Friday, November 30, 2007

And a few cats more...

Total B-S

When we seem to be losing, the warmongers are all like "Well, you have to give it time" and blah blah blah.

Well, I say , just give our total defeat time. Because nothing says clueless like arming the former Baathists and the Iranian-dominated Badr Corps, and encouraging ethnic cleansing and the formation of defensible neighborhoods. Our former out-of-control brushfire war has turned into a neat stack of time bombs, all of them the total antithesis of the pluralism and open society that characterizes a democratic republic.

We have a moron at the helm spinning a wheel that's not connected to the rudder while the ship goes on the rocks..

Give it time.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Still Uncertain: For Whom the Bell Tolls

By 1820 the Federalists, as a presidential party, had simply disappeared. A small state cast three electoral votes for John Adams so that Washington's unanimous elections would remain unique. Monroe's election was otherwise unanimous.

The reason for the Republican (no, not today's Republicans) hegemony was "simple"- the Republicans had adopted all of the Federalist positions.

Certainly, in today's world, a Republican will never be legitimately elected President unless they have recognized the challenge of global warming. Sadly, this does not rule out another Republican President who does not recognize the problem.

A Study in Calico

A Study In Sepia

Sunday, November 18, 2007

Political Original Sin

The prototype or ur original sin of our political system was- and remains- slavery. As little as this may be understood, it is common to make obeisance to this fact.

Today, however, we also labor under a second 'original sin'- our failure to grant statehood or citizenship to the members of our 'empire'.

This was the rock on which the Roman Republic foundered. The Romans, having formed their government of tribes, could not figure out how to admit to citizenship people who were not born into the tribes. For our part, we have been declining in intelligence to the point where we can't figure it out either.

Perhaps the US would not survive if we offered statehood to the Puerto Ricans and territorial status to the Iraqis. 'Perhaps' is still better odds than the 'won't' we appear to be heading for today.

It is a common misconception that because governments are formed of words, they will still keep working even if a few parts are missing or broken. In fact, a government will continue to function in those cases- but it won't be the one the words describe, and it won't do what the words intended.

The fault lies, not in our Constitution, but in us.

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Of Time And The River Flowing

For the best commentary on current events, I turn to Page Smith's People's History of the United States, published in 1976.

When it comes to education, for example, we now know what Thomas Jefferson suspected- that talent is distributed evenly among the populace without regard to race, sex, or color. The society that does not provide a universal free education is simply wasting a certain amount of the talent that society already possesses.

Liberalism might help its own cause if it could state clearly such a basic economic principle before going on to talk about how good you'll feel if you help others. Heaven knows, the idea is hardly new and it's been tested and proven by time.

Look homeward, angel.

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Rain

When the sun is out there's not much to do other than to sit around and remember that the girls who look good in shorts don't think you look good in shorts.

When it rains, girls who don't look good in shorts look better. But wait- there's more! Rain is interesting to watch. It's interesting to be out in the rain. It makes rivulets and pools and lakes and streams and rivers and oceans, all of which are interesting to watch. And it makes sounds, a glorious variety of sounds human drummers can only envy.

It is very rare to have a year in which there is not enough sun to fuel photosynthesis. It is very common to have a year in which there is not enough rain to fuel photosynthesis.

Go ahead, push your "contrarian" sun-loving viewpoint, but as for me, give me water, or give me death!

Saturday, November 10, 2007

Friday, November 9, 2007

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Who Does He Think He's Fooling?

Bush is going on about how Musharraf should hold elections.

Memo to Bush- the American people couldn't care less about whether there are elections in Pakistan, and why should they, when only one candidate can run for office? When you have totally messed this up they will take note of the new disaster, and that's when you should start blaming Clinton or telling us the dog ate your homework.

Until then, you might as well shut up. The only person you're fooling is yourself- and that's no big trick.

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

More Mutu

The Irony! The Irony!

Secretary of State Rice offers some advice to Turkey's leader Erdogan, who is under domestic pressure to respond to terrorist attacks:
Rice highlighted “the need to look for an effective strategy, not just one that’s going to strike out, somehow, and not deal with the problem.”