If we are really going to discuss Sarah Palin's intellect or experience, we need to go back and look at Teddy Kennedy's intellect and experience when he first started running for office. He was generally considered, if not outright dumb, at least not very smart and certainly totally lacking in any accomplishment.
A while back, I was watching an older documentary about the Kennedy men (the Kennedy women never seem to rate much coverage) and it reminded me how Teddy Kennedy was viewed when his father first decided Teddy should be a U.S. Senator - in and out of the family he was considered not very smart.
To get Teddy started politically, Papa Kennedy arranged to have a loyal Kennedy family friend fill the U.S. Senate seat that had been vacated by John Kennedy's ascension to the presidency; the friend was to hold the seat for Teddy until Teddy reached the legal age to be a senator. Teddy was widely thought (even in the Kennedy family) to be not very smart and not at all accomplished (his only accomplishment to that date was having been born a son of Joe Kennedy Sr.).
The Kennedy family was worried that Teddy wasn't ready for the big leagues, and they were right to worry. It took all of the old man's money and political muscle to put Teddy into that senate seat. Soon, the word got around that Teddy had been kicked out of Harvard for sending a friend to take an exam for him. Of course, Teddy (being the old man's son) was soon readmitted but the news of that cheating and subsequent expulsion could have ended Teddy's political career right then, and would have if he had not been born a Kennedy. However, the press guys and women were in love with the Kennedys, so it would take more than cheating to dim Teddy's star. Soon, rumors of Teddy's high-living looked like that might end Teddy's political career but, no, drinking, womanizing and even letting a young woman drown when he might have saved her life was not sufficient to end Teddy's political life. He was a Kennedy and all things Kennedy were forgiven.
When Teddy decided to run against incumbent President Jimmy Carter for the Democratic nomination in 1980, Teddy couldn't even come up with a rational reason for wanting to be president. People were aghast at his incoherence. Yet, this hard-drinking, womanizing, callous, and intellectually dim man is now recalled as the greatest senator in American history. Go figure.
Teddy had the benefit of the powerful Kennedy political machine, the great Kennedy wealth and a father who would stop at nothing to advance his sons. What would Teddy have been without the help of the brilliant men that had swarmed around John Kennedy and were eager to help another Kennedy rise politically? Hard to say, but I doubt any of us would have heard much about Teddy. The Kennedy brain trust (as they were known) wrote his speeches, guided him through the political maze, and wrote articles and books advancing his star. Few men in American history have had the benefit of such an army of political and intellectual heavyweights to carry him along as Teddy had.
Forgotten, now, is how skeptically people viewed Teddy Kennedy's intelligence when he first started out.
We can only wonder how Sarah would fare if she were a Kennedy and had access to that cadre of talent, political muscle and Kennedy money to assist her.
Some sad news: This weekend my shark died. He was a small, fierce little sucker and the last survivor of a once thriving tropical fish aquarium that I decided to let die off naturally. (I admit: The arrival of the rescue dogs Monty Hall and Bob Barker caused me to lose interest in my fish....) So I say Goodbye Mr Shark! Watery trails to you...until we meet again...
I feel like starting up "Gay of the Day" again....so I will...right now....Gay (or lesbian) of the Day: Billie Jean King. This weekend a friend's elderly mother referred to her, with affection, as "the first lesbian" which made me very happy...I do love me some tennis.
It's lonely on the outskirts. Being on the outskirts of the outskirts is even lonelier still. Yet there is satisfaction here on the blogs that are outside the mainstream. Months ago, just after the election, I wrote that there was no loss to be had in questioning Obama. If he turned out to be all he and Axelrod promised he was - the country would be better for it and we - liberals, moderates, and conservatives -did our duty in questioning him without shame. In a free country everyone must question leadership. We are not 'consumers', we are citizens. If our most strident criticisms were proven wrong - well - so be it. I've eaten worse meals than crow pot pie.
On the other hand if, as indicated by the actual facts available on Obama during the entire election season, he turned out to be a duplicitous, arrogant, narcissistic, speechifying light weight who was lying overtly and covertly all along, then those who stood their ground would transform from "deadenders' into prophets before everyone's eyes. Becoming a prophet in this instance was a low risk bet. Obama made it an easy call. There was never any chance he would be the President he promised he'd be.
Eleven months in the road to prophethood is cleared of all brush and looks to be wide open from here to the horizon. None of those who refused the siren call of Obamamania will be dining on crow anytime soon. We probably never will. To mash up the metaphor a bit - it's safe to say that the crow dinner reservation has been handed off to the Kos family. Even so, the BHO victory restaurant is emptying and will close up shop soon enough.
The real deadenders now are the likes of Andrew Sullivan and Matt Yglesias - men who loved blindly and nearly unconditionally. Misguided children at places like the Dailykos and Huffpo are on a dead end road too. They chose hope over truth. Hallucination over reality. The bender that will surely prove the naysayers wrong - over sobriety.
In one year many of these mega children have passed quickly through the stages of ego deflation. Mindless glee (post election), fighting back (mockery and slander), denial, (those tea parties are just crazy racists. They mean nothing.) and most recently - excuses.
Excuses are the last stage before they turn completely (Many will have an abrupt cognitive break here- insisting they always knew Obama was not the man advertised.) or they will disappear - hunkering down in some hole, insisting that Obama is a great man and sometime soon the rest of us will come around. This will make the circle complete. Magical thinking started the journey and will be its end. Along the way there will be plenty of "Well, he's better than McCain would have been." A declamation similar to "jobs created or saved." As these remarks are desperate speculation, I consider them preparation for the final descent into an all encompassing magical world.
Via Riverdaughter and Glenn Greenwald we see a fine deconstruction of some recent excuses. Sure Obama has backtracked and ignored the ideas that animated his campaign - but hey who needs principles when a Democrat is in the White House? Taking principled stances only applies when Republicans are in power.
Bush bad. Obama good. Beat chest. Sip latte. Repeat.
It would be swell if I found the disintegration of the Obama apologists heart wrenching. It would speak to a personal magnanimity. But I ain't there. Watching Sullivan try to re-auction his soul in public satisfies mine. Nor do I put much into worrying about the direction of the country. I gave up on that last year. Hillary Clinton really was my last hope on that front. A country blessed by landing the right person at the right time for 230 years - ran out of grace. In 2008 we needed diligent, hardworking, competent leadership to rise to the top. We got Obama. I've come to the depressing conclusion that I am a pre-iceberg passenger on the Titanic fully aware of how this voyage ends. The best choice now is to watch closely and know where the nearest lifeboat hangs.
This blog sometimes posts pieces that I do not agree with. What I have to say is important to me or I would not be keep saying it. However, it is not more important to me than those who comment having a conversation or mixing it up (an argument is usually my personal preference.).
That said, regular Zombiehero's piece on "climategate" fits the L.R. bill. He gave me permission to cross post it - but up thinking about that - why not GO THERE - and read it. He works hard on his blog. Also, I don't disagree with ZH's thoughts on this topic. I'm ambivalent about the disclosure of the University of East Anglia emails so far. But many are not.
From his post: Much to the chagrin to the alarmist side of the debate, there is no "consensus." The debate is far from "over." These series of email show how some reportedly "reputable" scientists have been doing not so scientific things to the data. They have been hiding data, messaging data, threatening journals not to publish contrarian views and much much more.
Refreshing. Jolie 'hates' Obama. She thinks he's a fraud...Hey Angelina, Christmas gift idea - our poster!!!! As seen in equality marches!!! That are on TV!!! Buy it here!!!
More proof the Nobel peace prize committee turned the prize into a joke this year. In agreement with President G W Bush's policy (and disagreement with President Clinton's) Obama is refusing to sign the landmine ban treaty.
Define "Normal" In his essay 'Imagine No Religion', Edgar Dahl confirms John Lennon's observation that imagining a world without religion "isn't hard to do." It's especially easy for Dahl, who was born & raised in communist East Germany, where religious belief was virtually non-existent.
Dahl begins his essay, which is one of several in50 Voices of Disbelief: Why We Are Atheists, by having his fellow ex-DDR citizens responding to a German census question, "Do you believe in God" with "No, I’m normal." And, while Dahl's pejorative use of the word "normal" may raise hackles, it does expose the hubris of believers who assume their way of thinking is inherently "normal".
How to Kill God in One Easy Step For half a century, the Warsaw Bloc served as one, giant social experiment. Generations of eastern Europeans were raised and lived in a society devoid of religion. Those ancient pagan traditions, once reworked into the Christian Nativity, were reworked yet again into the secular "Winterfest". Most importantly, children were not indoctrinated in religious belief or ritual. In Dahl's world, only a very tiny, fringe minority claimed "to be in contact with gods, demons, and other beings no one has ever seen." Dahl and the other 98.7% of the population lived perfectly normal, fulfilling lives that did not include a god.
Although church activities were constrained, and atheism proclaimed, religious practice was never forbidden in the East. Even if you faced a certain amount of derision and ostracism, you were free to openly worship. Yet conversion was virtually nil in the East. In a society where the existence of God was not a given, and worship not an integral part of culture, practically nobody experienced Road to Damascus moments.
Nor has twenty years under the completely free, officially "Christian state" of the German Federal Republic changed anything. As the census numbers show, former East Germans are still perfectly content to remain god-free. Herein lies a dirty little secret the communist leaders understood well. To get religion to fade away, you don't need to ban it, you only need to stop propping it up.
Conversion of the majority is vital for a religion to survive. Christianity would still be a minor Jewish sect had it not been for Paul’s "infectious" zeal for proselytizing the entire world. No religion can perpetuate without coopting the workings of society and assimilating everyone into its status quo.
Expand or Die This fact is borne out by cults, which must isolate themselves to survive. Had the Mormons remained in upstate New York, or made it out to San Francisco as planned, instead of getting stuck in the desert, they'd be an historical footnote today. The LDS, whose beliefs and practices strike standard Christians as decidedly "abnormal", can only thrive where three-quarters of the population are adherents.
The grand social experiment of the Warsaw Bloc proved that, unless a society pro-actively imposes religious belief on its members, most crucially on its children, and establishes religious practice as the norm, people do not, on the whole, spontaneously find belief in deities.
For any social behavior, there's a tipping point beyond which it cannot long exist. In Europe, religion is well past the point of no return. The levels there of "irreligion", defined as including atheism, deism, nontheism and agnosticism, are striking:
Country Irreligious
Sweden 83% Denmark 80 Norway 78 Czech 74 France 73 UK 71 Finland 69 Netherlands 66 Albania 63 Belgium 61 Hungary 59 Slovenia 59 Spain 59 Germany 57 Switzerland 56 Slovakia 51
Serbia 45 Austria 42 Ireland 42 Croatia 30 Greece 30 Portugal 27 Italy 26 Poland 23 Romania 18
The real story may be more pronounced, as in many countries, people give only lip service to God. Spain, where four decades of fascist/catholic oppression was lifted in 1975, has exhibited the most dramatic apostasy. Today, barely 19% of Spaniards are practicing Christians, with an average age of 50 for supplicants. Ireland, not surprisingly, lags behind the rest of Western Europe. But even there, the loosening of religious orthodoxy portends that nation's inevitable loss of religious sentiment.
God on the Run These trends conflict with a central tenet of belief. If God, through an assortment of tangible or metaphysical channels, makes His presence known to each individual, why does He do so exclusively in cultures where His existence has already been declared by mortal authorities? If belief in God was somehow the "norm" for a human being, then believers would have popped up like mushrooms in Eastern Europe once anti-church regimes had been overthrown. Similarly, the removal of the oppressive Franco regime in Spain, with its enforced state Catholicism, should not have precipitated a drastic drop-off in worship.
The standard rejoinder is that conventional theist practice is metamorphosing into a nuanced, and ultimately more profound, deism. Which to a certain extent is undeniably true, and, all in all, is an improvement for individuals and societies alike. Whether this trend will stabilize at deism, or will continue to plummet into general non-belief, is a question that won't be fully answered for decades.
One factor that reflects unfavorably on the prospects for a sustainable & robust deism is the tendency for deists to raise agnostic children, who in turn tend to raise atheists. This slippery slope is recognized by the traditional churches, who fight mightily to stop the slightest drift from orthodoxy.
Yet deism truly is the last resort for belief in a god. Ever since we first created them, we've had to continually relocate our gods, as our expanding understanding of our world exposed their former abodes to scrutiny. From Mount Olympus or a strange box inside a temple, then to (the) heaven(s), our deities were repeatedly uprooted, driven to increasingly ethereal homes. God has now arrived at His last stop, a non-physical dimension which, because it is unobservable, immeasurable and completely undetectable, offers Him eternal sanctuary from the prying eyes of Science and Reason.
Common Ground - For Now For much of this ongoing divine exodus, the Deist, the Agnostic and the Atheist can travel in reasonably harmonious company-if we resist the urge either to convert or to marginalize the other. "Official" religion, whatever its irrefutable value to early civilization, is of no further use to any of us. In ever greater numbers-in modern societies-former practitioners of the public religion are turning to a private, personal deity for meaning and sustenance. In ever greater numbers-in modern societies-people are discovering they can lead perfectly happy and meaningful lives without resort to any deity at all. These trends can only be reversed through stifling Science and Reason, and by reimposing an official religion. Such desperate counterattacks, which are but the death spasms of orthodoxy, can be observed today.
I'm Normal...err...Okay, You're Okay Whether, in the aftermath of the demise of traditional religion, the majority of people will embrace deism or atheism, remains to be seen. If the former, then it will continue to be normal (sic) for a person to believe in a god. Indeed, the believer usually claims that belief truly is the "natural" state for a person-that belief in a god is a prerequisite to a purposeful and ethical existence. That claim is belied, however, by the steadily growing ranks of nonbelievers, like Dahl and yours truly, who find it very easy to lead purposeful, ethical lives without a god. And we feel perfectly normal doing so.
Note to readers: First, I am grateful as hell for all of you. Happy Thanksgiving!
Second, Tamerlane has a piece on atheism coming up tonight. I'm leaving it on top until Friday morning. Let's keep the conversation going.
I repeat, Happy Thanksgiving to all! Might I suggest that a good way to start Thanksgiving is reading Mr. Lincoln's second Inaugural address. He, not the Pilgrims, gave birth to this holiday as we know it today. Unlike nearly all others, it is not yet totallyoverrun by base consumerism.
Poll: 2009 creepiest TV "personalities". Top five move on to the finals.
A spirited discussion about Mrs. Palin erupted here a few posts down. After, having thought I'd write little about Palin going forward, that conversation got me stewing again. The reason my thoughts on Palin had run there course is simple: After resigning the governorship of Alaska it seemed to me that she had removed herself as a viable national player. If she intends to run for President one day it was, in my book, a mistake.
Now she's on a national book tour and making headlines again. For a moment she is as present as she was last Fall. Like the campaign, the critiques of her are rarely evenhanded - and often vicious.
For those who did not want Hillary Clinton to win last year - it's annoying for those of us who did to have to explain our frustration and horror at Palin's treatment. Many of us are again put in the uncomfortable position of calling the elephant in the room...well....an elephant. The tactic of degrading Clinton based on gender was transferred to Palin. There is no denying it. In fact, she was sexualized more easily - making the slutty stewardess jokes easier for late night comics.
If one was an Obama fan the sexist bile directed at Hillary was par for the course, a part of the conversation. It became the context in which many Obama fanatics saw the world. The evil woman was in the way of our beloved man. Even now, suggesting to an Obama supporter that much of the criticism of Clinton sprung from gender fear is met with incredulity - though the evidence is overwhelming. If "Yes, but Hillary is a controlling bitch", isn't spoken - it's right under the surface. That was always their final answer.
Liberals who had nursed resentments about the Clintons since the 90s let loose the full barrage on Hillary. The ease with which this resentment became sexist vulgarity still has me shell shocked. Cunt, Witch, Bitch, Evil, Kill her, Run her over and leave her by the side of the road. Keith Olbermann implied on his show that she ought to be killed.
We all saw the comments on liberal sites. We all know those two 'liberal' kids above thought their shirts were funny. The Huffington Post, the Dailykos, Democratic Underground and Americablog became clubhouses for those hankering to express their most vile, sexist thoughts. And they did. All in the name of supporting Obama. All came from alleged liberals. All from people who claimed the mantel of equality and justice. Palin was hung in effigy as a "joke" last Halloween, a stunt that every feminist in America should have intoned against. Most were silent.
Not her beliefs. Not her convictions. Not her record. Her VAGINA. Palin's vagina is the font of all evil in the galaxy.God Lord, I wish there was something deeper at play in that remark. Some tiny shard of reality. But there isn't. Men like Sullivan - and we've recently discovered they are still legion - live in terror of any vagina they believe is hell bent on gobbling them up. Sullivan is an extraordinary gasbag - even by the low standards of his readership and clique. Still, he gets to the rub of it for many men. Any woman who does not play by the rules set by men must be stopped. Any woman who questions an adored male figure must be hounded. Burn the witches! Hillary in the spring! Palin in the Fall!
Men from James Howard Kunstler, to Chris Matthews, to Sullivan have let their inner mommy demons run wild for months now.
The hate transition from Clinton to Palin was seamless. Being conservative, Palin gave the Left a little more to work with - but it was hardly relevant. The centering emotion was the adolescent male fear ofvaginas with teeth.
My anger about this topic is not based in politics. Palin's are troubling. It's the phenomenon of denial that disturbs. It is the counterpoint to my frustration with the Obama cult last year - a refusal to see reality. The "Obots" - and I include much of the media - refused to see Obama. They excused his massive flop flops, they ignored his financial backing from Wall Street and Soros, they pretended he'd taken principled stances on issues when he had avoided them, they ignored his vapid, almost empty record. This refusal now has consequences. Obama is what many who did look closely at him suspected all along : a weak, indecisive, inexperienced man who is being rolled by everyone from Nancy Pelosi to the Japanese Prime Minister.
Will those who despise Palin, and despised Hillary before her, ever come out of denial about the real basis of their contempt? Maybe. After all, coming out of denial about Obama has been the nation's group project in 2009. It's possible Palin will be judged on her merits and the content of her character at some point.
In the mean time, someone needs to tell Andrew Sullivan that the gnawing on his testicles is something other than a politician's vagina.
When historians look back on 2009 I think they'll be intrigued by the fact that did that we did not rebel. The 10% unemployment rate is farcically low, and everyone knows it. The belief that Wall Street is actively working to drain wealth from the middle class is now widespread. Portions of the country are in what amounts to collapse. 50 million went hungry at some point this year. Interest rates can't defy common sense much longer.
Yet, to observe the stock market and listen to financial news it seems we've turned the corner. Happy days are - almost - here again...
I see no reason to trust the media or those buying into the market revival. Or, for that matter, 90% of the economists yapping on TV. Their track records are appalling. I don't take advice from dairy farmers on brain surgery either. Though, dairy farmers probably have guessed the trajectory of the economy better than most alleged economists. In fact, I'm sure they would have.
With propaganda overwhelming the news on the economy - I decided to observe what I could, where I could.
Things are observably grimmer in my urban neighborhood than they were a year ago. The homeless outpost along side the local library has tripled in size. Panhandlers are much more prevalent. The house across the street has a sign that has almost comically gone from for sale, to for lease, to for rent - it's still a tomb. The empty, reposed house around the corner has trash piling up. Most of my neighborhood is built around apartment buildings. For rent signs are on nearly every one. The population of Koreatown has not noticeably declined - the only explanation is that people have doubled and tripled up. The person I know in the area has gone back to her native - very poor - country to make some money. A stunning penthouse apartment across the street is empty along with a portion of the rest of the building. The police presence has ratcheted up - with good reason. Petty crime is back with a vengeance.
All of this in a city of astounding, conspicuous wealth. In fact, like so many other LA neighborhoods, in mine poverty exists directly adjacent to wealth. Even the wealth is showing stress. My walks down a section of Wilshire , Blvd., that only a few years ago was infused with piles of money from Korea, has lost its least sustainable businesses. Now there are empty art galleries and failed high end coffee houses. The gorgeous condo skyscraper completed in 2008 on top of the nearby Metro station is empty, even after the sale prices were slashed 50%. The parking structure for presumed tenants is now open as a park and ride for subway riders. My neighborhood was gentrifying rapidly just a year and a half ago. Now it's in full retreat.
And everyone I know has reigned in their spending. Everyone.
My little slice is just that: little. Yet, how can it be in such stark contrast to what's blaring across the media? If we are in a "recovery" - it's a use of the word I do not comprehend.
Thou shalt not be gay and lead. If thou shall be gay thou shall sit quietly in a back pew and put money in the basket only. And never have sex or be happy. Or experience romantic love. Or family life. Or do any work except in hair salons, in design, and punching up tired jokes straight men who are afraid of women write for bad TV aimed at other straight men who are afraid of women....for if you do anything else it would be clear that my life of quiet desperation f-ing sucks...ECLAsplits over gay clergy-Homophobic Lutherans plan to take their toys and leave if the denomination decides to behave like...uh...Jesus would.... -
Thanks some dude in South Dakota.
Heterosexuals should be disallowed from marrying and raising children...their track record is appalling. Mom encourages cop to taze her ten year old daughter. FYI: in the state where this happened it is illegal for hardworking, sane, compassionate, loving gay people to adopt. -
When this blog started the word "liberal" had broad, inclusive and positive meaning to me. It carried with it much that I believed in - a vigorous, open and compassionate government, strength, justice, hand up-not hand out, egalitarianism...It felt good to be on a "team" that included, in my mind, forward thinkers of all parties and labels. I liked being called a liberal - even when it was meant as an insult. Even when liberalism's blind spots and misguided side trips were taken into account - the "fighting liberals" were still people to be admired whether they be Hubert Humphrey, Bobby Kennedy, Bella Abzug, or - recently - Dennis Kucinich and Anthony Wiener.
But I can't sustain the word anymore. I can't fight for the word "liberal" - actually I do not want to. The apparatus that - even recently - at least gave lip service to the values stated above has been overrun by the worst kind of corrupt buffoons. To be sure, my views have not stagnated. I questioned much last year. Still, by any traditional measure, I'm still a liberal in the American scheme of things. I just do not want to feel obligated to the word. It hangs over me every time I sit down to write and I'm tired of it.
This is all a lead up to saying I'll be double posting here and here for a while as I figure out how Liberal Rapture should move forward - or if it should move forward at all. The other blog is just my name and whatever title finally suits me....which seems so much simpler...the baggage attached is all mine.
American liberalism has gone off the rails in the age of Obama and Pelosi. The battle for the word 'liberal' is not one I wish to expend energy on. Glenn Beck can have it.
This post is from my "other" blog. that I don't quite know what to do with. I want it here too.
Atheism fascinates me. I both admire and pity atheists. Admire, because I think it takes a huge reservoir of faith to nullify a first cause. Pity because among atheists there often seems an overriding desire - an obsession really - for all things to be rational and sensible. Though, rationality is - thank God - the primary impulse of our age - it has not won out entirely. An entirely rational- and almost certainly meaningless - world sounds like hell to me. Mystery has its place.
Among the most vocal atheists, the determination to disprove God is elevated to...well...a holy war. This war never seems to escape its real subtext - which is a distaste for, resentment of, and condescension toward religion. Christopher Hitchens book God is Not Great openly states this bias in the subtitle: How Religion Poisons Everything. It is an astute and compelling book. The attacks on religion are mostly deserved. Religion is full of barbarity. But a thoughtful theist comes away with no good reason to stop being a thoughtful theist. A deeper reading of the book, with just a smattering of knowledge about Hitchens, renders the entire thing an obvious exercise in alcoholic defensiveness. Edgar Dahl's piece - Imagine No Religion - falls squarely into the Fight Religion or Fight God conundrum in the "Atheist community". Dahl condescends to religion - of course- then makes the usual arguments against the existence of God. The arguments are good. But he just doesn't get it. His reasons for arguing against religion and God; morality is not contingent on religion and belief in an "old man in the sky" is an absurdity, don't matter to religious and non religious believers. Why don't atheists see this? Smart people can easily see that morality is not contingent on religion. One can also ignore the Bible and still believe in God.
The issue atheists do not understand is that morality and stories are not the reason religion emerged and still exists. Religion acts as an funnel for a basic human desire - the desire to matter. The desire to feel that one's life has meaning which goes hand in hand with the consciousness of self. Religion is expert at infusing meaning. Everyone of us has an internal narrative about who we are. Until atheists come up with a narrative that does not add up to everything is accidental - religion will be just fine.
Additionally, until we evolve past our basic wiring to survive, religion will have a hold on people in that it contextualizes morality. Morality is always in spite of the survival instinct. Giving of what one has, saving a life, not stealing, whatever - all are about setting aside a survival impulse. (Selflessness with ones offspring is a survival imperative.) To be moral, a story helps. Jesus loves me more...karmic debt erased....Without that narrative back up many would, in fact, devolve into chaos at this point in our evolution. We are just not wired to do good for good's sake. Even rich 1st worlders are charitable for a payoff. Often just to feel good. But in the moment of feeling good, the fact of death is lessened. In Los Angeles, David Geffen "survives" by paying for and putting his name on buildings.
Every one of the arguments the Dahl makes is sound. If he expects to argue religion away, every one is irrelevant. In the rational age, many of those who believe do so in spite of the stories religion tells - not because of them.
In fact, the author finds meaning in a lack of God as surely as a theist finds meaning in the a belief in God. His life takes on meaning by being an atheist. The "I know better" sensibility is very satisfying. The "Do you believe in God?" question, followed by "No, I'm normal" in the piece is the perfect expression of this. It is also absurd. The greatest scientific minds of the last 400 years - Newton and Einstein were theists.
AMENDMENT/RE-WRITE here: Einstein could in no way be construed as a believer in a traditional God. He wasn't. The sentence above is incorrect in the broad sense. From Austin Cline of the Atheism Guide: Albert Einstein is often cited as a smart scientist who was also a religious theist, but both his religion and his theism are in doubt. He denied believing in any sort of traditional, personal god and he also rejected the traditional religions built around such gods. On the other hand, Albert Einstein expressed religious feelings. He always did so in the context of his feelings of awe in the face of the mystery of the cosmos. He saw the veneration of mystery as the heart of religion.
Again, mystery has its place.
Newton was a theist in the traditional sense.
As is often the case, South Park nails this in the episode Go, God Go, in which factions of atheists take over a future world. Needing some meaning, they, of course, fight and kill over the correct interpretation of godlessness.
Other than demanding equal treatment - which they have a right to - why do atheists even argue these points? It is not smart. They will never win. They only thing in potential retreat in Western society is the anthropomorphic God. A post-anthropomorphic God will, no doubt, take its place.
Getting scuttlebutt in the inbox that Geithner has quit. Searching for hard facts. Anyone know?I heard it from someone who is generally on top of these type of things. No major news outlets have the story though.
Update: Apparently the post title question is premature. Though the headlines for Timmy G since DeFazio's remarks on the Ed Show are horrendous. A clock is certainly ticking.
I offer a loud second to Cannonfire's post today on Peter DeFazio. Mr. Cannon boils it down to 4 simple words: We have been betrayed.
Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR) wants Goldman boys Geithner and Summers removed. More than that, his interview on MSNBC's The Ed Show signals a significant shift on the Left. Democrat DeFazio, without apology or excuse, condemns Obama's economic team on the most liberal national news station. Further he insists TARP money go to small business and infrastructure - not Wall Street. Something that should have happened 11 months ago. DeFazio is speaking to the "New Deal" and "Jacksonian/Clinton" Democrats that many assumed were the core of the Democratic party until 2008 - before Soros and the Whole Foods/Cocktail Party/Frank Rich/Daily Kos Left conned their way into the nomination.
As I've said before the party in danger of splintering in the short term is the Democratic - not the GOP. The GOP has shown that it can and will build winning coalitions based on economic conservatism. As opposition, the Pelosi/Reid/Summers/Obama party cannot survive if unemployment stays high. The natural constituency for this wing of the party - the "creative class" - is about 20% of voters. Obama is an aberration. Without the agony of Bush, massive media backing, and funding from various elites, Obama's 2008 campaign would have more closely resembled Howard Dean's in 2004. Alleged economic liberalism and creative class smugness equals rump party status as soon as the fog clears. (Obama is not a liberal, he's a Chicago/Tammany Hall style politician) The Jacksonian Democrats -won by Hillary Clinton in the 2008 primaries- voted for Obama in the General. They will move to the GOP, as they did in the 80s, if the Democratic Party does not represent their interests. Currently, it does not.
DeFazio's repudiation of Obama's economic policy is a turning point and good news for PUMAs. Obama's honeymoon has been over for the GOP since February, for Independents since the summer - now it is over for populist wing of his own party. Thank God.
DeFazio signals that there will be opposition to Obama from the genuine, populist Left. Here's to hoping it takes root.
Senator Graham eats Eric Holder, spits him out, and chews some more. What are we to think when smart people (Both Holder and Obama are smart men) do incredibly stupid things - one must suspect a hidden agenda. What is Holder thinking? Was the decision to try KSM in civilian court- that increasingly looks idiotic - just a colossal misjudgment? Or is this a backdoor assault on precedent and the previous administration? Is it purely political? A conviction is all but assured. Does Obama expect to use it as proof that we are an open nation of laws - lead by him? Or do Holder and Obama truly believe on principle civilian court is the correct venue for this trial? Setting aside opinions about what court system this man should be tried in - why New York?
Prez visits Wall after all: Barry skips visit to Berlin for celebration of the amazing events of 1989...but does go to Great Wall, makes banal comments and leaves. No, really- read Tapper's reporting...BHO's remarks at the Great Wall are so shallow they make my dog, Bob Barker, seem like a deep thinker by comparison.
Shitmydadsays:I read "SMDS" for inspiration. Seriously. Favorite Dad quote of late: "The baby will talk when he talks, relax. It ain't like he knows the cure for cancer and he just ain't spitting it out."
The Obama "created or saved jobs" website is nothing short of hilarious. Right off the bat, created or saved is bogus terminology. Kind of funny too. What's next?
The hoping for a job rate?
The people who will work for food rate?
The hot baby sitter availability rate?
Newsflash: The "saved jobs rate" is usually called the "employment rate" in the mammals with functional brains community.
The first pacific president has expanded our reach in world's largest ocean overnight. According to the Obama admin they've created or saved 142 jobs in the 69th district of the Northern Mariana Islands. That, my friends, is easily the most astounding Obama feat yet- far and away outstripping of the Nobel Peace Prize. California only has 55 districts and it is the most populous state. Making the Northern Mariana Islands larger than California!...Wow!...the Prez is magic!
America is now kicking butt in the Caribbean too! Both the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico now have 99 Congressional districts. As does Maine. Connecticut has at least 42 - news that has shocked and distressed the mere 5 nutmegers in Congress, all of whom are now calling for an investigation. It's clear Fox News has been withholding districts from a blue state. Damn you Glenn Beck!
And the children shall lead us. I've been saying for some time that the next step in the equal rights movement is non violent civil disobedience...guess what...a 10 year old in Arkansas is ahead of the Human Rights Campaign on Gay rights....and more courageous too. H/T Jay.
Don't care who buys it or smokes it - but can we stop calling it "medical marijuana" I'm sure pot works to ease pain. So does a pint of hooch and/or a lap dance from a gorgeous redhead and/or a massage from a latin bodybuilder and/or all three....and those are legal...But I know a few people with "medical pot cards" in L.A. - and trust me - they ain't sick. The "dispensaries" are weed 7-11s. I support legalization 100% but it's Orwellian and hilarious to call what most of these pot heads are doing "medical". Good P.R. move, though!
Poll. Plus please note that yesterday I switched out the weekly poll to the right.
Generally speaking, the narratives we play out in our minds, play out in our lives. In my own life this seems to be both a physical and a metaphysical truth. It is not magical thinking nor is it a secret.
The grotesque aspects of the post war self-help movement stem from its repudiation of the all important character trait of humility. Short circuiting a vigorous, reality based, personal inventory with a glib demand to simply "change your thoughts" is both lazy and cruel. Telling a junkie to "just say no" to the next fix is asinine. As is telling a pauper they can be wealthy by merely thinking really hard about getting rich. Reality must come first. The proper sequence is Be, Do, Have. Be exactly where you are, do what is needed to move forward, have the results of your shift. Our perversion of late is believing Have, Do, Be, is the way to success and/or happiness. I'll be happy when I get the new house, mate, TV, Sizzler salad bar on special...It's not only shoddy thinking, it's lazy and entitled.
The "Yes I can, if I just think I can" culture is the opposite of reality. It's the culture of Las Vegas expanded to include everything from money to romance and back again. The odds of success are the same however. One in a million do hit the jackpot. The other 999,999 must adjust their lives to grow wealth, invite romance, or achieve any other goal. In other words, they must act as if reality matters. Our dime store mystics and Wall Street brats are of the same zeitgeist: Something for nothing.
Jackpot thinking cannot exist without its opposite: the gaming of the system to ensure that even those who "play by the rules" cannot succeed. If integrity makes a come back - the gaming of the system will die a natural death.
The same general rules apply to entire countries. This country has a narrative. Into this narrative stream, each of us throws our two bits. The collective narrative plays out. The collective unconscious becomes the working model for our conscious lives.
Obama is an expression of a narrative of entitlement that stems from the 1980s at least, and got its sea legs in the 90s. In 2008 "change" became synonymous with "pain free". Mr. Obama personifies the desire to trump reality. To go directly from triage to complete recovery, skipping the annoying and taxing steps in between. For all the blather about Hillary's entitlement- Obama's campaign was a case study in how to manipulate a country into handing one man something for nothing. Sadly, it was entitlement's apogee. The moment it was farthest from reality. Entitlement won a battle, but reality, as always, will win the war.
We, as a nation, can - and, in fact, are - directing our future. How conscious we are in this endeavor is what matters. Few moments in our history have demanded as much awareness as the current one. Limping along until the next saving grace does not appear to be an option. Yet, in this moment, distraction has been elevated to a God given right. This cannot last. So it won't.
Currently, the gulf between Wall Street and Main Street is boldly inviting a catastrophe. The plot points of chaos are being written: off the charts gun sales, seething anger, overt duplicity from our leadership, a deeply indebted nation throwing bad money after bad money, elites making a killing while unemployment spikes, and, on all levels, an intractable desire to ignore our basic structural problems.
Even our doom narratives are an entertainment. 2012 has become short hand for our collective death wish. The grip of this particular unconscious narrative is fierce and therefore profitable. Still, bourgeois interpretations of Mayan or Hopi or John of Patmos prophesy are relevant only to the degree that they mesh with a growing sense of disparity and pessimism. If the chaos is exclusively contextualized by the History Channel and end times doomers then it will become our reality.
The first place to be is in the knowledge that the something for nothing era has ended. You won't hear that from our leadership. They can't or have no interest in owning this fact. Individually and collectively we must adjust to this new American reality. If the fog of seething resentment is cleared, what needs to be done will become apparent. It always does. Putting an end to the printing of money to salve Wall Street's self inflicted wounds is a good place to start. And we can't have a legitimate conversation about the role of our government until our government is wrenched from the hands of Wall Street.
What I know with near certainty is that the current President will not be leading the way. It's pointless to expect him to any longer. Frankly, he hasn't the stomach for it.
To borrow a phrase: We are the ones we've been waiting for.
L.R. exclusive: An except from Obama's personal journal:
11/14/09
Asia trip is going well. All the Asians like me. Japan is finally America's friend again after all these years. I am the first Pacific President after all. The Asians understand how taxing it is to be the President of a whole ocean. It's because they eat so much fish. They won't be bombing Pearl Harbor again soon since I'm from Hawaii! Plus, I'm taller than everyone here! They all have to look up to me. Literally! How cool is that?
Had a nice chat with the emperor of Japan. (He's short, too!) Talked about my white grandma and some anime I saw once and how the girls love Hello Kitty. And my plane. And that steak that I got sent over from Japan. And how I enjoy a smoke when no one is looking. I gave him some juicy gossip about Reid. And read him some of my poetry. And asked him why he didn't have a Great Wall too. And discussed my feelings. And asked his wife if she had a cook like me and Michelle do. And asked him what he thought of my form at the top of the key. And if he had a poster of me. (I gave him one just in case.) He said something about his father. I can't really recall what. Guess his dad was some big wig back in the day. Like Bill Clinton or Arsenio Hall.
Anyway, it's so good to be out of D.C. Everyone wants decisions all the time. I can't be expected to make a decision about Afghanistan until after I go collect my peace prize in Oslo. Why can't people see this? I've got a big speech to make in Norway. About peace! For crying out loud! What would the world think of me if I sent more troops before I made my speech? The people of Europe need to know their leader is a man of peace. Which I am - duh! Can't decide which antidotes (sic) about me to tell in Oslo. Maybe a little story about the dog. Dogs are good. Or maybe how I brought world peace to America. And how everyone is happy all the time now.
Good to see 2012 is a hit. Movie's (sic) supporting my re-election can't start soon enough. I wonder who played me.
Note: Holder decided to try some bearded dudes in New York for murder. The anti-me media is all annoyed. It really has nothing to do with me, so I don't care. Axe needs to give me some talking points on this one. Who am I? Judge Judy?
Make no bones about it: Obama's bow to Emperor Akihito is an attack on all of us.
It's hard for me to quantify how repellent I find Obama's bow to the Japanese emperor. It confirms assumptions so many have about Obama being "the other". Assumptions I am not opposed to for the most part. He is, in many ways, not like us. He's the most unAmerican American President we've ever had in upbringing, thought process, and connection to his citizens. Without his media support, the residual pain of the Bush years, and the loud children on the Left, I suspect there would be little support left for him. It's hard to fathom how any American feels a connection to him - black or white. His speeches come from the mountain top, his attitudes, when mistakenly revealed, are condescending and his narcissism is degrading and harmful.
His bow to the descendant of the ruling house of a country that attacked us, an attack remembered by many still alive, is beyond the pale. It is disgusting.
Real Americans don't bow. To anyone. It violates every principle of republicanism. It is flies in the face of our history and revolution. An American head of state bowing to a foreign head of state is an attack of the first order on American principles and values. Obama must be excoriated for his putrid action.
Finally: I can no longer say the current President has any business representing the United States. Whatever the excuse given for his action - it speaks volumes about the man's thinking and character. The United States is a country among countries. We are subservient to no one. If our head of state is either so green or believes American Presidents should bow to others - then he is not worthy of the office. Our head of state represents all of us. When he bows to a another head of state he is symbolically bowing for all of us. Obama knows this. By prostrating himself he is taking a pot shot at the citizens he represents.
The Obama's administration announcement that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four others will be tried in New York City is disturbing to say the least. The reasons for this decision baffle. Despite some quick support in New York itself, as this trial unfolds it seems apparent that, barring guilty pleas, this criminal trial - within walking distance of the place where thousands of people were murdered - is foolish in the extreme. Will this be a jury trial? How will it be remotely possible to get 12 unbiased jurors? What will the psychological effect on New York be? Criminal defendants have expansive rights in the United States. The government will have to protect and defend these men while on trial - affording them all the rights of any accused suspect. That alone is a Pandora's Box.
Both a civilian trial and a military tribunal are the wrong venues. 9/11 changed the dynamic. The event went beyond murder. The Taliban is out of power and Al-Qaeda is not a government entity - yet 9/11 is should be considered a war crime. It was the mass murder of civilians under the direction of a foreign entity. The United States ought set up a war crimes tribunal in a place other than New York. Far from New York. That's my take.
Anita Dunn is done. Worry (or rejoice) not taxpaying Americans. Her household will continue to be working on your dime. Robert Bauer , her husband, became White House councel today. The revolving door hath revolved. The paychecks and invitations to State dinners and teas with Michelle and her 4 million assistants will continue to arrive.
So what cooked Anita? Who knows for certain. Her admitted "admiration" of Mao - known to many the world over for his little red book and killing 70 million - certainly did not help. Her "War on Fox News" (why is everything a "war on" something?) was a dumb move - but she hardly went off to battle alone. Emmanuel and Axelrod are front and center in that endeavor and they still work at 1600.
Let me posit a third choice for the trap door opening on Dunn: She was bad at her job. She was sent out to fight by Obama, Rahm, and Axelrod and in the heat of battle she failed her boss and comrades. Her bumbling response to a simple question about MSNBC's bias made her look biased, mean and a little dumb. When a tape of her telling students that she most admired Mother Teresa and Chairman Mao, of all people, her explanation of it was the opposite of what the Obama White House can tolerate: It was smug.
The Mao remark alone did not do her in. It was her absurd explanation of it. She claimed she was "being ironic". She wasn't. Literally. She might have argued that she was being sarcastic. Or silly. Or flip. But she clearly wasn't being any of those things either. She meant it. She admires Mao.
In American politics the more offensive the remark, the more direct the explanation must be - true or not. If she'd explained the comment this way: My response to that question was not complete. I meant to say in my younger years I read Mao and thought him wise in my naivete. As I've gotten older, Mother Teresa's compassion became the centering idea of my public service. This too would have been a lie. But it would have worked.
"Ironic" is one of those words people of accomplishment, but middling intelligence, throw around. They presume it befuddles those of lesser intelligence and believe it makes them appear smarter than they, in fact, are. Based on her defense of her Mao remark, Dunn has no idea what irony is. But, by god, it sounds Ivy League and uptown. Smart people knew I was being ironic. Sheesh.
Dunn has always been something quite mediocre: A political functionary. The one capital crime of any functionary is making the boss look bad. Ever since the first whiff of smug emanated from the Obamas (with the "bitter, clingy" and "finally proud" comments) the Obama machine has been on guard to quash any implication of arrogance. They have not been 100% successful - but they've kept things in check. Obama is still personally popular even as his policies' poll numbers have sunk.
Having proved that she was neither self assured or smooth in the heat of the moment - she had to go. White House Communications director Anita Dunn is clearly an oxymoron. If you are going to take on the nation's largest news network your answers better be anticipated and well planned. NOT plugging a killer's philosophy in public ought to be obvious. She was canned for the most banal of reasons: she wasn't up to the job. Now, considering all the sound and fury about Dunn of late, THAT is ironic.
Peggy and the strong women:So sad that the Mad Men season is over...I do believe Mad Men is the reason God invented television. In the season finale, when Cooper asks Peggy to make him some coffee her simple, direct "No" ends one era for American women and opens another. Last season's rendering of the Cuban missile crisis and this season's of the Kennedy assassination are the least precious, most precise I've ever seen. Salvatore's evolution as a gay man in pre-stonewall New York is heartbreaking and spot on. Oh and those other women....Betty Draper coming into full possession of herself from Rome to Albany to Reno has been remarkable to see all season ..and Joan...oh Joan...goddess...force nature...ass kicker....never leave us again. As a friend told me regarding Mad Men: they finally made television for adults.
For you Anglenos and train nerds like me:Gold line to East LA opens Sunday! One can now train it to Little Tokyo and Mariachi Plaza....two of my fav LA places. Well...at least in my top 20 fav LA places. Something about little food passing by on little plates make me very happy. And lord knows I love me a big, sloppy, burrito.
First a handy dandy poll. (as you can see I'm on one of my poll benders.) Also note the poll to the right. I'll switch it out every few days. There is nothing scientific about these polls...duh...Have fun. Vote often. Below are stories worth noting.
Mormon turn around:I hesitate to link this because the actions of the LDS church in this case in no way mitigates the damage it has done and its previous vile, amoral behavior. Additionally, I'm done with the poverty consciousness of the Gay elite. Begging bigots for basic human rights is no longer acceptable. Women and Men are afforded human rights by virtue of being born. Not because a majority says so. So the LDS church in Salt Lake City agrees that housing and employment discrimination is wrong. Whoop Dee Fucking Doo. No one gets an prize for ceasing to be a hate filled crank for a few hours. Gays being happy about a group expressing a smidgen of human decency is a sign of a severe poverty of spirit.
For all the condemnation of Clinton's 2008 campaign from elite quarters - she got most of it right. She stayed in until the very end, thereby creating a constituency that didn't exist in December of 2007. She was the presumptive nominee by virtue of her last name early on. By June of 2008 she had legions of supporters - many on the Right and a political base independent of her husband's. She used her new power to force Obama into granting her the job she wanted: Secretary of State. I, for one, don't think she wanted to be Vice President - knowing all to well that Obama would shove her aside. He has done just that to SoS Clinton- but the bureaucracy of the State Department is mighty - and she owns it. Obama's marginalization of Clinton has worked to her advantage. She marches on with policy close to her heart. He dithers on issues that make the news.
She got out of the Senate and moved up. Again - this shows a canny political sense. She knew the winds would be blowing against the Democrats by 2010. She saw it in 1994. Imagine Hillary, the defeated presumptive nominee of 2008, having to support Obama's half baked domestic policies in the Senate of 2009...being "whipped" by the lowly Harry Reid. Or worse, going against the Democratic grain and being immolated by much of the national media. She got out at the right moment - and got a better job. Much better. She is nowhere near the health care train wreck, cap and trade, the stimulus, the unemployment stats, or the economy in general.
I've said all this before. Tony Blankley has a piece at RCP wondering if Hillary in 2012 is such a far out idea after all. He takes it further than I did earlier this year by making the case that even any foreign policy wrecks during the Obama years will not fall on her shoulders. He's aced her out for his boy's club.
I can't say as I hanker for Clinton in 2012. Though her campaign from New Hampshire on was inspired and inspiring - Clinton's core strength is her work ethic and her love of doing the job she has. She's that girl in high school who always had a notebook under her arm when she entered any room. To be sure this would make for a perfect President about now. Her husband worked hard - but was inordinately sloppy at times. (Bubba has said she'd make a better President than he was, and he's right.) W confused decisiveness with thoughtful analysis. Obama's process so far is to punt on first down...and if he can't punt, to stall...using all his time outs in the first quarter. It's leadership by increasingly tiresome flowery speeches and even more increasingly tiresome "charm". President Hillary Clinton would almost certainly be more Presidential than the last 2 Presidents or the current one.
But the Presidency entails so much nonsense - I'm not sure I want to see Hillary give up the detailed notebook for the pathological indulgences a President must dole out. She not crazy enough to be President. Besides, the tiny penis brigade in the media would go fully rabid if she won. For those of us in the provinces, avoiding Olbermann's mommy issues would be a full time task for four years.
Finally, the eventualities that would lead to a Clinton Presidency in 2013 entail an Obama failure on an epic scale. I wouldn't wish that clean up duty on anyone - much less someone I'm prone to like.
The road before us today looks more like President Romney in 2012 and Clinton, if she wants the job, in 2016.
Previously, I've snarked that in the end we will all be libertarians. This is not my preference and my snark is not meant to be hopeful. It's embedded in my pessimism about where we are headed...toward becoming a well fed, failed state. The 2 parties will fail - or one will succeed wildly via extra Constitutional means (the authoritarian streaks in both parties continues to rise.) leaving us plebes to defend our ourselves or go along with which ever personality cult has gripped the nation at the moment.
Case in point: Pelosi is asked if it fair that people will go to jail for not buying health insurance. I haven't the faintest idea if jail time for those who refuse to buy insurance is in the House bill. Haven't done the research. But why didn't she just say: "No, of course not.That's not in the bill." when she answered? That is the American answer after all. THAT can't happen here...right?
Whatever the bill says it had better not include prison time for refusing to buy coverage. Unless, of course, the powers that be, want to incite a revolution.
