The flight of the curiales from Wisconsin and Indiana to the welcoming arms of Illinois is such transparent, temporizing, time-wasting nonsense that a large hole should be dug for all the legislators - ALL- from both states, plus the governors. Then they should all -ALL- do the decent thing. If they can persuade the same officials in Illinois to join them, I'm sure the hole can be enlarged to fit.
To do what has to be done, these cowards, of every political persuasion, are terrified of appearing the bad guy and risking their pathetic careers. So the Donks flee the state, ostensibly to block legislation, while attempting to make the Trunks look bad and do a Pontius Pilate for their constituencies. The Trunks threaten draconian executive action to terminate thousands of state employees, while attempting to make the Donks look bad and do a Pontius Pilate for their constituencies.
As I have the habit of doing, I'll let others speak for me:
"There are three principles in this Constitution, and they are very precious. They are compromise, compromise, and compromise."
-James Madison, Father of the U.S. Constitution
On a more global level, we resort to the poets:
"The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity."
- William Butler Yeats, The Second Coming
"And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night."
- Matthew Arnold, Dover Beach
"There are four types of homicide: felonious, accidental, justifiable, and praiseworthy."
- Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
Understanding what is commemorated
Today is -I think- the anniversary of the bombing of Dresden by the Allies in February 1945. Thanks to the historicism and just ahistorical opinions of those who were never lived through that awful struggle. I'll just commemorate it by posting the best quote I've ever read on the subject:
"My mother was a child in occupied Belgium. Unfortunately, her town had a factory that the Germans converted to make airplane parts, so the bombers came. The American bombardier mistook the elementary school for the factory. Officials laid the children's bodies out on the playground so their parents could come claim them.
I've told people this story a hundred times, but on a visit to Scotland 10 years ago, me and a friend of mine would go to a pub in Ullapool regularly, called "The Ferry Boat Inn". It was one of the last stops when you were going to the most Northern point of the English Isles. After Ullapool, there was nothing but lochs, moors and rocks.
One evening, an older man came to sit next to us on a barstool. We started talking and I noticed he had a pin on his vest that I couldn't recognise immediately. When asked, he calmly said "Oh, I was in Belgium you see. Lost a lot of friends then ... ."
Offering him a drink, which he refused, I told him "we had a lot to thank him for", while my friend opposite of me nodded (he was a history buff, with enough brains to know what sacrifices the fights around Ieper, or Ypres, had taken and what they had meant for our country and others).
Until today, I clearly see in front of me the blink in this veteran's eye, from the tears that were starting to well up, while he briefly stared in my face. He got up from the stool, saying "Thank you Sir, thank you very much" silently, almost whispering, opened the door and went.
As I read that again, tears well up in my eyes. People here still run the risk of getting killed by bombs, every winter there's a few that rise out of the fields, every summer there's one that rises up from the beaches, but the first guy that would complain about them Rednecks leaving bombs behind would be considered a nut. My grandfather spent time in Bergen-Belsen (be careful if you have a sensitive stomach) and escaped, while his then-girlfriend tried to hide from V1's and V2's. My best friend's grandfather spent time in a Norwegian concentration camp, escaped, and stayed hidden in the snow for months, thanks to a caring Norwegian family.
The city I currently live in was bombed and shot to pieces in WWII, it was phosphorized in WWI. At least two of my grandparents were "White Lions", a well-known resistance brigade. If I tell you that only two of them are still alive, then do you have a clue why I say "at least"?
Each and every one of my 30-something friends knows at least one of their family member's stories about " fourty - fourtyfive " ... . We also take care to try and learn about Dresden, and we know the images of the mothers and children, hiding in tunnels, burned alive because of the goo that came out of some bombs, or suffocated because the explosions drew the air out of the tunnels.
Every city, every town, every village, every major street, every god damned cul de sac in this country has at least one statue or plaque commemorating men and women who gave their lives, and we owe them our past, present, and future.
Now, if you know of a better way, that would have been more suitable to end the world's misery in those black 40's, then I suggest you go and tell those people, because whether they were up in the air or beneath on the ground, they surely didn't do it just for the fun of "pointlessly slaughtering kids".
My hat goes off to all who served. We are forever in debt."
"My mother was a child in occupied Belgium. Unfortunately, her town had a factory that the Germans converted to make airplane parts, so the bombers came. The American bombardier mistook the elementary school for the factory. Officials laid the children's bodies out on the playground so their parents could come claim them.
I've told people this story a hundred times, but on a visit to Scotland 10 years ago, me and a friend of mine would go to a pub in Ullapool regularly, called "The Ferry Boat Inn". It was one of the last stops when you were going to the most Northern point of the English Isles. After Ullapool, there was nothing but lochs, moors and rocks.
One evening, an older man came to sit next to us on a barstool. We started talking and I noticed he had a pin on his vest that I couldn't recognise immediately. When asked, he calmly said "Oh, I was in Belgium you see. Lost a lot of friends then ... ."
Offering him a drink, which he refused, I told him "we had a lot to thank him for", while my friend opposite of me nodded (he was a history buff, with enough brains to know what sacrifices the fights around Ieper, or Ypres, had taken and what they had meant for our country and others).
Until today, I clearly see in front of me the blink in this veteran's eye, from the tears that were starting to well up, while he briefly stared in my face. He got up from the stool, saying "Thank you Sir, thank you very much" silently, almost whispering, opened the door and went.
As I read that again, tears well up in my eyes. People here still run the risk of getting killed by bombs, every winter there's a few that rise out of the fields, every summer there's one that rises up from the beaches, but the first guy that would complain about them Rednecks leaving bombs behind would be considered a nut. My grandfather spent time in Bergen-Belsen (be careful if you have a sensitive stomach) and escaped, while his then-girlfriend tried to hide from V1's and V2's. My best friend's grandfather spent time in a Norwegian concentration camp, escaped, and stayed hidden in the snow for months, thanks to a caring Norwegian family.
The city I currently live in was bombed and shot to pieces in WWII, it was phosphorized in WWI. At least two of my grandparents were "White Lions", a well-known resistance brigade. If I tell you that only two of them are still alive, then do you have a clue why I say "at least"?
Each and every one of my 30-something friends knows at least one of their family member's stories about " fourty - fourtyfive " ... . We also take care to try and learn about Dresden, and we know the images of the mothers and children, hiding in tunnels, burned alive because of the goo that came out of some bombs, or suffocated because the explosions drew the air out of the tunnels.
Every city, every town, every village, every major street, every god damned cul de sac in this country has at least one statue or plaque commemorating men and women who gave their lives, and we owe them our past, present, and future.
Now, if you know of a better way, that would have been more suitable to end the world's misery in those black 40's, then I suggest you go and tell those people, because whether they were up in the air or beneath on the ground, they surely didn't do it just for the fun of "pointlessly slaughtering kids".
My hat goes off to all who served. We are forever in debt."
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
First Nanny
Now, the new, improved First Lady has suddenly emerged as full-blown First Nanny in "Partnering with" -never say "scolding"- the restaurant industry to cut down on the portions it serves. This is typical of the top-down unrealistic idealism that pervades certain circles of our society, and the audiences it garners, who believe that celebrity somehow equals authority. There' s not the slightest reason to believe that Michelle Obama is any better informed on this issue than the next person, and yet she receives instant credibility from the media.
In fact, there are many very good reasons why this proposal is going to fail. Restaurants serve large portions of food in this country because food is a relatively cheap part of overhead, and the portions justify the amount the restaurants must charge. Many people who don't want large portions simply get a doggie box and take what they don't eat as leftovers, which helps with their perceived value of the meal. And people who are still hungry will probably just eat more, regardless of the portions being served.
And, last, the timing of such an initiative is extremely poor. The country is in a recession, which has cut into restaurant revenues, and the proposal is to do something that may cut into them even more. Push this enough, and it could precipitate the ultimate disaster.....people might actually learn to cook for themselves.
In fact, there are many very good reasons why this proposal is going to fail. Restaurants serve large portions of food in this country because food is a relatively cheap part of overhead, and the portions justify the amount the restaurants must charge. Many people who don't want large portions simply get a doggie box and take what they don't eat as leftovers, which helps with their perceived value of the meal. And people who are still hungry will probably just eat more, regardless of the portions being served.
And, last, the timing of such an initiative is extremely poor. The country is in a recession, which has cut into restaurant revenues, and the proposal is to do something that may cut into them even more. Push this enough, and it could precipitate the ultimate disaster.....people might actually learn to cook for themselves.
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