it was that God provided bugs to break down fallen trees.
At first, I thought he might have been smoking pot or something, because that's the kind of thing I tend to think of when I'm high. "Wow, isn't it amazing that our fingernails grow at just the perfect pace?" "Man, those stars are so huge and I'm so insignificant yet able to ponder my insignificance, something those stars can't do."
But then I realized he really meant it, and I understood what he was saying. He told a story of a woman in a prison camp who learned to thank God for fleas because the presence of fleas in her barracks had discouraged the guards from searching them and confiscating her Bible. Creation is a marvel, and we ought to be grateful.
Now, the preacher didn't get into things like being grateful for deadly viruses and tsunamis and such, but I could extrapolate from what he is saying that we ought to seek a way to be grateful, in some sense, for those things as well as for beautiful flowers, raindrops on roses, whiskers on kittens, and other favorite things.
As a Calvinist, I believe that everything that happens was foreordained from the beginning of time and that it is the will of God. Accordingly, even though I am unable to comprehend it or appreciate it, everything will ultimately work toward God's purposes.
I don't know that I will be able to be grateful for the disease that kills me or mine, but I hope that I will be resigned to it. What I can be grateful for is the fact that I ever existed at all. Every day is truly a gift. To be ungrateful is to focus on what I didn't get. "The power of flight would have been nice."
At first, I thought he might have been smoking pot or something, because that's the kind of thing I tend to think of when I'm high. "Wow, isn't it amazing that our fingernails grow at just the perfect pace?" "Man, those stars are so huge and I'm so insignificant yet able to ponder my insignificance, something those stars can't do."
But then I realized he really meant it, and I understood what he was saying. He told a story of a woman in a prison camp who learned to thank God for fleas because the presence of fleas in her barracks had discouraged the guards from searching them and confiscating her Bible. Creation is a marvel, and we ought to be grateful.
Now, the preacher didn't get into things like being grateful for deadly viruses and tsunamis and such, but I could extrapolate from what he is saying that we ought to seek a way to be grateful, in some sense, for those things as well as for beautiful flowers, raindrops on roses, whiskers on kittens, and other favorite things.
As a Calvinist, I believe that everything that happens was foreordained from the beginning of time and that it is the will of God. Accordingly, even though I am unable to comprehend it or appreciate it, everything will ultimately work toward God's purposes.
I don't know that I will be able to be grateful for the disease that kills me or mine, but I hope that I will be resigned to it. What I can be grateful for is the fact that I ever existed at all. Every day is truly a gift. To be ungrateful is to focus on what I didn't get. "The power of flight would have been nice."
Harpooners for McCain
About three quarters of a mile down the road is the property of a crazy person. He let the historic house get so run down that the town condemned it and last month tore it down. The yard is strewn with junk. There are derelict cars parked all over the 113 acre property. Next door to this man's property is a household that even he refers to as crazy.
All I knew about the household came from the occasional glimpses of an eldely woman in a muumuu and the presence of a harpoon cannon in the front yard. Occasionally, the old man of the house would fire harpoons across the road at a target in the meadow. And they used to have a young woman in her twenties who would stand on the corner by the cattle farm with a backpack on and wave at all the cars all day. She's gone now. She wasn't right in the head folks say.
When they put up a McCain/Palin yard sign, I was not the least bit surprised. On the day after the election they put up a carefully stencilled sign that reads: "UNITED SOCIALIST STATES OF AMERICA OBAMA REDISTRIBUTOR IN CHIEF". It's still up. I just hope the dude doesn't start harpooning people.
At least now I know that the man with the junkyard is a good judge of character and that I don't need to worry about getting to know harpoon dude or his muumuu wearing mistress. .
All I knew about the household came from the occasional glimpses of an eldely woman in a muumuu and the presence of a harpoon cannon in the front yard. Occasionally, the old man of the house would fire harpoons across the road at a target in the meadow. And they used to have a young woman in her twenties who would stand on the corner by the cattle farm with a backpack on and wave at all the cars all day. She's gone now. She wasn't right in the head folks say.
When they put up a McCain/Palin yard sign, I was not the least bit surprised. On the day after the election they put up a carefully stencilled sign that reads: "UNITED SOCIALIST STATES OF AMERICA OBAMA REDISTRIBUTOR IN CHIEF". It's still up. I just hope the dude doesn't start harpooning people.
At least now I know that the man with the junkyard is a good judge of character and that I don't need to worry about getting to know harpoon dude or his muumuu wearing mistress. .
Friday, November 07, 2008
Rehunkification
Remember how I vowed that I was going to lose weight and get in shape? Well, I fell off the wagon and gained it all back and then some. I have no excuse for this. I started back at the gym and have been eating sensibly and have lost three pounds this week. I'm feeling a lot better even with the tiny amount of progress I have made. I aim to drop three pounds a week for as long as I can by cutting calorie intake and exercising.
I bet I really keep it up this time. With God's help, I will.
I bet I really keep it up this time. With God's help, I will.
My Prescription for the GOP
What should the GOP do to recover from its failures? The problem, as I see it, is that the authoritarian Christianist right finally took control of the party and turned it into something truly loathsome. (Leaving aside the Bush regime's corruption and incompetence which the nutzoid right enabled). Small government, more freedom and other used to be GOP principles were abandoned in favor of authoritarianism, nativism, jingoism and rabble rousing populism. Unless the country clubbers and small government types can wrest control of the party from their crazy allies on the far right, they should leave the party en masse and form a "small government conservative wing" of the Democratic Party. That would leave the Christianists with the shell of the GOP and some 20% of the vote, and the enlarged Democratic Party would enjoy a more or less permanent majority.
In my view, if you take out the unreachable authoritarian nutjobs from the equation, most of the rest of America pretty much agrees on just about everything that matters, at least to a close approximation. The country clunbbers and small government types have to recognize how toxic and dangerous their unholy alliance with the religious right was. And now the religious right is ranting about how the GOP lost because it wasn't crazy and authoritarian enough.
In my view, if you take out the unreachable authoritarian nutjobs from the equation, most of the rest of America pretty much agrees on just about everything that matters, at least to a close approximation. The country clunbbers and small government types have to recognize how toxic and dangerous their unholy alliance with the religious right was. And now the religious right is ranting about how the GOP lost because it wasn't crazy and authoritarian enough.
Thursday, November 06, 2008
Anthony Cumia is an Imbecile
Stupid Anthony Cumia on O&A suggested that African Americans are better off because their ancestors were enslaved. I suppose on some level that's true. If their ancestors had not been enslaved, or indeed if any significant change in the timeline occurred, they would never have been born. I probably wouldn't have been born if history had been altered so significantly. I reckon that means that I'm better off because African Americans' ancestors were enslaved.
There's a number of events that, if they had not occurred precisely as they did, would probably have meant that I would never have been born. Hitler and the Holocaust come to mind. If Hitler hadn't come to power and been a genocidal maniac, I wouldn't be here. Does that make it reasonable to argue that I'm better off because of Hitler and the Holocaust?
There's a number of events that, if they had not occurred precisely as they did, would probably have meant that I would never have been born. Hitler and the Holocaust come to mind. If Hitler hadn't come to power and been a genocidal maniac, I wouldn't be here. Does that make it reasonable to argue that I'm better off because of Hitler and the Holocaust?
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
America is Purple
This is a cartogram by population size that shows gradations of blue and red counties. There's a lot of purple areas where folks are pretty evenly divided. This means we'll have to have a significant exchange of folks from blue states to red and vice versa if we decide to go our separate ways.
This, and other cool maps come from:http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mejn/election/2008/
Should Black Folks Thank Me for Not Hating Them?
The Opie and Anthony show that I listen to on the radio during the morning commute was marred by a rant by Anthony about how black folks don't express enough gratitude to white folks for being less racist than they used to be. Jim Norton countered him pretty well by arguing that nobody should be grateful to someone else for doing what they ought to be doing. If I'm less of a douche to you today than I was last week, I don't deserve a thank you.
Anthony seemed to suggest that racism was a thing of the past except among some "extremists" and that black folks should get over it. Now all their problems were their own fault. I know lots of folks who feel that way. They're all white and don't know any black people, so they don't know what the hell they're talking about.
They seem to think that black folks are trying to make them feel guilty for something they didn't do. They're wrong. It's not about guilt; it's about acknowledgement and understanding. Nobody wants their guilt, just for them to get their heads out of their asses. White folks who acknowledge racism and its legacy don't do it out of guilt; they do it because they have been informed and can't evade reality.
That Anthony really is a funny guy, but he's a nitwit about race.
Anthony seemed to suggest that racism was a thing of the past except among some "extremists" and that black folks should get over it. Now all their problems were their own fault. I know lots of folks who feel that way. They're all white and don't know any black people, so they don't know what the hell they're talking about.
They seem to think that black folks are trying to make them feel guilty for something they didn't do. They're wrong. It's not about guilt; it's about acknowledgement and understanding. Nobody wants their guilt, just for them to get their heads out of their asses. White folks who acknowledge racism and its legacy don't do it out of guilt; they do it because they have been informed and can't evade reality.
That Anthony really is a funny guy, but he's a nitwit about race.
Election
I watched election coverage on the cable media last night but fell asleep before the end (I was also guzzling wine). I was awake long enough to catch a holographic interviewee on CNN and to savor the FOX teams' bewilderment. I mostly stuck with MSNBC, and I got the feeling that the anchors were having a hard time pretending that they didn't already know that Obama was winning in a landslide.
I woke up to find that the GOP, which I despise, had been punished fairly sternly, but not as badly as I might have liked. I really wanted to see Saxby Chambliss and Ted Stevens go. I was also rooting for Al Franken. One of my Minnesotan friends tells me he suffered among some MInnesotans because he had used the "F-word" or an "Effenheimer" as my informant called it. Note to Minnesotans: It's OK to be nice, but don't be stupid about it.
Bummer about Prop 8.
I look forward to being disappointed by President Obama and the Democratic Congress.
I woke up to find that the GOP, which I despise, had been punished fairly sternly, but not as badly as I might have liked. I really wanted to see Saxby Chambliss and Ted Stevens go. I was also rooting for Al Franken. One of my Minnesotan friends tells me he suffered among some MInnesotans because he had used the "F-word" or an "Effenheimer" as my informant called it. Note to Minnesotans: It's OK to be nice, but don't be stupid about it.
Bummer about Prop 8.
I look forward to being disappointed by President Obama and the Democratic Congress.
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Voting Was a Breeze
At my polling place, I didn't have to wait in line. I went right up to the table, signed in and voted. The whole process from the time I walked into the pollling place took 45 seconds, most of it because the little old lady at the table couldn't find my name in the book right away. I saw on the TV that some folks have had to wait in long lines for hours to vote. That's unacceptable, and I'd call for the ouster of the election officials who let that happen.
Monday, November 03, 2008
Let's Federalize Federal Elections
I'm not a big fan of elections, and I reckon there are good arguments for other ways of choosing leaders such as random selection or the hereditary principle. I'm also usually not one to promote any expansion of the federal portfolio and would just as soon see the federal government abandoned.
That said, if you're going to have a federal government with elected officials, it doesn't make a lot of sense to me for those elections to be run by county registrars and state secretaries of state with a wide variety of registration requirements and voting methods and allocation of resources among precincts. The helter skelter system in place today invites partisan abuses, fraud and voter suppression. A uniform set of standards for registration, ballots, voting systems, and allocation of voting machines/polling places among precincts would be reasonable for federal elections and would go a long way toward keeping voting and the counting of votes honest. It is possible that a single party could expropriate the process and turn the entire system into a farce, but I reckon it would be much harder to do this on a national level than it is on the local level. Besides, we're pretty much already there only with two parties with a monopoly on the ballot.
I favor early voting so that folks don't have to stand in line and so foul weather doesn't swing elections one way or the other. I can't vote early where I live, so I have to get to a polling place tomorrow come hell or high water. I reckon that voting booths and polling places should be distributed such that the ratio of voting booths to voters is pretty much the same everywhere (except in rural areas where you'd want to avoid having folks travel too far).
I favor loose registration requirements that allow folks to register as late as possible, even on election day. Hell, let's make it automatic for high school seniors and for soldiers and sailors when they sign up for school or service. I'm not too worried about folks' voting under assumed names, because both parties can play that game. Suppressing the votes of actual would be voters is a very much worse problem.
I used to be in favor of making voting more difficult, but that was just a way of undermining democracy. I'm still not a proponent of democracy, but I'd rather be up front about my position and let it prevail or fail on its merits.
I'd be interested to hear arguments against federalizing federal elections. It has never bothered me to be wrong; if it did I'd be a wreck.
That said, if you're going to have a federal government with elected officials, it doesn't make a lot of sense to me for those elections to be run by county registrars and state secretaries of state with a wide variety of registration requirements and voting methods and allocation of resources among precincts. The helter skelter system in place today invites partisan abuses, fraud and voter suppression. A uniform set of standards for registration, ballots, voting systems, and allocation of voting machines/polling places among precincts would be reasonable for federal elections and would go a long way toward keeping voting and the counting of votes honest. It is possible that a single party could expropriate the process and turn the entire system into a farce, but I reckon it would be much harder to do this on a national level than it is on the local level. Besides, we're pretty much already there only with two parties with a monopoly on the ballot.
I favor early voting so that folks don't have to stand in line and so foul weather doesn't swing elections one way or the other. I can't vote early where I live, so I have to get to a polling place tomorrow come hell or high water. I reckon that voting booths and polling places should be distributed such that the ratio of voting booths to voters is pretty much the same everywhere (except in rural areas where you'd want to avoid having folks travel too far).
I favor loose registration requirements that allow folks to register as late as possible, even on election day. Hell, let's make it automatic for high school seniors and for soldiers and sailors when they sign up for school or service. I'm not too worried about folks' voting under assumed names, because both parties can play that game. Suppressing the votes of actual would be voters is a very much worse problem.
I used to be in favor of making voting more difficult, but that was just a way of undermining democracy. I'm still not a proponent of democracy, but I'd rather be up front about my position and let it prevail or fail on its merits.
I'd be interested to hear arguments against federalizing federal elections. It has never bothered me to be wrong; if it did I'd be a wreck.
Sunday, November 02, 2008
Electoral Vote Map I Endorse
I've been following trends in political polling on this site: http://www.electoral-vote.com/ It features an electoral college map with summaries of polls for the various states. You can also see a graph of how the electoral map has changed over the last few months and compare it with 2004.
A Moose in Our Yard; Good Day at Church
There was a moose in the back of our house this morning. Jasper alerted us to its presence with unusually enthusiastic barking. At first, I couldn't figure out what it was, but it turned in full profile and was unmistakably a moose. It was an enormous she moose. I couldn't wait to tell everyone in the choir about it.
One of the assistant preachers was in the pulpit today, the one with the gift of prophecy. Boy did I feel like just about the crappiest Christian who ever lived when it was over. He really spoke the truth about our being, before anything else, citizens of the Kingdom of God with a calling to be different from the world, to love God and our neighbors in radical ways. He preached of implementing "Kingdom solutions" to various problems, all of which involved the Body of Christ acting freely in the spirit of love and service. For us, the election on November 4 is of tangential importance because there will still be work in the Kingdom to be done on November 5 and every day thereafter. I feel inspired to do something for someone, to open my heart to possibilities of service. Maybe this time the feeling won't pass so quickly, and I'll actually lift a finger to serve God and my conspecifics.
We had a last meeting of the faith and politics discussion group, the most satisfying so far because we got down to core issues about how to disagree with one another and how to find common ground through action. Nobody said a thing about the election, but we talked about how to put our faith into practice in addressing problems such as injustice, poverty, hunger, and all kinds of needs. We shared how overwhelming it all seems and how it might help to focus on meeting needs within the local community. We shared how being a better neighbor might be an excellent place to start.
The discussion was close to my heart in that we had a focus on voluntary, collaborative, non-coercive solutions informed by our faith. There was a substantial amount of common ground on this point from Republicans and Democrats alike, and I didn't feel like such an odd duck. The group seemed to come to a general consensus that solutions that were freely undertaken with no coercion were infinitely preferable to the alternative, although there was some disagreement about what to do if consensual solutions did not suffice. The preacher, who was facilitator, did not want to address the desirability or necessity of the state but to focus on how Christians of various political viewpoints can act together in the work of the Kingdom of God.
I'm thinking that my own advocacy of anarchism should focus less on a hypothetical stateless end state (which I won't live to see) and more on outlining alternative non-coercive solutions to problems. In addition, I can do more to point out problems that are artifacts of the state itself. Maybe a little more praxis and a lot less theory are what I need.
One of the assistant preachers was in the pulpit today, the one with the gift of prophecy. Boy did I feel like just about the crappiest Christian who ever lived when it was over. He really spoke the truth about our being, before anything else, citizens of the Kingdom of God with a calling to be different from the world, to love God and our neighbors in radical ways. He preached of implementing "Kingdom solutions" to various problems, all of which involved the Body of Christ acting freely in the spirit of love and service. For us, the election on November 4 is of tangential importance because there will still be work in the Kingdom to be done on November 5 and every day thereafter. I feel inspired to do something for someone, to open my heart to possibilities of service. Maybe this time the feeling won't pass so quickly, and I'll actually lift a finger to serve God and my conspecifics.
We had a last meeting of the faith and politics discussion group, the most satisfying so far because we got down to core issues about how to disagree with one another and how to find common ground through action. Nobody said a thing about the election, but we talked about how to put our faith into practice in addressing problems such as injustice, poverty, hunger, and all kinds of needs. We shared how overwhelming it all seems and how it might help to focus on meeting needs within the local community. We shared how being a better neighbor might be an excellent place to start.
The discussion was close to my heart in that we had a focus on voluntary, collaborative, non-coercive solutions informed by our faith. There was a substantial amount of common ground on this point from Republicans and Democrats alike, and I didn't feel like such an odd duck. The group seemed to come to a general consensus that solutions that were freely undertaken with no coercion were infinitely preferable to the alternative, although there was some disagreement about what to do if consensual solutions did not suffice. The preacher, who was facilitator, did not want to address the desirability or necessity of the state but to focus on how Christians of various political viewpoints can act together in the work of the Kingdom of God.
I'm thinking that my own advocacy of anarchism should focus less on a hypothetical stateless end state (which I won't live to see) and more on outlining alternative non-coercive solutions to problems. In addition, I can do more to point out problems that are artifacts of the state itself. Maybe a little more praxis and a lot less theory are what I need.
Saturday, November 01, 2008
Turkey in the Oven
Mrs Vache Folle reads the Penzey's catalogue for recipe ideas. The last one had a great recipe for leftover turkey curry and for stuffing. So right now we have a turkey roasting in the oven along with a baking dish of homemade stuffing. Vache Folle will eat well tonight. And tomorrow, too, because that's when the turkey curry gets made.
We roast a turkey several times a year. It's not just for holidays.
For Thanksgiving, I want to roast a goose this year. Or, we might just eat at the Mohonk Mountain House over in the Catskills. It's just the two of us (four if you count Messrs Baggett and Stone who shouldn't eat too much poultry anyway because it gives them the runs). The Mohonk deal includes a day pass to the house and grounds, which are beautiful any time of year. After dinner (lunch to you Yankees), we can walk off our excesses on the hiking paths.
We roast a turkey several times a year. It's not just for holidays.
For Thanksgiving, I want to roast a goose this year. Or, we might just eat at the Mohonk Mountain House over in the Catskills. It's just the two of us (four if you count Messrs Baggett and Stone who shouldn't eat too much poultry anyway because it gives them the runs). The Mohonk deal includes a day pass to the house and grounds, which are beautiful any time of year. After dinner (lunch to you Yankees), we can walk off our excesses on the hiking paths.
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