My Claim to Fame!
...'cept that "painless" part is turning out a bit more painful than expected, at least for Gov. Palin & family.
September 02, 2008
Not So Fast
E.J. Dionne gleefully licks his chops at the selection of Palin, comparing her to Harriet Miers:
The Supreme Court is far more intellectually demanding while not requiring any visible leadership ability. In our society leadership ability is far rarer than intellectual ability, and yet it's obvious that Gov. Palin has already demonstrated leadership skills in rising from the local PTA to mayor to the governor of one of the fifty states. If Harriet Miers had demonstrated in her background the intellectual firepower that Gov. Palin has already shown in terms of her leadership and character, then the Miers nomination probably would’ve gone forward.
No doubt Gov. Palin is very smart, though as implied above leadership skills are far more in demand than intellectual ones. Republicans, like Democrats, have a slim bench, which is why both tickets have inexperienced candidates on the slate. But there is a world of difference between nominating an inexperienced presidential candidate and a inexperienced vice-presidential candidate.
E.J. Dionne gleefully licks his chops at the selection of Palin, comparing her to Harriet Miers:
“At the time Bush chose Miers, he was under pressure to pick a woman to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor…So Bush picked his close White House aide, hoping that his own standing with the right would push her through. Conservatives would have none of it. They assailed Miers' lack of judicial grounding. And they certainly had a case. But what really bothered them was that they had no idea how she would vote on the court. Fearing she was a closet moderate, they blocked her.”While there may well be an element of truth to what Dionne says, what he is missing is that a Supreme Court position is very different from the VP slot and involves a whole different skill set.
The Supreme Court is far more intellectually demanding while not requiring any visible leadership ability. In our society leadership ability is far rarer than intellectual ability, and yet it's obvious that Gov. Palin has already demonstrated leadership skills in rising from the local PTA to mayor to the governor of one of the fifty states. If Harriet Miers had demonstrated in her background the intellectual firepower that Gov. Palin has already shown in terms of her leadership and character, then the Miers nomination probably would’ve gone forward.
No doubt Gov. Palin is very smart, though as implied above leadership skills are far more in demand than intellectual ones. Republicans, like Democrats, have a slim bench, which is why both tickets have inexperienced candidates on the slate. But there is a world of difference between nominating an inexperienced presidential candidate and a inexperienced vice-presidential candidate.
Agape & Eros Together at Last
It's easy to get cynical listening to old '70s pop hits in which the singer declares his love forever only to have several divorces under his belt by the time he's singing it as a "golden oldie". No golden anniversaries for these romantics.
You can begin to think eros and agape are mutually exclusive, such that love songs are contrary indicators of marital fidelity since they tend to be infused with emotional high of receiving rather than a self-sacrificial giving. (Think: "You fill up my senses...".) It's easy to come to the conclusion that feeilngs don't matter, that only giving matters - including in our relationship with God. And yet Pope Benedict wrote that eros and agape are not mutually exclusive*, going so far as to say that man cannot live on agape love alone. Feelings, sentiment matter. (Kudos to Culbreath for recognizing that and drawing a balance.)
It was refreshing to hear that one of the best female country songwriters of all time, Donna Fargo, is apparently still on marriage numero uno, a marriage that is going on 40 years strong according to the Kindle reference gurus.
Fargo's biggest hit was "Happiest Girl in the Whole USA", which includes the delightful lyric "I'll fix your lunch, and you fix mine". There is a taste of agape for ya, at least if food is important to you as it is to me. *grin*. She also wrote "You Can't Be a Beacon if Your Light Don't Shine" which is a testimony to the fact that you can't give (agape) what you haven't received (eros) - as Pope Benedict stated in his encyclical.
Fargo now pens inspirational books that if to my taste seem overly saccarine and leaning towards cliche, reminds me that literary creativity is as nothing compared to fidelity to God and spouse.
Now, with a nod to nostalgia (with the obligatory truth-stretcher that I was still in the womb when this was popular), here are the lyrics to the giddy "Happiest Girl" song:
* * *
* - From the encyclical:
It's easy to get cynical listening to old '70s pop hits in which the singer declares his love forever only to have several divorces under his belt by the time he's singing it as a "golden oldie". No golden anniversaries for these romantics.You can begin to think eros and agape are mutually exclusive, such that love songs are contrary indicators of marital fidelity since they tend to be infused with emotional high of receiving rather than a self-sacrificial giving. (Think: "You fill up my senses...".) It's easy to come to the conclusion that feeilngs don't matter, that only giving matters - including in our relationship with God. And yet Pope Benedict wrote that eros and agape are not mutually exclusive*, going so far as to say that man cannot live on agape love alone. Feelings, sentiment matter. (Kudos to Culbreath for recognizing that and drawing a balance.)
It was refreshing to hear that one of the best female country songwriters of all time, Donna Fargo, is apparently still on marriage numero uno, a marriage that is going on 40 years strong according to the Kindle reference gurus.
Fargo's biggest hit was "Happiest Girl in the Whole USA", which includes the delightful lyric "I'll fix your lunch, and you fix mine". There is a taste of agape for ya, at least if food is important to you as it is to me. *grin*. She also wrote "You Can't Be a Beacon if Your Light Don't Shine" which is a testimony to the fact that you can't give (agape) what you haven't received (eros) - as Pope Benedict stated in his encyclical. Fargo now pens inspirational books that if to my taste seem overly saccarine and leaning towards cliche, reminds me that literary creativity is as nothing compared to fidelity to God and spouse.
Now, with a nod to nostalgia (with the obligatory truth-stretcher that I was still in the womb when this was popular), here are the lyrics to the giddy "Happiest Girl" song:
Shine on me sunshine
Walk with me world
It’s a skippidity do da day
I’m the happiest girl, in the whole U.S.A.
Good morning morning
Hello sunshine
Wake up sleepy head
Why’d we move that bojangle clock so far away from the bed
Just one more minute
That’s why we moved it
One more hug will do
Do you love waking up next to me
As much as I love waking up next to you
You make the coffee
I’ll make the bed
I’ll fix your lunch
And you fix mine
Now tell me the truth
Do these old shoes look funny
Honey it’s almost nine
Now you be careful
Gotta go I love you
You have a beautiful day,
And kiss the happiest girl, In the whole U.S.A.
Skippidity do da
Thank you oh Lord for making him for me
And thank you for letting life turn out the way
That I always thought it could be
There once was a time when I could not imagine
How it would feel to say
I’m happiest girl, in the whole U.S.A.
* - From the encyclical:
"In philosophical and theological debate, these distinctions have often been radicalized to the point of establishing a clear antithesis between them: descending, oblative love—agape—would be typically Christian, while on the other hand ascending, possessive or covetous love —eros—would be typical of non-Christian, and particularly Greek culture. Were this antithesis to be taken to extremes, the essence of Christianity would be detached from the vital relations fundamental to human existence, and would become a world apart, admirable perhaps, but decisively cut off from the complex fabric of human life. Yet eros and agape—ascending love and descending love—can never be completely separated. The more the two, in their different aspects, find a proper unity in the one reality of love, the more the true nature of love in general is realized. Even if eros is at first mainly covetous and ascending, a fascination for the great promise of happiness, in drawing near to the other, it is less and less concerned with itself, increasingly seeks the happiness of the other, is concerned more and more with the beloved, bestows itself and wants to “be there for” the other. The element of agape thus enters into this love, for otherwise eros is impoverished and even loses its own nature. On the other hand, man cannot live by oblative, descending love alone. He cannot always give, he must also receive. Anyone who wishes to give love must also receive love as a gift. Certainly, as the Lord tells us, one can become a source from which rivers of living water flow (cf. Jn 7:37-38). Yet to become such a source, one must constantly drink anew from the original source, which is Jesus Christ, from whose pierced heart flows the love of God (cf. Jn 19:34).
Labor Day '08
Long runs and bike rides
under the blue mantle
til sweet exhaustion
lends Bukowski visions;
the sun Petrine
the trees poignant
as geese float about
the muddy Olentangy.
I sing the sun electric
while cicadas rev the amps and
gobble the bike path like
the old Pacman game
and I remember my surprise
at learning Mother Teresa
once tapped her foot
and nodded her head
to an old Hank Williams song
as if reconciling God & vergnügen.
Why They Hate Her
The visceral reaction of the MSM is remarked upon here. I think there are three reasons:
Both the right and the left loathe it when the other side even feints in the direction of stealing your issue. Thus Bill Clinton was hated by the right because he triangulated, "stealing" conservative issues like welfare reform. Palin is hated because she's a feminist and touts Ferraro & Hillary. In fact, Palin is more feminist than most feminists since she includes even unborn females in her area of concern.
Hate is especially reserved for women or blacks or other minorities who think independently. Hence the special place in Liberal Hell for Clarence Thomas. Being pro-life is for liberal women what being anti-Affirmative Action is for liberal blacks.
It may work. In a close election liberals recognize that for a VP pick to simultaneously enthuse the base and possibly help narrow the gender gap is huge. More than anything else liberals hate a Republican who is successful, ala Ronald Reagan, and to the extent the McCain/Palin ticket is successful it will draw ire.
They see it as hypocritical that complaining about the experience of a prospective President (Obama) and then putting up an inexperienced candidate for VP.
So it's a perfect storm for Palin. Fortunately for her the press is acting emotionally and not intelligently and there will be a backlash. According to MSNBC's Joe Scarborough, the NY Times today mentioned Sarah Palin daughter's pregnancy in three different articles on the front page. That sort of bias doesn't go unnoticed, and Americans like an underdog and dislike unfairness of those who purchase ink by the barrel.
The visceral reaction of the MSM is remarked upon here. I think there are three reasons:
So it's a perfect storm for Palin. Fortunately for her the press is acting emotionally and not intelligently and there will be a backlash. According to MSNBC's Joe Scarborough, the NY Times today mentioned Sarah Palin daughter's pregnancy in three different articles on the front page. That sort of bias doesn't go unnoticed, and Americans like an underdog and dislike unfairness of those who purchase ink by the barrel.
 |  |
We are blessed in the 21st century with crystal-clear photographs and action films of the living realities within their pregnant mothers. No one with the slightest measure of integrity or honor could fail to know what these marvelous beings manifestly, clearly, and obviously are, as they smile and wave into the world outside the womb. In simplest terms, they are human beings with an inalienable right to live, a right that the Speaker of the House of Representatives is bound to defend at all costs for the most basic of ethical reasons. They are not parts of their mothers, and what they are depends not at all upon the opinions of theologians of any faith. Anyone who dares to defend that they may be legitimately killed because another human being “chooses” to do so or for any other equally ridiculous reason should not be providing leadership in a civilized democracy worthy of the name. - Cardinal Egan of NY responding to Nancy Pelosi's comment about abortion on Meet the Press
Our Church is no longer a place where telling a few 'Pat and Mike' jokes and stories about Notre Dame football or Georgetown basketball can take the place of basic Catholic beliefs. - Deal Hudson, on the end of strictly cultural Catholicism
The question, "When does ensoulment occur?" is interesting, philosophically and historically. But…you can go off and put together the historically most complete and philosophically most unassailable answer you like, but when you bring it to them you'll find they were just messing with you. They will tell you, as Nancy Pelosi herself said immediately after burning herself on the flame of St. Augustine, "The point is, is that it shouldn't have an impact on the woman's right to choose." - Tom of Disputations
<- Speaker Pelosi's new book as imagined by Curt Jester
There is a treatise to be written on the transient brevity similar to protesters' signs and e-mail spam. This hypothetical document could cite Alisdair MacIntyre's remarks on protest and emotivism. What do these people praising peace, anarchy, or Fox News hope to accomplish besides appearing in a digital photo to be forgotten with haste? - Kevin Jones of Philokalia, at the Democratic party convention
90% of everything is crap. But we're alive now, and so let's have more crap, please, because telling people to stop is just arrogance. I even enjoy the stuff which I myself feel is rather of a lower quality, the way Enbrethiliel mentions liking Nancy Drew. Nothing wrong with it. Or with Enid Blyton, the most prolific author of childhood books that I ever
encountered. - Commenter on "Sancta Sanctis"
One thing I’ve noticed about this [Democratic] convention — it’s impossible not to — is that America is portrayed as a deeply suffering place. It’s a Grapes of Wrath nation, plagued with injustice, want, and desperation. We are one big lousy dust bowl. Needless to say, economic problems have not been eliminated in America (along with other problems). Man still lives here. But this is a very prosperous, comfortable nation — one of the envies of the world (which is why so many seek to come here). Complacency is inadvisable; we should always strive to do better. But a little perspective, please. By the way, you know the story about the man from Calcutta, decades ago, whose greatest desire was to visit America? “Why?” asked his friends. “Because I want to see a place where poor people are fat.” Does that sound cold to you? It wouldn’t to many Third Worlders, I can tell you. - Jay Nordlinger on NRO
He's a career Congressman, which is akin to saying he's accepted early retirement on the backs of the American Taxpayer. - My bro-in-law, reacting to Sen. Biden as VP pick
He knew the hypnotic fascination of family trees. Genealogy 'has a curious, personal interest, which history lacks.' - from a Henry Adams biography
A picture is worth a thousand assumptions. - Zippy of "Zippy Catholic", on the inexplicable resignation of a college president simply for drinking with reportedly of age students
Whenever you have an efficient government you have a dictatorship. - Harry Truman
The Republicans now have a completely lawyer-free ticket... all the Democratic candidates for President and Vice President since 1984 have been lawyers (or, in the case of Al Gore, whose only real career has been in politics, a former law student). On the Republican side, the only lawyers in that period have been Dan Quayle and Bob Dole. Not only Senators Obama and Biden, but Senators Clinton and Edwards–all lawyers. What does that tell us? - Henry of "A Plumbline in the Wind"
August 30, 2008
August 29, 2008
Let Me Get This Strait...
Since Obama and Palin are equally inexperienced, would Americans rather have a 100% chance of being led by someone inexperienced (i.e. if Obama wins) or, say, a 3% chance (if McCain wins). It makes no sense for Dems to bring up the issue given that if one is potentially a heartbeat away from the presidency, the other is a heartbeat within the presidency.
Since Obama and Palin are equally inexperienced, would Americans rather have a 100% chance of being led by someone inexperienced (i.e. if Obama wins) or, say, a 3% chance (if McCain wins). It makes no sense for Dems to bring up the issue given that if one is potentially a heartbeat away from the presidency, the other is a heartbeat within the presidency.
Bingo, Olympics, & Politics
Kim mirrored my thoughts last night when she exclaimed how tiring watching the Democrat convention is. Indeed, it's like work only less exciting.
Now I haven't seen the speech from der Wunderkind yet so I'm not talking about last night but up until now the speeches have been eminently fast-forwardable.
I miss the Olympics, even though it contributed to our instant gratification culture. How? By affording the viewing of a series of 2-4 laps of a pool, or once or twice around the track, and voila! You have a winner. (Just stay away from the water polo or soccer games. They. are. endless.)
In the Olympics, there are a lot of excellent candidates who run thirty-second races. With this presidential campaign we have a lot of mediocre candidates who are stumbling towards the finish of a two-year race. Call it Long Attention Span Theatre for those gifted with long attentions.
Why are our candidates mediocre and our Olympians excellent?
Because politics is about image and the Olympics about performance.
I'm guessing that John McCain will be tapping Gov. Palin of Alaska as his running mate [Update: er...not]and I was initially euphoric about it, to the extent one can be euphoric over something like politics. McCain has shown himself capable of self-discipline: after the 2000 nomination process in which some said he was unfairly treated by the Bush campaign, he swallowed his pride and supported the president and paid his dues. He also swallowed his desire for lax immigration by understanding, really getting, that the will of the people is to close the border first, and then worry granting legal status to illegals inside. And now, assuming he has chosen Palin, he snubbed his great friend Tom Ridge and was able to reach out to a pro-lifer for his VP pick. Not easy to do.
But it is another reminder, that in politics subjectivity is huge: your pedigree matters (Bush), or who your spouse is (Hillary) or what color your skin is (Obama) or whether you have ovaries (Palin). Be nice if people didn't care about such things and our politicians were held accountable and performance mattered, and not performance measured in such simplistic, materialistic terms as "are you better off than you were four years ago?".
The economy must be slowing since bingo was so slow last night that it reminded me of a dental waiting room. The afterwards was pleasant if the conversation unduly stimulative. I sense an ecelectism in our group; the new guy, a sales/rah-rah sort of guy, initially got on my nerves but he is witty and sharp and seems like he takes his role as father very seriously.
Carry (name changed to protect the innocent) works in the kitchen and is a fellow Officeophile. She was originally the quiet one. I'm not sure if she corrupted us or we corrupted her or it was mutually assured destruction but instead of talking about Dostoevsky or the complexities of a non-computable, nearly undefinable number in support of Gödel's theorem, we end up talking about her nude neighbors and the fact that her son, who is about 5, is obsessed with her breasts and she wonders if that's helpful. Boys & men have a breast fetish, she understands, but do they want to touch their mommy's? I'm not going to touch that one. To borrow from Obama, that question is above my paygrade. Less salaciously and much more soberingly, this seemingly devout regular Mass-goer and volunteer said that she had a dream (nightmare) in which her late father told her she was going to Hell. What to make of that? Dreams are symbolic enough that you can't take it literally.
Kim, of course, is familiar to longtime bingo readers (all two of you). Her good friend left her husband and children for a former classmate she met at a class reunion. Now it seems she's intimate with two men and is "happy". She may be happy in the short-run, and the short-run can run for a long time. Even to the end of our lives.
We also have a male nurse in the crew now, and he has entertaining stories to tell. We works the night shift, his sleep patterns constantly disrupted by weekends spent awake with the kids during the day and four ten-hour nights. And I complain about my sleep? (Which was rescued by quitting the allergy medicine Allegra-D. Stupidly I didn't marry cause (Allegra-D) with effect.)
Kim mirrored my thoughts last night when she exclaimed how tiring watching the Democrat convention is. Indeed, it's like work only less exciting.
Now I haven't seen the speech from der Wunderkind yet so I'm not talking about last night but up until now the speeches have been eminently fast-forwardable.
I miss the Olympics, even though it contributed to our instant gratification culture. How? By affording the viewing of a series of 2-4 laps of a pool, or once or twice around the track, and voila! You have a winner. (Just stay away from the water polo or soccer games. They. are. endless.)
In the Olympics, there are a lot of excellent candidates who run thirty-second races. With this presidential campaign we have a lot of mediocre candidates who are stumbling towards the finish of a two-year race. Call it Long Attention Span Theatre for those gifted with long attentions.
Why are our candidates mediocre and our Olympians excellent?
Because politics is about image and the Olympics about performance.
I'm guessing that John McCain will be tapping Gov. Palin of Alaska as his running mate [Update: er...not]and I was initially euphoric about it, to the extent one can be euphoric over something like politics. McCain has shown himself capable of self-discipline: after the 2000 nomination process in which some said he was unfairly treated by the Bush campaign, he swallowed his pride and supported the president and paid his dues. He also swallowed his desire for lax immigration by understanding, really getting, that the will of the people is to close the border first, and then worry granting legal status to illegals inside. And now, assuming he has chosen Palin, he snubbed his great friend Tom Ridge and was able to reach out to a pro-lifer for his VP pick. Not easy to do.
But it is another reminder, that in politics subjectivity is huge: your pedigree matters (Bush), or who your spouse is (Hillary) or what color your skin is (Obama) or whether you have ovaries (Palin). Be nice if people didn't care about such things and our politicians were held accountable and performance mattered, and not performance measured in such simplistic, materialistic terms as "are you better off than you were four years ago?".
The economy must be slowing since bingo was so slow last night that it reminded me of a dental waiting room. The afterwards was pleasant if the conversation unduly stimulative. I sense an ecelectism in our group; the new guy, a sales/rah-rah sort of guy, initially got on my nerves but he is witty and sharp and seems like he takes his role as father very seriously.
Carry (name changed to protect the innocent) works in the kitchen and is a fellow Officeophile. She was originally the quiet one. I'm not sure if she corrupted us or we corrupted her or it was mutually assured destruction but instead of talking about Dostoevsky or the complexities of a non-computable, nearly undefinable number in support of Gödel's theorem, we end up talking about her nude neighbors and the fact that her son, who is about 5, is obsessed with her breasts and she wonders if that's helpful. Boys & men have a breast fetish, she understands, but do they want to touch their mommy's? I'm not going to touch that one. To borrow from Obama, that question is above my paygrade. Less salaciously and much more soberingly, this seemingly devout regular Mass-goer and volunteer said that she had a dream (nightmare) in which her late father told her she was going to Hell. What to make of that? Dreams are symbolic enough that you can't take it literally.
Kim, of course, is familiar to longtime bingo readers (all two of you). Her good friend left her husband and children for a former classmate she met at a class reunion. Now it seems she's intimate with two men and is "happy". She may be happy in the short-run, and the short-run can run for a long time. Even to the end of our lives.
We also have a male nurse in the crew now, and he has entertaining stories to tell. We works the night shift, his sleep patterns constantly disrupted by weekends spent awake with the kids during the day and four ten-hour nights. And I complain about my sleep? (Which was rescued by quitting the allergy medicine Allegra-D. Stupidly I didn't marry cause (Allegra-D) with effect.)
August 28, 2008
Mass Individuality
R. Reno ponders tatoos on First Things website:
R. Reno ponders tatoos on First Things website:
In my perplexed state of mind, I consulted a younger friend (who has some tattoos). It wasn’t long ago that tattoos were for Marines, sailors, and guys on Harley Davidsons. Now, women in graduate school doing dissertations on Elizabeth Gaskell are getting tattoos. What gives? “Well,” she said, “I guess it’s just a way to express your individuality. Everybody’s doing it.”
Individuality—and everybody’s doing it. Hum. That pretty much sounds like the ethos of middle-class culture since the 1960s. Blue jeans and tee shirts. The Rolling Stones. Punctuating conversation with emphatic expletives. It’s a wave that has been crashing onto the beach for a long time now. Everybody tossing off the horrible, oppressive conformities of bourgeois culture—together.
Mass non-conformity has always been a fantasy, of course. In fact, by my lights, it’s the great and abiding fantasy of my lifetime. And it’s a fascinating fantasy, one well worth contemplating in its latest, flesh-altering form...
As a middle-aged college professor who observes the lives of his students, I find myself sympathetic. I can confidently report that our contemporary society demands far more extensive and detailed compliance from young people then was the case in my day. They take batteries of standardized tests, and face a long slog through undergraduate and then graduate education in order to be assured a place in the professions. Every facet of their personal lives is assaulted with exhortations. Be sure to have protected sex! Don’t smoke! Avoid fatty foods! With so much of their lives sacrificed to the gods of health and success, is it surprising that they want to take a piece of their bodies and do with it as they please?
...the more I have thought about it, the more I have come to realize that permanence is part of the appeal.
When we take a sober look at contemporary society, we can see that one of the main results of the cultural revolution of the last half century has been the demolition of soul-binding permanence. Marriage and family are the most obvious examples...In a more subtle way, our postmodern culture of irony and critique also works against permanence. The old binding loyalties of faith and patriotism are openly mocked...Again, I ask myself, is it surprising that in an age with so few binding commitments postmodern men and women seek symbols of permanence etched into their bodies?... The human heart hungers for permanence.
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