Ooops!
September 08, 2008
Sometimes I Feel French
I share their instinct to whine, if not wine. From a newspaper article on the difficulties of re-entry:
The World Is A Book
Now welcome, summer. With thy sonne softe
Upon my head, the possibilities
Of pure escape again begin to haunt me--
Like June, say, in the higher Pyrenees.
I would depart for Zanzibar tomorrow,
Save for a qualm or two. There is, of course,
Always the thought that, if an ass goes traveling,
Proverbially he'll not come back a horse.
There is the man who journeyed to Beersheba
And cried out, "'Tis all barren!" So when I
Notice the look of flowering around me
And feel this qualm about a change of sky,
Then I remember. There are other tourists,
More like Thoreau who laughed at Zanzibar
As somewhere full of cats, yet chose to travel
Farther to Walden where the cattails are.
Or like that global Mr. White of Selborne
Who wrote a guidebook, journeys out of June,
Full of such planetary shine and wonder
As hoot owls hooting in B-flat, in tune;
A swallow in the air; a flight of lapwings;
The hayricks of July; the August field
Where harvest bugs walk up and bite the ladies.
And there it is, the perfect trip revealed--
A tour of world affairs with summer in it,
Priced modestly, in my own dooryard, Oh,
Even the vision of that prophet Daniel,
Who dreamed that 'Many shall run to and fro
And knowledge shall be increased!' yields to my vision!
For what some find in Tanganyika some
Find in a book--and stay at home to read it,
Maintaining thus an equilibrium.
I plan to travel, therefore, in this region
Among the lilies, like a bibliophil,
Though neither book, nor swallow, makes a summer,
The poet says. No doubt a dozen will...
-Helen Bevington, from "When Found, Make a Verse Of"
I share their instinct to whine, if not wine. From a newspaper article on the difficulties of re-entry:
The French are like “eternal children who return to school,” said Alix Girod de l’Ain, a columnist at Elle magazine. “There is a sacralization of vacation,” since nearly everyone takes August off, with la rentrée as “an important moment because we officially change our rhythm and enter a new cycle.”And so, to my legions of French readers, I offer this substitute for vacation and sun in the form of an excerpt from a poem (I give and I give sans recompense):
...
Ms. Girod de l’Ain, who asked her readers to decide if they “really need to come back from vacation,” said that the French will recover. “French people like it when it’s sunny and they don’t work,” she said. “But this year the weather was bad, and now we have to start work again.”
Now welcome, summer. With thy sonne softe
Upon my head, the possibilities
Of pure escape again begin to haunt me--
Like June, say, in the higher Pyrenees.
I would depart for Zanzibar tomorrow,
Save for a qualm or two. There is, of course,
Always the thought that, if an ass goes traveling,
Proverbially he'll not come back a horse.
There is the man who journeyed to Beersheba
And cried out, "'Tis all barren!" So when I
Notice the look of flowering around me
And feel this qualm about a change of sky,
Then I remember. There are other tourists,
More like Thoreau who laughed at Zanzibar
As somewhere full of cats, yet chose to travel
Farther to Walden where the cattails are.
Or like that global Mr. White of Selborne
Who wrote a guidebook, journeys out of June,
Full of such planetary shine and wonder
As hoot owls hooting in B-flat, in tune;
A swallow in the air; a flight of lapwings;
The hayricks of July; the August field
Where harvest bugs walk up and bite the ladies.
And there it is, the perfect trip revealed--
A tour of world affairs with summer in it,
Priced modestly, in my own dooryard, Oh,
Even the vision of that prophet Daniel,
Who dreamed that 'Many shall run to and fro
And knowledge shall be increased!' yields to my vision!
For what some find in Tanganyika some
Find in a book--and stay at home to read it,
Maintaining thus an equilibrium.
I plan to travel, therefore, in this region
Among the lilies, like a bibliophil,
Though neither book, nor swallow, makes a summer,
The poet says. No doubt a dozen will...
-Helen Bevington, from "When Found, Make a Verse Of"
September 07, 2008
Generations
I'm reading an interesting book called "Generations at Work", written by what sounds like a (diverse) law firm: Zemke, Rains and Filipczak. I'm beginning to think I'd underestimated the impact of news events on the personalities and tendencies of a given generation, compared to the traditional formative influences of family and religion.
For example, Gen-Xrs are said to be skeptical and have a survivor's mentality. According to "Generations at Work" this generation:
I'd long thought the seminal influences on Gen-Xers were David Letterman and Alex P. Keaton of "Family Ties" fame.
Letterman helped give the Xers their love of informality (recall Dave wearing tennis shoes with his suit as if to say "yeah I got to wear this suit but (*wink*wink*) there's no dress code for shoes," as if he'd found a loophole. Letterman always complained about the bosses in upper management, a precusor to the comic strip "Dilbert"?
Alex Keaton appealed to Xers primarily because he was a realist and pragmatist amid starry-eye'd ex-hippies. Was his portrayal as money-obsessed a put-on? Did the viewers think of his over-the-top love for money and status as merely an act and that down deep he was a romantic? I think so, which allowed the viewer to accept his obsession with pragmatism and earning money and still find him likeable.
The book argues that Gen-X begins with those born 1960 or after though it also mentions there is a lot of crossover particularly for those born in the cusp of a generation. And though it's purely anecdotal, it's interesting how my own fraternity experience seems relevant in how it was run by Baby Boomer-types 'in 82, but then run by Gen-Xers a remarkably short time later, i.e. around '86, giving the whole thing a much different feel. You would think a fraternity's culture would linger but it's amazing how quickly ours changed. The new kids were much more interested in studies (i.e. the survivalist mentality) and definitely more laid back. The fraternity became far less about face time, conformity, ritual and hedonism.
I'm reading an interesting book called "Generations at Work", written by what sounds like a (diverse) law firm: Zemke, Rains and Filipczak. I'm beginning to think I'd underestimated the impact of news events on the personalities and tendencies of a given generation, compared to the traditional formative influences of family and religion.
For example, Gen-Xrs are said to be skeptical and have a survivor's mentality. According to "Generations at Work" this generation:
...can be summed up by the question, 'Just tell me, is this going to be on the test?'...This generation has developed an almost myopic concern with survival, both economic and psychological. The question really means, 'What does this have to do with my survival?' They sensed early that no one was going to hand hold them, so they must take care of themselves.Religiously how would might this translate? Maybe a Pelagianistic and legalistic attitude. Or possibly a therapeutic view.
Where did this survivor mentality come from? Try growing up in the wake of Vietnam, the only war the United States ever lost, and you'll get a hint. Then, as you're beginning to become politically aware, watch a President of the U.S. go down in flames.
Nixon's resignation...was followed by an oil embargo that, while it simply reminded the WWII generation of rationing, signaled to Xers what seemed to be an advent of a world in which anyone with a grudge could kick sand in the face of this once-respected superpower and bring our standard of living to its knees. In the 1980s, when many twenty-somethings joined the job market, the Japanese shadowboxed heavily over our economy...precipitating storms of layoffs.
I'd long thought the seminal influences on Gen-Xers were David Letterman and Alex P. Keaton of "Family Ties" fame.
Letterman helped give the Xers their love of informality (recall Dave wearing tennis shoes with his suit as if to say "yeah I got to wear this suit but (*wink*wink*) there's no dress code for shoes," as if he'd found a loophole. Letterman always complained about the bosses in upper management, a precusor to the comic strip "Dilbert"?
Alex Keaton appealed to Xers primarily because he was a realist and pragmatist amid starry-eye'd ex-hippies. Was his portrayal as money-obsessed a put-on? Did the viewers think of his over-the-top love for money and status as merely an act and that down deep he was a romantic? I think so, which allowed the viewer to accept his obsession with pragmatism and earning money and still find him likeable.
The book argues that Gen-X begins with those born 1960 or after though it also mentions there is a lot of crossover particularly for those born in the cusp of a generation. And though it's purely anecdotal, it's interesting how my own fraternity experience seems relevant in how it was run by Baby Boomer-types 'in 82, but then run by Gen-Xers a remarkably short time later, i.e. around '86, giving the whole thing a much different feel. You would think a fraternity's culture would linger but it's amazing how quickly ours changed. The new kids were much more interested in studies (i.e. the survivalist mentality) and definitely more laid back. The fraternity became far less about face time, conformity, ritual and hedonism.
September 05, 2008
Week in Review
By 9am on Labor Day we were taking the canoe down from its repose in the garage. The ol' hull was going to see water!
The weather was glorious and though we were unsure of the weight-bearing properties of the Ranger bumper, all went smoothly. I canoed by myself out to the little Devil’s Tower island at the end of Dog Lake, circling it as if it were unexplored land and the year was 1590. The birds looked all Galapagan and the water beneath was full of fish, full of bass and blue gill and all good things, as if an Ohio Cape Cod.
I gathered up Steph and Obi and then continued harvesting the field of liquid blue wheat. We rowed to the adjacent lake while Obi laid his head against the side of the canoe and fought off sleep.
Later we holed up in the shade and I laid down and looked at the sky. By & by my Guinness cap fell in the water -- requiring the panicky orchestration of an oar rescue.
How many times in the past had I been hiking the shoreline looking with longing at the glistening water? And yet here we were, in the middle of a lake, in solitudinal bliss, cell-phone and interruption free!
What is the fascination with being on the water, the ancient highway of the Indians? “Go jump in a lake,” goes the insult, which is to say I suppose ‘go where I don’t have to deal with you anymore’. A lake, the last place in America where solitude exists?
So I felt summery and full, remembering last Saturday’s long bike ride, the one where I fell off my bike & sustained various minor injuries before continuing down that virgin path.
I’d left the trail when I saw a castle through the leaves, or so it seemed, and I climbed the crumbling ruins of stone steps that might’ve been the envy of ancient Rome. I surfaced to modernity in the form of Ohio State University, to an apartment building (but Sancho, it is a castle!) and busy Lane Avenue. I hurried away, back to the indigenous bike trail, only to have the front tire lose its grip and there was the awful long moment that falling from a height affords. This one’s gonna hurt, you think, and I did the inventory afterwards, getting up slowly while checking for bleeds. “Are you okay?” a concerned walker said who’d heard the crash. “Yes,” I said, gathering a leaf to wipe the blood but generally pleased at the ability of the human body to survive impact. Later I re-grouped while leaning against a bridge and watching the geese move to and fro on the Olentangy. Steph called my cell and I dreamily watched the bucolic scene while she talked about her visit with her parents.
_____
The next day we had the obligatory Labor Day grill out at the in-laws, and I sat in sun salivating as the BBQ ribs cooked. They were being expertly tended by brother-in-law Bud, whose sleeveless forearms reminds one of Reds’ slugger Ted Klusewski’s or Bluto's of Popeye fame.
In the meantime politics were discussed and I was surprised to find Chris and me in the minority as McCain voters. The world has turned while we fiddled. Another brother-in-law tells us of his 80-year old white racist Republican father: “he’s voting for Obama!”. Punishment for Iraq? The economy?
I trade crude German phrases with yet another bro-in-law. He’s seen the Berlin Wall and Checkpoint Charlie while serving in the military. I am envious and tell him so. Growing up, my best friend’s parents (2nd generation Germans) had told me so stories about the Wall. It took on mythical dimensions but I thought of it as permanent as the Soviet Union or God Himself, and thus unworthy of urgency. I could go there any time, even when I was as old as, say, forty.
I tell him that a fellow bingo volunteer served in the army in Bavaria in the ‘80s also and how he had his souped-up car shipped to Bremen.
_________
The rains fall to shine the patio pavers and there is a uniformity in the weedless stones, like the floor of a monk’s chapel.
It’s the little things, like Steph's ingenious introduction of a solar grill light which now opens up the night patio to books. Convenience is the mother of usage isn't it? No light, no use, even though I could always retrieve a night light...
The patter of the rain on the roof encourages the reverie of an '80s song...:
_____
I heard you on the wireless back in ‘52
Lying awake intent at tuning in on you.
If I was young, it didn't stop you coming through.
Oh-a oh
They took the credit for your second symphony.
Rewritten by machine and new technology,
and now I understand the problems you can see.
Oh-a oh
I met your children
Oh-a oh
What did you tell them?
Video killed the radio star.
Video killed the radio star.
Pictures came and broke your heart.
Oh-a-a-a oh
And now we meet in an abandoned studio.
We hear the playback and it seems so long ago.
And you remember the jingles used to go.
Oh-a oh
By 9am on Labor Day we were taking the canoe down from its repose in the garage. The ol' hull was going to see water!
The weather was glorious and though we were unsure of the weight-bearing properties of the Ranger bumper, all went smoothly. I canoed by myself out to the little Devil’s Tower island at the end of Dog Lake, circling it as if it were unexplored land and the year was 1590. The birds looked all Galapagan and the water beneath was full of fish, full of bass and blue gill and all good things, as if an Ohio Cape Cod.
I gathered up Steph and Obi and then continued harvesting the field of liquid blue wheat. We rowed to the adjacent lake while Obi laid his head against the side of the canoe and fought off sleep. Later we holed up in the shade and I laid down and looked at the sky. By & by my Guinness cap fell in the water -- requiring the panicky orchestration of an oar rescue.
How many times in the past had I been hiking the shoreline looking with longing at the glistening water? And yet here we were, in the middle of a lake, in solitudinal bliss, cell-phone and interruption free!
What is the fascination with being on the water, the ancient highway of the Indians? “Go jump in a lake,” goes the insult, which is to say I suppose ‘go where I don’t have to deal with you anymore’. A lake, the last place in America where solitude exists?
So I felt summery and full, remembering last Saturday’s long bike ride, the one where I fell off my bike & sustained various minor injuries before continuing down that virgin path.
I’d left the trail when I saw a castle through the leaves, or so it seemed, and I climbed the crumbling ruins of stone steps that might’ve been the envy of ancient Rome. I surfaced to modernity in the form of Ohio State University, to an apartment building (but Sancho, it is a castle!) and busy Lane Avenue. I hurried away, back to the indigenous bike trail, only to have the front tire lose its grip and there was the awful long moment that falling from a height affords. This one’s gonna hurt, you think, and I did the inventory afterwards, getting up slowly while checking for bleeds. “Are you okay?” a concerned walker said who’d heard the crash. “Yes,” I said, gathering a leaf to wipe the blood but generally pleased at the ability of the human body to survive impact. Later I re-grouped while leaning against a bridge and watching the geese move to and fro on the Olentangy. Steph called my cell and I dreamily watched the bucolic scene while she talked about her visit with her parents.
The next day we had the obligatory Labor Day grill out at the in-laws, and I sat in sun salivating as the BBQ ribs cooked. They were being expertly tended by brother-in-law Bud, whose sleeveless forearms reminds one of Reds’ slugger Ted Klusewski’s or Bluto's of Popeye fame.
In the meantime politics were discussed and I was surprised to find Chris and me in the minority as McCain voters. The world has turned while we fiddled. Another brother-in-law tells us of his 80-year old white racist Republican father: “he’s voting for Obama!”. Punishment for Iraq? The economy?
I trade crude German phrases with yet another bro-in-law. He’s seen the Berlin Wall and Checkpoint Charlie while serving in the military. I am envious and tell him so. Growing up, my best friend’s parents (2nd generation Germans) had told me so stories about the Wall. It took on mythical dimensions but I thought of it as permanent as the Soviet Union or God Himself, and thus unworthy of urgency. I could go there any time, even when I was as old as, say, forty.
I tell him that a fellow bingo volunteer served in the army in Bavaria in the ‘80s also and how he had his souped-up car shipped to Bremen.
The rains fall to shine the patio pavers and there is a uniformity in the weedless stones, like the floor of a monk’s chapel.
It’s the little things, like Steph's ingenious introduction of a solar grill light which now opens up the night patio to books. Convenience is the mother of usage isn't it? No light, no use, even though I could always retrieve a night light...
The patter of the rain on the roof encourages the reverie of an '80s song...:
Lying awake intent at tuning in on you.
If I was young, it didn't stop you coming through.
Oh-a oh
They took the credit for your second symphony.
Rewritten by machine and new technology,
and now I understand the problems you can see.
Oh-a oh
I met your children
Oh-a oh
What did you tell them?
Video killed the radio star.
Video killed the radio star.
Pictures came and broke your heart.
Oh-a-a-a oh
And now we meet in an abandoned studio.
We hear the playback and it seems so long ago.
And you remember the jingles used to go.
Oh-a oh
Blessed Are Those Who Give the Benefit of the Doubt
It's humbling to realize it when someone to whom you didn't fully give the benefit of the doubt, deserved it. I was unduly suspicious because I couldn't seem to square the fact that Novak said he didn't see the guy, with a very credible eyewitness with no axe to grind who said he did. Now I can. Shame on me.
It's humbling to realize it when someone to whom you didn't fully give the benefit of the doubt, deserved it. I was unduly suspicious because I couldn't seem to square the fact that Novak said he didn't see the guy, with a very credible eyewitness with no axe to grind who said he did. Now I can. Shame on me.
Parody blog...
...updated with the stunning news of the New York Times briefly had a headline that didn't favor Obama.
(Inspiration via Bill of Summa.)
...updated with the stunning news of the New York Times briefly had a headline that didn't favor Obama.
(Inspiration via Bill of Summa.)
In Defense of Politics
Tom of Disputations doesn't like the devaluation of truth that seems to attend political discussion.
But if there were truth in politics, where would the humor be? Who would even follow politics if there weren't delicious howlers like Barack Obama's promises? Or did you hear the latest from the Republican side, the one that goes: Reporter: "Doesn't Sarah Palin lack foreign policy experience?" Campaign Aide: "No, Alaska is right next to Russia!"
Now that's just plain funny.
Even worse, if there were truth in politics, how would James Carville find work?
So I see Tom's point though I prefer to disputatio it. We all work from first principles. For example, we all work from the conclusion that the scientific method is effective, notwithstanding the possibility of miracles. Theists work from the conclusion that God exists and atheists* from the conclusion He does not. Conservatives work from the conclusion that big government is bad and liberals the opposite. John Paul II wrote, "there are in the life of a human being many more truths which are simply believed than truths which are acquired by way of personal verification. Who, for instance, could assess critically the countless scientific findings upon which modern life is based?"
The definition of a first principle seems a sort of line-drawing in itself. I think that part of what is irritating about democratic politics is that everyone draws their own line and people resent that some have drawn a line different from them. For example, I dislike that many Catholics will vote for Obama, and I also dislike that some won't vote for McCain simply for his stance on embryonic stem cell research. But that's democracy. And sometimes, though not very often, I actually appreciate the fact that we entrust power not to one flawed human or a group of flawed humans but to our collective body. In this, it's ironic that democracy works more the way Communism was supposed to work than Communism itself. I love that democracy is not elitist. We see just how pernicious elitism is in our abortion policy, now that we have entrusted the fate of millions of babies to nine people in robes.
But we also see the downside of democracy every day. One instance I was reminded of on MSNBC today, that of immigration and how "nuance" doesn't work too well when things get personal. For example, it just seems patently unfair that McCain might lose the election simply because the Republican party wants to control U.S. borders.
McCain has much less support among Hispanics than George Bush, if you can believe that. And according to the McCain campaign manager this is a reaction to the "nativist discussion" going on in the Republican party the past 2-3 years. He says you can't "bifurcate the message" in saying we like legal immigration but not illegal immigration. That nuance is simply not seen by Hispanics as nuance. For them, it sounds like Republicans are against Hispanics. Their conclusion is "if you're against illegal immigration, you don't like Mexicans". What can you do? Tom K. makes a lot of sense because it shuts down the debate. But that's their core principle so what you gonna do?
_______________
* - By the way, had a dream in which there was an atheist school that taught kids only up to the number 90,000 because the atheists didn't want any sliver of God into the schools and they worried that numbers very large might indicate the concept of infinity and thus God...
Tom of Disputations doesn't like the devaluation of truth that seems to attend political discussion.
But if there were truth in politics, where would the humor be? Who would even follow politics if there weren't delicious howlers like Barack Obama's promises? Or did you hear the latest from the Republican side, the one that goes: Reporter: "Doesn't Sarah Palin lack foreign policy experience?" Campaign Aide: "No, Alaska is right next to Russia!"
Now that's just plain funny.
Even worse, if there were truth in politics, how would James Carville find work?
So I see Tom's point though I prefer to disputatio it. We all work from first principles. For example, we all work from the conclusion that the scientific method is effective, notwithstanding the possibility of miracles. Theists work from the conclusion that God exists and atheists* from the conclusion He does not. Conservatives work from the conclusion that big government is bad and liberals the opposite. John Paul II wrote, "there are in the life of a human being many more truths which are simply believed than truths which are acquired by way of personal verification. Who, for instance, could assess critically the countless scientific findings upon which modern life is based?"
The definition of a first principle seems a sort of line-drawing in itself. I think that part of what is irritating about democratic politics is that everyone draws their own line and people resent that some have drawn a line different from them. For example, I dislike that many Catholics will vote for Obama, and I also dislike that some won't vote for McCain simply for his stance on embryonic stem cell research. But that's democracy. And sometimes, though not very often, I actually appreciate the fact that we entrust power not to one flawed human or a group of flawed humans but to our collective body. In this, it's ironic that democracy works more the way Communism was supposed to work than Communism itself. I love that democracy is not elitist. We see just how pernicious elitism is in our abortion policy, now that we have entrusted the fate of millions of babies to nine people in robes.
But we also see the downside of democracy every day. One instance I was reminded of on MSNBC today, that of immigration and how "nuance" doesn't work too well when things get personal. For example, it just seems patently unfair that McCain might lose the election simply because the Republican party wants to control U.S. borders.
McCain has much less support among Hispanics than George Bush, if you can believe that. And according to the McCain campaign manager this is a reaction to the "nativist discussion" going on in the Republican party the past 2-3 years. He says you can't "bifurcate the message" in saying we like legal immigration but not illegal immigration. That nuance is simply not seen by Hispanics as nuance. For them, it sounds like Republicans are against Hispanics. Their conclusion is "if you're against illegal immigration, you don't like Mexicans". What can you do? Tom K. makes a lot of sense because it shuts down the debate. But that's their core principle so what you gonna do?
* - By the way, had a dream in which there was an atheist school that taught kids only up to the number 90,000 because the atheists didn't want any sliver of God into the schools and they worried that numbers very large might indicate the concept of infinity and thus God...
September 04, 2008
Elsewhere Spotted...
From Phil Albinus, father of autistic child:
From Rich Lowry:
"Our mama beats your Obama" - Palin supporter's T-shirt
From Phil Albinus, father of autistic child:
A nice passageHe also wrote:
From Gov. Sarah Palin’s knockout speech last night:Sometimes even the greatest joys bring challenge.I’m not made of stone, people. This one worked for me. Bravo
And children with special needs inspire a special love.
To the families of special-needs children all across this country, I have a message: For years, you sought to make America a more welcoming place for your sons and daughters.
I pledge to you that if we are elected, you will have a friend and advocate in the White House.
After asking Regina what she thought of Palin’s speech last night, she said she liked it quite a bit. Then she added this, which hit me like a lightening bolt:The following, from one of the Kos haters, has the distinction of being simultaneously one of the saddest and stupidest comments that I've read recently:“She looks like a real working mom. Hilary looked like a professional who happened to have a child.”
If health insurance for all, an end to the Iraq War, an end to torture and illegal wiretapping, and a sane energy policy can be obtained at the price of destroying one teenage girl, her family, and the surrendering our self-respect [sic] I see that as a cheap trade.In other words, "for an end to torture, we'll torture a young teenage girl." Makes a lot of sense. Not.
From Rich Lowry:
Sarah Palin works fast. She instantly became the object of the kind of partisan hatred that most politicians can raise only after prosecuting an unpopular war and lying about their misconduct in office (Nixon), after making sanctimonious dishonesty an art form and getting caught in flagrante with an intern (Clinton), and after winning a disputed election and botching a foreign occupation (Bush)...she’s the object of the cultural disdain of a Left that loves the working class in theory, but is mystified or offended by its lifestyle and conservative values in reality. If there’s ever been an exemplar of the rural America that, in Barack Obama’s telling, “bitterly” clings to its guns and religion, it’s Sarah Palin.
"Our mama beats your Obama" - Palin supporter's T-shirt
Conventioneerin'Mark of Irish Elk has some fine convention round-up lately, including one post with the line: "If you must weep, weep in the cuspidor" before quoting some of the Kos haters.
The Ballad of Sarah Palin (to tune of Jed Clampett):
Come and listen to a story about a gal named Sarah
An Alaska mountaineer always kept her family fed,
Then one day McCain was lookin' for some help,
When out from the brush came this hockey mom...
Reformer, that is, and mother of five...
Well the first thing you know ol' McCain's a millionaire,
Voters said "Hey where'd you find that girl?"
Said, "Washington is the place you ought to be"
So they loaded up the truck and headed to D.C.
The White House...1600...Pennsylvania...
September 03, 2008
Palin's Big Moment
Wow. It was about as well-delivered as anyone could've imagined or hoped. Didn't seem nervous at all.
Much harsher towards Obama than I expected; there were certainly some eviscerating lines cast his way. (Think: "The Emperor has no clothes!") I enjoyed them immensely, almost involuntarily clapping, but then I'm not the one she's trying to reach and I felt a tad guilty afterward. She's certainly complements McCain in this respect, who shows way, way too much respect towards Obama.
They say you gotta watch those quiet ones, well you gotta watch those cute ones too. Baracuda no lie.
She even took on the media, whoa! And we thought the press was sour on her now? Of course, they couldn't get worse so there is nothing to lose. (Funny line in the 'pre-game show': Chris Matthews ridiculously said that the press likes Palin because she is new and Pat Buchanan said, "so after her speech are you going to say you have a tingle going up your leg?". Helluva line.)
I do understand the VP's job is to throw red meat and be the "attack dog" and in this case she certainly let everyone know that she's not going to cede that role simply because she's new to the D.C. scene. But I would've liked it slightly less mocking. How do you use humor without mocking? I don't know. But you have to have a twinkle in your eye ala Reagan, but then she's not running for President. McCain, like Obama, is the one who has to stay somewhat above the fray.
The overall impression is that she's a doer, not a bloviator, action-oriented, not ivory-tower oriented. In this sense she's the perfect foil for Biden, who must think he gets paid by the word.
I would've liked less biography and familial introductions and more policy direction or political philosophy. I felt uncomfortable when Obama trotted his family out at the convention and likewise now. But the speech was not the least bit pretentious. She didn't try to be someone she wasn't, but instead amply displaying her strengths.
One thing is patently obvious: I've watched Dan Qualye, I've heard Dan Qualye, Sarah Palin is no Dan Qualye. As I recall, by this time, Dan Qualye was already flopping. But Palin? She's good. No deer-in-headlights and tough as nails.
Wow. It was about as well-delivered as anyone could've imagined or hoped. Didn't seem nervous at all.
Much harsher towards Obama than I expected; there were certainly some eviscerating lines cast his way. (Think: "The Emperor has no clothes!") I enjoyed them immensely, almost involuntarily clapping, but then I'm not the one she's trying to reach and I felt a tad guilty afterward. She's certainly complements McCain in this respect, who shows way, way too much respect towards Obama.
They say you gotta watch those quiet ones, well you gotta watch those cute ones too. Baracuda no lie.
She even took on the media, whoa! And we thought the press was sour on her now? Of course, they couldn't get worse so there is nothing to lose. (Funny line in the 'pre-game show': Chris Matthews ridiculously said that the press likes Palin because she is new and Pat Buchanan said, "so after her speech are you going to say you have a tingle going up your leg?". Helluva line.)
I do understand the VP's job is to throw red meat and be the "attack dog" and in this case she certainly let everyone know that she's not going to cede that role simply because she's new to the D.C. scene. But I would've liked it slightly less mocking. How do you use humor without mocking? I don't know. But you have to have a twinkle in your eye ala Reagan, but then she's not running for President. McCain, like Obama, is the one who has to stay somewhat above the fray.
The overall impression is that she's a doer, not a bloviator, action-oriented, not ivory-tower oriented. In this sense she's the perfect foil for Biden, who must think he gets paid by the word.
I would've liked less biography and familial introductions and more policy direction or political philosophy. I felt uncomfortable when Obama trotted his family out at the convention and likewise now. But the speech was not the least bit pretentious. She didn't try to be someone she wasn't, but instead amply displaying her strengths.
One thing is patently obvious: I've watched Dan Qualye, I've heard Dan Qualye, Sarah Palin is no Dan Qualye. As I recall, by this time, Dan Qualye was already flopping. But Palin? She's good. No deer-in-headlights and tough as nails.
Peggy, We Hardly Knew Ye?
"Say it ain't so, Peg"
Is our dear Irish Ms. Noonan going beltway on us? Or rather, is she going Jim Wallis on us and wondering if Christians should worry less about pro-life issues and focus instead on universal health care?
Today was live mic night at the Apollo, or rather at MSNBC. Peggy Noonan was caught saying "Why Not Kay Bailey Hutchinson?" (me: uh, how about because she's pro-choice, a weak communicator?) instead of Palin, just as she said "Why not Dick Lugar?" back in '88 instead of Dan Qualye. Qualye was a gamble that didn't work, but his heart was in the right place. He was no RINO and he did the country no harm.
I thought Noonan was more interested in a candidate's world view than how much beltway experience (i.e. political hackdom) they've acquired. I thought the reason Peggy doesn't like "narrative" is because she preferred a grounded, principled conservative -- that is someone who calls for a limited role of government, including limiting constitutional mandates allowing the killing the unborn.
For heaven sakes, Hutchinson (according to Wikpedia) thinks Roe was rightly decided! Even some of the pro-choice law clerks at the time thought it hung on an awfully thin reed, a right to privacy, not mentioned in the Constitution.
So I'm shocked by Noonan's take. She's met Palin, so maybe she thinks she's a lightweight and if so this will make a lot more sense. But I thought the problem with the party was not so much narrative as a lack of guts and a disbelief in basic economics, such as that higher taxes are a drag on the economy. I thought our problem was we simply nominated "whoever's turn it was" regardless of past performance or view of the role of government, such as Bob Dole in '96 and George Bush in '88. Well it's not Palin's turn all right, and I for one am glad.
Experience is overrated. I'm voting against Obama because of the issues and not because of his lack of experience. Nobody had more experience that Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld and Colin Powell and together they got us into Iraq. Joe Biden wanted to partition Iraq into three separate countries. He voted against the surge. He voted for the war.
Since when did Noonan become the advocate for beltway insiders like Lugar & Hutchinson? I'm sorry, but part of leadership, like it or not, is looks. Does anyone really think George Washington would've been as successful if he didn't look like God Himself? Do you think Washington would've been president if he was 5'2'' instead of 6'2''? Lugar has the hangdog face of that Deputy Dog cartoon. Hutchinson looks fine if benevolently grandmotherly. So you have to appeal to extrinsic things like looks or gender or race, but that doesn't mean you have to give up substance. The two can go together. I don't know if they do with Palin but they don't with Hutchinson or Lugar. Or Dole or Papa Bush. Where am I going wrong? I must be, because I respect Noonan too much. I don't want to think that she feels sympathy for Lugar and Hutchinson simply because they are older, a subject concerning which none of us is completely neutral or envy-free.
So I wish Peggy had "said more words" as an old boss used to say to me when he wanted a clarification. She's fascinating but I think she's "evolving" leftward, as the Beltway types put it. Or, perhaps the good spin is that she's become convinced that there needs to be more efforts at poverty reduction and income redistribution in a country where the wealthy are getting wealthier by the minute.
But I do have this premonition that one day I'll wake up and I'll get her confused with NY Times "house conservative" David Brooks, who works the plantation for Massa Times, tilling the soil of the pro-abort, pro-gay marriage lobby.
"Say it ain't so, Peg"
Is our dear Irish Ms. Noonan going beltway on us? Or rather, is she going Jim Wallis on us and wondering if Christians should worry less about pro-life issues and focus instead on universal health care?
Today was live mic night at the Apollo, or rather at MSNBC. Peggy Noonan was caught saying "Why Not Kay Bailey Hutchinson?" (me: uh, how about because she's pro-choice, a weak communicator?) instead of Palin, just as she said "Why not Dick Lugar?" back in '88 instead of Dan Qualye. Qualye was a gamble that didn't work, but his heart was in the right place. He was no RINO and he did the country no harm.
I thought Noonan was more interested in a candidate's world view than how much beltway experience (i.e. political hackdom) they've acquired. I thought the reason Peggy doesn't like "narrative" is because she preferred a grounded, principled conservative -- that is someone who calls for a limited role of government, including limiting constitutional mandates allowing the killing the unborn.
For heaven sakes, Hutchinson (according to Wikpedia) thinks Roe was rightly decided! Even some of the pro-choice law clerks at the time thought it hung on an awfully thin reed, a right to privacy, not mentioned in the Constitution.
So I'm shocked by Noonan's take. She's met Palin, so maybe she thinks she's a lightweight and if so this will make a lot more sense. But I thought the problem with the party was not so much narrative as a lack of guts and a disbelief in basic economics, such as that higher taxes are a drag on the economy. I thought our problem was we simply nominated "whoever's turn it was" regardless of past performance or view of the role of government, such as Bob Dole in '96 and George Bush in '88. Well it's not Palin's turn all right, and I for one am glad.
Experience is overrated. I'm voting against Obama because of the issues and not because of his lack of experience. Nobody had more experience that Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld and Colin Powell and together they got us into Iraq. Joe Biden wanted to partition Iraq into three separate countries. He voted against the surge. He voted for the war.
Since when did Noonan become the advocate for beltway insiders like Lugar & Hutchinson? I'm sorry, but part of leadership, like it or not, is looks. Does anyone really think George Washington would've been as successful if he didn't look like God Himself? Do you think Washington would've been president if he was 5'2'' instead of 6'2''? Lugar has the hangdog face of that Deputy Dog cartoon. Hutchinson looks fine if benevolently grandmotherly. So you have to appeal to extrinsic things like looks or gender or race, but that doesn't mean you have to give up substance. The two can go together. I don't know if they do with Palin but they don't with Hutchinson or Lugar. Or Dole or Papa Bush. Where am I going wrong? I must be, because I respect Noonan too much. I don't want to think that she feels sympathy for Lugar and Hutchinson simply because they are older, a subject concerning which none of us is completely neutral or envy-free.
So I wish Peggy had "said more words" as an old boss used to say to me when he wanted a clarification. She's fascinating but I think she's "evolving" leftward, as the Beltway types put it. Or, perhaps the good spin is that she's become convinced that there needs to be more efforts at poverty reduction and income redistribution in a country where the wealthy are getting wealthier by the minute.
But I do have this premonition that one day I'll wake up and I'll get her confused with NY Times "house conservative" David Brooks, who works the plantation for Massa Times, tilling the soil of the pro-abort, pro-gay marriage lobby.
More on Palin...
One of the things so attractive about Sarah Palin is that she's gutsy -- which she showed in spades by taking on corrupt Republicans. (I could never understand how the politically repulsive Sen. Ted Stevens lasted as long as he did.)
But one of the more interesting columns I've read thus far about Palin is from David Brooks, who says that she lacks a core political philosophy. I find that troubling and it could well be true. Not that I've read much Burke or Hayek (or even Kirk) but I'd like to think our party nominees have. I doubt McCain has and don't know about Palin, but I suspect that she's been too busy dealing with life than with the abstract. (Although the former is a big help to the latter obviously and vice-versa.)
"Conservative rebel" is almost oxymoronic, which is why William F. Buckley and Ronald Reagan stood out so much. Both were conservatives but not temperamentally so. Temperament often tracks political preference, as George Will pointed out, and it takes a freak of nature for someone with a well-reasoned conservative vision and guts to appear on the national stage. It's part of the appeal of former Speaker Newt Gingrinch.
Conversely, I think a large part of Obama's appeal is that he appears to be smart and cool and in control despite having radical politics. He is the sort of hybrid that people long for. A conservative with a vision or a liberal who is smart and self-disciplined are most likely to be successful.
Palin's pro-life position matters politically only in the sense that the VP usually becomes the defacto leading candidate for president in the next election. (Cheney took himself out of it on day one in 2000.) So it matters not a whit to me that her her pro-life position is "pure"; McCain is plenty pro-life for me (by which I mean that I believe he will appoint pro-life judges). Ronald Reagan was a pure pro-life'r and it did nothing for the movement; in fact his choice of Supreme Court Justice O'Connor left a lot to be desired.
Brooks calls Palin a "dazzling political performer". The problem is that, like a star pitcher in double-A ball who can throw 100 mph, you wonder if you're bringing her up too soon. Primarily this is a worry because she could get tied to an unpopular presidency. If she fails because she's not the star we think she is that's one thing. But if she ultimately fails because she was tied to a McCain anchor, well that would be a real shame.
* * *
I've heard women say how tough women are on other women, and we see many of so-called feminists like Mo Dowd and Sally Quinn wanting to destroy one of their own. You could see this as primarily a fact of ideology, but a lawyer recently said that women are so hard on each other that in rape trials prosecuting attorneys want men rather than women on the jury. Certainly there's a reason "cat fight" has taken on a certain resonance and why women seem to put up with adulterous male behavior far more than men doing so with women. Do women blame the "other woman" more than her spouse?
I'm not sure what to make of womanly self-sabotage other than it sounds familiar in that the Irish used to hold up to scorn anyone who would dare "rise above their station". Perhaps it is part of the psychology of those who are prejudiced against. Of course if that is true then blacks would not be voting overwhelmingly for Obama, or perhaps that suggests that blacks feel more entitled than persecuted now.
I've heard anecdotally of at least one "older" person who doesn't want to vote for McCain because of his age. Perhaps there's some self-distrust among women and the elderly which carries over to the candidates?
Limbaugh says flatly that women don't like women who can still wear skirts.
* * *
It's humorous that because I subscribe to the New Yorker, Newsweek thinks I'm a natural for them. So much so that they gave me a free subscription.
My newsflash for Newsweek: many don't read the New Yorker for the politics or news. If I don't read Newsweek for the politics or news, what exactly am I left with? Ads? I've been circular filing the mag. Life's too short to needlessly raise your blood pressure.
* * *
Personally I'm chagrined that likely two of the four presidential candidates could beat me in a game of one-on-one basketball. Obama is an excellent shooter and is likely a step or two quicker than me. Palin led her high school team to a championship. I think I'd prefer to play Palin.
One of the things so attractive about Sarah Palin is that she's gutsy -- which she showed in spades by taking on corrupt Republicans. (I could never understand how the politically repulsive Sen. Ted Stevens lasted as long as he did.)
But one of the more interesting columns I've read thus far about Palin is from David Brooks, who says that she lacks a core political philosophy. I find that troubling and it could well be true. Not that I've read much Burke or Hayek (or even Kirk) but I'd like to think our party nominees have. I doubt McCain has and don't know about Palin, but I suspect that she's been too busy dealing with life than with the abstract. (Although the former is a big help to the latter obviously and vice-versa.)
"Conservative rebel" is almost oxymoronic, which is why William F. Buckley and Ronald Reagan stood out so much. Both were conservatives but not temperamentally so. Temperament often tracks political preference, as George Will pointed out, and it takes a freak of nature for someone with a well-reasoned conservative vision and guts to appear on the national stage. It's part of the appeal of former Speaker Newt Gingrinch.
Conversely, I think a large part of Obama's appeal is that he appears to be smart and cool and in control despite having radical politics. He is the sort of hybrid that people long for. A conservative with a vision or a liberal who is smart and self-disciplined are most likely to be successful.
Palin's pro-life position matters politically only in the sense that the VP usually becomes the defacto leading candidate for president in the next election. (Cheney took himself out of it on day one in 2000.) So it matters not a whit to me that her her pro-life position is "pure"; McCain is plenty pro-life for me (by which I mean that I believe he will appoint pro-life judges). Ronald Reagan was a pure pro-life'r and it did nothing for the movement; in fact his choice of Supreme Court Justice O'Connor left a lot to be desired.
Brooks calls Palin a "dazzling political performer". The problem is that, like a star pitcher in double-A ball who can throw 100 mph, you wonder if you're bringing her up too soon. Primarily this is a worry because she could get tied to an unpopular presidency. If she fails because she's not the star we think she is that's one thing. But if she ultimately fails because she was tied to a McCain anchor, well that would be a real shame.
I've heard women say how tough women are on other women, and we see many of so-called feminists like Mo Dowd and Sally Quinn wanting to destroy one of their own. You could see this as primarily a fact of ideology, but a lawyer recently said that women are so hard on each other that in rape trials prosecuting attorneys want men rather than women on the jury. Certainly there's a reason "cat fight" has taken on a certain resonance and why women seem to put up with adulterous male behavior far more than men doing so with women. Do women blame the "other woman" more than her spouse?
I'm not sure what to make of womanly self-sabotage other than it sounds familiar in that the Irish used to hold up to scorn anyone who would dare "rise above their station". Perhaps it is part of the psychology of those who are prejudiced against. Of course if that is true then blacks would not be voting overwhelmingly for Obama, or perhaps that suggests that blacks feel more entitled than persecuted now.
I've heard anecdotally of at least one "older" person who doesn't want to vote for McCain because of his age. Perhaps there's some self-distrust among women and the elderly which carries over to the candidates?
Limbaugh says flatly that women don't like women who can still wear skirts.
It's humorous that because I subscribe to the New Yorker, Newsweek thinks I'm a natural for them. So much so that they gave me a free subscription.
My newsflash for Newsweek: many don't read the New Yorker for the politics or news. If I don't read Newsweek for the politics or news, what exactly am I left with? Ads? I've been circular filing the mag. Life's too short to needlessly raise your blood pressure.
Personally I'm chagrined that likely two of the four presidential candidates could beat me in a game of one-on-one basketball. Obama is an excellent shooter and is likely a step or two quicker than me. Palin led her high school team to a championship. I think I'd prefer to play Palin.
Continuing Our Palinoscopy
From Curt Jester:
From Curt Jester:
President Clinton committing adultery and having sex with an intern - Media says move along.Kathryn Lopez of NRO:
Presidential Candidate John Edwards committing adultery while his wife has cancer - Media says move along.
Sarah Palin's 17 year old daughter committing fornication and keeping the baby - Media says what a moral outrage and front page story!
Contrary to popular pundit belief, Sarah Palin is no Harriet Miers.From Darwin Catholic:
And it’s a funny thing: When conservatives like myself opposed Miers’s nomination to the Supreme Court on the grounds that she was under-qualified and an affirmative-action pick, we were slammed as being sexist and elitist. Does that mean the Left and others railing against Palin are sexist and anti-Eskimo (her husband is part Eskimo)?
Of course not. That would be silly — as it was in the case of the Miers debate. Instead, lefty columnists and pundits should admit they don’t like her because she’s a conservative, not because they’re concerned about a rot in the conservative movement.
The choice of Sarah Palin is not like Harriet Miers in a number of debatable ways — including that Palin has executive experience, something Barack Obama lacks — in one big and clear way: There were no real alternatives.
One of the complaints I've heard a number of women, particularly Catholic women, about the modern ideal of feminism is that it seeks to achieve "equality" for women by essentially turning them into men. Whether it's achieving a "masculine" detachment from relationships, or not allowing being a mother to interfere at all with one's ability to hold down a 60-hour-a-week job...From Peggy Noonan:
Governor Palin very much breaks with this mold. Here we have a woman who is still young looking and has young children who are not kept strictly out of sight. A governor who's been seen at work wearing her baby in a sling. A family load-balancing ethic: apparently she's had her older daughters along on the campaign bus much of the time to help take care of the baby when she's not available.
While most women in politics fit a "professional woman" mode, in which the woman has to essentially function as a man; Governor Palin seems to have more of a "pioneer woman" ethic, taking on massive tasks but remaining clearly a woman and clearly a mother while at her work. It seems to me a more encouraging type of feminism from a cultural perspective, one that takes human nature into account better and is less artificial. And it may also be one of the reasons why she is being seen as such a different (and generally scorned) creature by the mainstream press.
Because she jumbles up so many cultural categories, because she is a feminist not in the Yale Gender Studies sense but the How Do I Reload This Thang way, because she is a woman who in style, history, moxie and femininity is exactly like a normal American feminist...because conservatives can smell this sort of thing -- who is really one of them and who is not -- and will fight to the death for one of their beleaguered own; because of all of this she is a real and present danger to the American left, and to a future Obama candidacy.Pat Buchanan:
She could become a transformative political presence.
So they are going to have to kill her, and kill her quick.
And it's going to be brutal. It's already getting there.
There are only two questions.
1. Can she take it?
Will she be rattled? Can she sail through high seas? Can she roll with most punches and deliver some jabs herself?
2. And while she's taking it, rolling with it and sailing through, can she put herself forward convincingly as serious enough, grounded enough, weighty enough that the American people can imagine her as vice president of the United States?
I suppose every candidate for vice president faces these questions to some degree, but because Palin is new, unknown, and a woman, it's all much more so.
The lady has more executive experience than McCain, Joe Biden and Obama put together. None of them has ever started or run a business as Palin did. None of them has run a giant state like Alaska, which is larger than California and Texas put together. And though Alaska is not populous, Gov. Palin has as many constituents as Nancy Pelosi or Biden...And her experience as governor of Alaska, dealing with the oil industry and pipeline agreements with Canada, certainly compares favorably with that of Barack Obama, a community organizer who dealt in the mommy issues of food stamps and rent subsidies. Where Obama has poodled along with the Daley Machine, Palin routed the Republican establishment, challenging and ousting a sitting GOP governor before defeating a former Democratic governor to become the first female and youngest governor in state history.
Why's My Bookbag (or Bookbag Equivalent) So Heavy?
Some recent tasty reads. This quote is from "The Education of Henry Adams" concerning a friend of his father:
Some recent tasty reads. This quote is from "The Education of Henry Adams" concerning a friend of his father:
Born to be a man of the world, he forced himself to be clergyman, professor, or statesman, while, like every other true Bostonian, he yearned for the ease of the Athenaeum Club in Pall Mall or the Combination Room at Trinity. Dana at first suggested the opposite; he affected to be still before the mast, a direct, rather bluff, vigorous seaman, and only as one got to know him better one found the man of rather excessive refinement trying with success to work like a day-laborer, deliberately hardening his skin to the burden, as though he were still carrying hides at Monterey. Undoubtedly he succeeded, for his mind and will were robust, but he might have said what his lifelong friend William M. Evarts used to say: "I pride myself on my success in doing not the things I like to do, but the things I don't like to do."In O'Neill's novel "Netherland", he spoofs Bush haters who seem to have psychologically longed for an Iraq War in order to test their anti-war verbal fighting ability, just as it's often said that many young men long to test their courage in actual war:
For those under the age of forty-five it seemed that world events had finally contrived a meaningful test of their capacity for conscientious political thought. Many of my acquaintances, I realized, had passed the last decade or two in a state of intellectual and psychic yearning for such a moment — or, if they hadn’t, were able to quickly assemble an expert arguer’s arsenal of thrusts and statistics and ripostes and gambits and examples and salient facts and rhetorical maneuvers.Elsewhere:
"Hans, you’re supposed to be the great rationalist.” As I’ve said, I never laid claim to this trait. I merely saw myself as cautious about my pronouncements. The idea that I was a rationalist was one Rachel had nurtured—albeit, I must admit, with my complicity. Who has the courage to set right those misperceptions that bring us love?Another:
One recipient of this missive copied his reply to all of Chuck’s addressees:One more:WhoeverAlthough I glanced at them, I didn’t respond to Chuck’s communications. My instinct was to keep him at a distance, at that distance, certainly, that we introduce between ourselves and those we suspect of neediness.
Could you please stop sending me crazy junk mail?!
But I was also drawn to Chuck. I had him down as a lover of contingencies and hypotheses, a man cheerfully operating in the subjunctive mood. The business world is densely margined by dreamers, men, almost invariably, whose longing selves willingly submit to the enchantment of projections and pie charts and crisply totted numbers, who toy and toy for years, like novelists, with the same sheaf of documents, who slip out of bed in the middle of the night to pitch to a pajama’d reflection in a windowpane. I’ve never been open to the fantastical aspect of business. I’m an analyst—a bystander. I lack entrepreneurial wistfulness. In other respects, of course, I’m as faraway as they come.
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