Back to Business

Wow, a week can go by quickly. Did I get the stuff done I wanted to before school started up again? Nope. I at least got three new pieces drafted and about ten revisions done, finished up reading two books, and did some laundry, which will have to do.

I also finished reading the first part of Dostoevsky's Idiot, which is a 150-page presentation of a hell of a chaotic and bad day for Prince Myshkin, someone already in frail health which will get frailer. It's given me various ideas for the last two weeks of writing activities for my students. [insert evil laughter here]

In the Light of Current Events--and in Response to Certain Unnamed Parties...

...and considering the unnamed parties in question, sadly, they'd have no worries about how to vote regarding the following video. It's for them I post it:

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

Saying that voting should only be for those who own property, saying that civil rights are decided by majority vote, saying that second-class citizenship should be decided by a ballot is mighty dangerous stuff to be arguing for right now. Within a generation, you'll be the one arguing for what the current legislation reads. If you can't get along, go along. And that goes for you, Mr. Pillar of Nebraska Lutheran Society, not that you check out the Interweb, aside from making sure that no uncleanness enters the household. Time Marches on, and if its a more tolerant time, then God bless it. He blesses the meek, you might remember.

And the Days Grind...

...toward January, when Bush, who is seemingly absent from current workings in Washington (or am I just not paying close enough attention?), finally gets to go back to his ranch in Texas again, this time permanently. It's been a long 8 years of missed opportunities and deadly lapses. Time Magazine's Joe Klein has put it rather well:

This is a presidency that has wobbled between those two poles — overweening arrogance and paralytic incompetence.

The latter has held sway these past few months as the economy has crumbled. It is too early to rate the performance of Bush's economic team, but we have more than enough evidence to say, definitively, that at a moment when there was a vast national need for reassurance, the President himself was a cipher. Yes, he's a lame duck with an Antarctic approval rating — but can you imagine Bill Clinton going so gently into the night? There are substantive gestures available to a President that do not involve the use of force or photo ops. For example, Bush could have boosted the public spirit — and the auto industry — by announcing that he was scrapping the entire federal automotive fleet, including the presidential limousine, and replacing it with hybrids made in Detroit. He could have jump-started — and he still could — the Obama plan by releasing funds for a green-jobs program to insulate public buildings. He could start funding the transit projects already approved by Congress.

In the end, though, it will not be the creative paralysis that defines Bush. It will be his intellectual laziness, at home and abroad. Bush never understood, or cared about, the delicate balance between freedom and regulation that was necessary to make markets work. He never understood, or cared about, the delicate balance between freedom and equity that was necessary to maintain the strong middle class required for both prosperity and democracy. He never considered the complexities of the cultures he was invading. He never understood that faith, unaccompanied by rigorous skepticism, is a recipe for myopia and foolishness. He is less than President now, and that is appropriate. He was never very much of one.

Vista STILL Sucks...

...regardless as to what the folks say on that dumb Project Navaho ad campaign. Here's French and Saunders:




Microsoft, you are still on notice. Don't think for a second that I'll forget.

Racist Stupidity and Gun Collecting

Just met some people (who will remain nameless) unexpectedly, and it started off as a quite pleasant surprise. How it ended was less so. Racist jokes aren't funny. They really aren't funny when they involve death and when they involve the president-elect. Nope, not even a little bit funny. Not even a little bit appropriate. And this one was really wanting to tell it, as he brought it up several times in conversation. Others at the table evidently had heard it told to them before and kept changing the topic, but he was able to foist it on us anyway. I once thought I'd move to Nebraska, but let's just say that I'm not likely to want to move any closer to this particular person any time soon. But then again, I'm sure the feeling is mutual. I'd perhaps blog more about it, but not now. I'm too pissed, and typing blog posts while one is pissed never goes well.

Christian? My ass...

Why?

...because this song is great, and the video makes me feel sophisticated just from watching it. It's Koop's Island Blues.