We have arrived at a juncture where there seems to be no distinction between "history" and "prehistory." This is no minor affair. There is a vast gap between what is known through the human written record and that which preceded it. While the written record provides its unique set of issues in interpretation, they are nothing like the silence preceding ca. 4000 BC.
But now, some refer to a period like 10,000 BC as "history," as though there is some basis for direct observation from that period. This is patently false. While there were most emphatically human beings, with brains indistinguishable from today's Homo sap., and therefore it's certain they had spoken language, there is no record of a written one.
Therefore, there is still a point where we must stop, and say that any narrative about prehistoric events is based solely on inference and speculation on data collected from various scientific experiments. The conclusion that much popularized "science," particularly on television, would have us draw, is that enough data on fossilized plants or bones, geological strata, or gases collected from glacial ice will ultimately let us know what happened in prehistoric times in the same fashion we can know what happened in the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, at Gettysburg in July of 1863, or on the Plain of Marathon in 490 BC. No. What we see, on far, far too many TV shows is simply compounded of speculation and inference, and is therefore fiction based on some data, the equivalent of a "historical novel."
I believe much of this feeds on the lapse into disuetude of the notion of scientific laws, in favor of the convenient fallback that "it's all theory, it's just that some theories are more proven than others." Then there is the nature of science itself, most of which is a tremendously tedious affair. The average human being is bored to tears in a few minutes b y actual science. While thousands labor in laboratories world-wide, the true scientific vocation is probably as rare as that of concert pianist. Scientific inquiry is rather analogous to what a Vietnam veteran said about what he went through: "War is a bore, interrupted by moments of sheer terror when men die." Science is a bore, interrupted by rare moments of insight when something is actually discovered. There is therefore obviously a need for good interpretation of science for the general population -also a very rare individual- that does not do things like present any sketchy collection of data as worthy of the collective title of "theory."
Showing posts with label Damn Lies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Damn Lies. Show all posts
Friday, March 25, 2011
Monday, March 14, 2011
It's not information
We are told, and by no less an -authority- than CNN, about "lessons learned" from the Japanese earthquake / tsunami. The aftershocks continue, the cleanup has only just begun and relief efforts started, it's obvious that thousands more dead will be discovered, and we're already being lectured to by the media about "lessons."
It's only clear that it's impossible to learn anything about an event of this magnitude at this stage. This time next year, maybe. Some things that are clear:
1. As with hurricane Katrina in 2005, a natural event of sufficient magnitude is not controllable by mankind, not now, and not in any foreseeable future, and may only be marginally ameliorated by preventive measures.
2. A hard look needs to be taken at where people live, in countries that pretend to have the security of their citizens in mind. Sweeping legislation should perhaps be instituted to prevent future settlement in flood plains, along earthquake faults, on the slopes of volcanoes, and areas of coast likely to be affected by hurricanes or tsunamis. And maybe the building of ramshackle trailer parks in tornado alley.
There is little perspective possible, given our present means of "informing" ourselves, and at a time when we most need it.
"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals, and you know it."
- Kay to Jay, MIB
It's only clear that it's impossible to learn anything about an event of this magnitude at this stage. This time next year, maybe. Some things that are clear:
1. As with hurricane Katrina in 2005, a natural event of sufficient magnitude is not controllable by mankind, not now, and not in any foreseeable future, and may only be marginally ameliorated by preventive measures.
2. A hard look needs to be taken at where people live, in countries that pretend to have the security of their citizens in mind. Sweeping legislation should perhaps be instituted to prevent future settlement in flood plains, along earthquake faults, on the slopes of volcanoes, and areas of coast likely to be affected by hurricanes or tsunamis. And maybe the building of ramshackle trailer parks in tornado alley.
There is little perspective possible, given our present means of "informing" ourselves, and at a time when we most need it.
"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals, and you know it."
- Kay to Jay, MIB
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Poetry Corner, 2011
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
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
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."
Monday, December 6, 2010
The trouble with the Internet
"South Park did a decent job encapsulating a skeptics view of the Joseph Smith story, but in the main I would take Tacitus over South Park for historical accuracy, and South Park over Tacitus for poop jokes.
It's funny if you read The Annals (heh heh) of Tacitus that he's largely objective about events and other cultures, and saves all his mouth foaming for Christians. I guess Paul must have been as popular in Rome as he was with the Jerusalem church."
This is a quote taken from a rather popular Internet forum that acts as a sendup of dozens of contemporary news items. The first paragraph may be taken as strict opinion, and not subject to any meaningful comment.
The second paragraph is more interesting. The first sentence presents an opinion of Tacitus, a complete unknown to more one half of one percent of persons currently alive. It then states that Tactus is somehow historically accurate about "events and other cultures," and only irrational about Christians.
Well, someone reading this might then go and read a translation of Tacitus, or read some hideous scholarly article about Tacitus, but by and large that sentence will sit in their memory like some tiny, poisonous toad, unquestioned. In fact, Tacitus was a historian in the sense that what he said was accepted up into modern times as "historical," but some of what he says is factual, and some is just risible. In between, we have such things as his commentary on the Germans, who Tacitus chose to present as a moral model to contrast with the Rome of his own time, which he despised for its decadence and corruption.
The Germans were described as strong, simple, sturdy folk with good bedrock moral values and great integrity…in fact, superior in just about every way Tacitus could think of, except, of course, that they were barbarians.
This presentation of the Germanic tribes was taken out of its Taciturn context and was a standard reading in classrooms throughout Germany well into modern times. German youth were presented with an opinion (what was, in fact, simply whole cloth from some Roman who had never been near Germany or the Germans, except perhaps some he had run into in Rome) as if it were demonstrable historical fact.
Generations of German youth were persuaded to accept Tacitus' account as the basis for the superiority of the Germans and German culture, which was part of the foundation on which the Hohenzollern Empire built its theory that Germany was entitled to its "place in the sun," and on which the Nazis built their theories of race and world conquest.
So much for objectivity.
It's funny if you read The Annals (heh heh) of Tacitus that he's largely objective about events and other cultures, and saves all his mouth foaming for Christians. I guess Paul must have been as popular in Rome as he was with the Jerusalem church."
This is a quote taken from a rather popular Internet forum that acts as a sendup of dozens of contemporary news items. The first paragraph may be taken as strict opinion, and not subject to any meaningful comment.
The second paragraph is more interesting. The first sentence presents an opinion of Tacitus, a complete unknown to more one half of one percent of persons currently alive. It then states that Tactus is somehow historically accurate about "events and other cultures," and only irrational about Christians.
Well, someone reading this might then go and read a translation of Tacitus, or read some hideous scholarly article about Tacitus, but by and large that sentence will sit in their memory like some tiny, poisonous toad, unquestioned. In fact, Tacitus was a historian in the sense that what he said was accepted up into modern times as "historical," but some of what he says is factual, and some is just risible. In between, we have such things as his commentary on the Germans, who Tacitus chose to present as a moral model to contrast with the Rome of his own time, which he despised for its decadence and corruption.
The Germans were described as strong, simple, sturdy folk with good bedrock moral values and great integrity…in fact, superior in just about every way Tacitus could think of, except, of course, that they were barbarians.
This presentation of the Germanic tribes was taken out of its Taciturn context and was a standard reading in classrooms throughout Germany well into modern times. German youth were presented with an opinion (what was, in fact, simply whole cloth from some Roman who had never been near Germany or the Germans, except perhaps some he had run into in Rome) as if it were demonstrable historical fact.
Generations of German youth were persuaded to accept Tacitus' account as the basis for the superiority of the Germans and German culture, which was part of the foundation on which the Hohenzollern Empire built its theory that Germany was entitled to its "place in the sun," and on which the Nazis built their theories of race and world conquest.
So much for objectivity.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Is American information dead?
President Obama held a "town hall meeting" yesterday. While not inquiring as to how many people find the name ludicrous, I would be interested to know the percentage of people who believe that any -any- such things are not as staged and scripted as a movie. Does anyone believe that some 30 year old law graduate seriously and earnestly asked the President "Is the American dream dead?"
This is all quite preposterous, but the most difficult thing for me to believe is that a graduate of Princeton and some equally prestigious sounding law school (Indiana, I believe) would be enough of a dupe to participate in such a charade. Since I can't believe someone of his putative intelligence would do such a thing, I can only assume that he was performing from a memorized script.
Watching these things is more a waste of time than staring at the wall; the latter is more likely to produce thought.
This is all quite preposterous, but the most difficult thing for me to believe is that a graduate of Princeton and some equally prestigious sounding law school (Indiana, I believe) would be enough of a dupe to participate in such a charade. Since I can't believe someone of his putative intelligence would do such a thing, I can only assume that he was performing from a memorized script.
Watching these things is more a waste of time than staring at the wall; the latter is more likely to produce thought.
Friday, August 20, 2010
At my limit
I'll tell you one thing blogs are good for- solipsistic rants, that's what! (Cue laugh track)
I received a telephone call last night from a young lady conducting a survey. The following is my best attempt to reconstruct the sense, if not the word-for-word, of this amazing experience.
She: "We're looking for people's opinions of Illinois politicians in the upcoming elections."
Me: "Go ahead."
She: "First, I'll read a list of names, and you tell me whether you feel positive, somewhat positive (insert remainder of array of choices to ....'negative')."
Me: "These are all politicians?"
She: "Yes."
Me: "Put me down for all negative."
She: "I can't do that; I have to ask each one separately."
Me: "OK"
She reads list of names, I respond
She: "Do you intend to vote in November?"
Me: "Absolutely."
She reads lists of candidates, I tell who I'd vote for.
She: "Now, I want to read two statements about Boody Jar Moblinga (name of well-known Illinois political hack changed to protect the guilty, referred to hereinafter as 'BJM'), and you tell me which one you agree with the most."
Me: "Read away."
She: "First, do you agree that BJM is wonderful, can walk across Lake Michigan on her bare feet, shines at night with her own golden aura, and deserves to be escorted to Springfield by a thousand trumpeting cherubim and a full twelve dozen winged mantics?"
"OR"
"Do you agree that BJM is a domestic terrorist who seeks to overthrow the Constitution of the United States, that the very grass and flowers die wherever she walks, that birds fall dead from trees wherever her shadow is cast, and that she is numbered among the legions of Satan?"
[The previous questions may have been somewhat different, but for purposes of this illustration, you may regard them as valid]
Me: "I can't believe you've attempted to insult my intelligence with those questions. This interview is over."
(I hang up)
This episode requires no explication or analysis; it has served to convince me that we are living in a political comic strip...a very dark, dark comic strip.
I received a telephone call last night from a young lady conducting a survey. The following is my best attempt to reconstruct the sense, if not the word-for-word, of this amazing experience.
She: "We're looking for people's opinions of Illinois politicians in the upcoming elections."
Me: "Go ahead."
She: "First, I'll read a list of names, and you tell me whether you feel positive, somewhat positive (insert remainder of array of choices to ....'negative')."
Me: "These are all politicians?"
She: "Yes."
Me: "Put me down for all negative."
She: "I can't do that; I have to ask each one separately."
Me: "OK"
She reads list of names, I respond
She: "Do you intend to vote in November?"
Me: "Absolutely."
She reads lists of candidates, I tell who I'd vote for.
She: "Now, I want to read two statements about Boody Jar Moblinga (name of well-known Illinois political hack changed to protect the guilty, referred to hereinafter as 'BJM'), and you tell me which one you agree with the most."
Me: "Read away."
She: "First, do you agree that BJM is wonderful, can walk across Lake Michigan on her bare feet, shines at night with her own golden aura, and deserves to be escorted to Springfield by a thousand trumpeting cherubim and a full twelve dozen winged mantics?"
"OR"
"Do you agree that BJM is a domestic terrorist who seeks to overthrow the Constitution of the United States, that the very grass and flowers die wherever she walks, that birds fall dead from trees wherever her shadow is cast, and that she is numbered among the legions of Satan?"
[The previous questions may have been somewhat different, but for purposes of this illustration, you may regard them as valid]
Me: "I can't believe you've attempted to insult my intelligence with those questions. This interview is over."
(I hang up)
This episode requires no explication or analysis; it has served to convince me that we are living in a political comic strip...a very dark, dark comic strip.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Surviving Brilliance
I was regaled this morning by someone on a cable news channel informing me of the brilliance of the present nominee for SCOTUS . Anyone who's a candidate for any government position above Toilet Brush Inventory Supervisor seems to automatically merit the title of "brilliant" these days. Not sure we'll survive too many more of those....
Monday, May 24, 2010
Wakefield's Legacy
Despite the fact that Andrew Wakefield's findings correlating autism and vaccination have been completely disproven, he retains supporters, shamefully including celebrities who should be better informed and do public retractions of their advocacy of this nonsense.
This reinforces my belief that there is no stronger force in the universe, including the black hole at the center of our galaxy, than the human will to belief in the face of all evidence to the contrary. Man is not the rational animal, he is the rationalizing animal.
And what is Wakefield's legacy? Dead children.
This reinforces my belief that there is no stronger force in the universe, including the black hole at the center of our galaxy, than the human will to belief in the face of all evidence to the contrary. Man is not the rational animal, he is the rationalizing animal.
And what is Wakefield's legacy? Dead children.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
A little bit louder and a little bit worse...
I was treated to another of those glimpses of the COOTWH* yesterday, which, as usual these days, comes about while I'm working out at the gym. While I listen to music on the iPod, I watch one, or several of the large TVs, and in this case was able to see the dialog on the streamer below. Later, I was treated to the audio on the radio while driving home.
Without dialogue, the scene was something right out of Ronald Reagan, except that Mr. Obama was just in shirt & tie. He and the interlocutor (in a polo shirt) were walking down a path among some trees, very folksy, nice and casual. The attempt at simulating a casual conversation between two people was reinforced by the almost apologetic tone of the reporter and the low-key responses of Obama. Very nice until I recalled much of what bemused us when we were first treated to this type of interview when Ronnie came into office, and before it became obvious that the whole thing was completely staged and scripted.
The content was predictable in its absence. Mr. Obama: "We should be able to disagree without being disagreeable." Ignoring the hypocritical and mendacious things that are continually said any time Obama's opinions and policies are questioned, this was ostensibly a serious assertion, made over the debate surrounding the Health Care Bill. The only problem is that the statement ignores human nature. We have had disagreeable things said of presidents since John Adams (this would be 1796), such tone an inevitable consequence of the contentiousness built in to human nature. Surely Mr. Obama cannot be so naive as to believe he will be exempt. Conclusion: he is being deliberately disingenuous.
Another random statement (in paraphrase): "All the evidence indicates Iran is interested in developing nuclear weapons." This enables Mr. Obama to employ a double whammy in "avoidance grammar." He is now in a position to employ "I was misled" and "blame the evidence," as his predecessor did with Iraq, and to doubly deny that he said Iran was developing nuclear weapons, since he used the word "interested." As well for me to say "I'm interested in whether or not there are leprechauns in the bottom of my garden." I have thereby avoided asserting that there might actually be leprechauns out there, and having people question my grasp of reality.
Every time I see or hear anything about government or politics, it merely reinforces my determination to avoid it until the next time I'm accidentally exposed to it. Sort of like the flu.
*Current Occupant Of The White House
Without dialogue, the scene was something right out of Ronald Reagan, except that Mr. Obama was just in shirt & tie. He and the interlocutor (in a polo shirt) were walking down a path among some trees, very folksy, nice and casual. The attempt at simulating a casual conversation between two people was reinforced by the almost apologetic tone of the reporter and the low-key responses of Obama. Very nice until I recalled much of what bemused us when we were first treated to this type of interview when Ronnie came into office, and before it became obvious that the whole thing was completely staged and scripted.
The content was predictable in its absence. Mr. Obama: "We should be able to disagree without being disagreeable." Ignoring the hypocritical and mendacious things that are continually said any time Obama's opinions and policies are questioned, this was ostensibly a serious assertion, made over the debate surrounding the Health Care Bill. The only problem is that the statement ignores human nature. We have had disagreeable things said of presidents since John Adams (this would be 1796), such tone an inevitable consequence of the contentiousness built in to human nature. Surely Mr. Obama cannot be so naive as to believe he will be exempt. Conclusion: he is being deliberately disingenuous.
Another random statement (in paraphrase): "All the evidence indicates Iran is interested in developing nuclear weapons." This enables Mr. Obama to employ a double whammy in "avoidance grammar." He is now in a position to employ "I was misled" and "blame the evidence," as his predecessor did with Iraq, and to doubly deny that he said Iran was developing nuclear weapons, since he used the word "interested." As well for me to say "I'm interested in whether or not there are leprechauns in the bottom of my garden." I have thereby avoided asserting that there might actually be leprechauns out there, and having people question my grasp of reality.
Every time I see or hear anything about government or politics, it merely reinforces my determination to avoid it until the next time I'm accidentally exposed to it. Sort of like the flu.
*Current Occupant Of The White House
Monday, November 16, 2009
Why? ....and they can't tell you
Apparently the Gitmo detainees are to be moved to the United States. The legal system has groaned, clattered & squealed, and shat a decision, or else it's just another decision by the Executive for strictly political motives. And I no longer care which, because I don't think it matters.
It is said they are to be housed in our state of IL, apparently, in a new-looking but evidently empty state max security prison on the Mississippi River. Now the fact that these people should have been simply deported to their home countries, tried and a disposition made, or simply had a concrete block chained to their ankles and pitched into the sea can be ignored. Mr. Obama's home state will get several hundred more jobs. NOW the recession is over, for sure.
Tools in suits like Dick Durbin can point with pride to a few hundred jobs for their constituents, while, in the end, it is inevitable (now that these people are on U.S. soil and under the umbrella of the U.S. Judiciary) that this imbroglio will now grind on for decades, and cost the U.S. taxpayer hundreds of millions of dollars...... and be another bonanza for hundreds of trial lawyers.
This is an indefensible decision.
It is said they are to be housed in our state of IL, apparently, in a new-looking but evidently empty state max security prison on the Mississippi River. Now the fact that these people should have been simply deported to their home countries, tried and a disposition made, or simply had a concrete block chained to their ankles and pitched into the sea can be ignored. Mr. Obama's home state will get several hundred more jobs. NOW the recession is over, for sure.
Tools in suits like Dick Durbin can point with pride to a few hundred jobs for their constituents, while, in the end, it is inevitable (now that these people are on U.S. soil and under the umbrella of the U.S. Judiciary) that this imbroglio will now grind on for decades, and cost the U.S. taxpayer hundreds of millions of dollars...... and be another bonanza for hundreds of trial lawyers.
This is an indefensible decision.
Friday, November 13, 2009
All The Wrong Reasons
We were told by the President or COOTWH (Current Occupant Of The White House) that Iraq was the "wrong" war, and that Afghanistan was the "right" war. Not to put too fine a point on it, it's now obvious that he wants to bail. The putative reason for all this is a "leaked memo" from Our Man In Kabul that smells increasingly fishy. The real reason, the eternal reason: the polls are slipping, and it's time to head for the cellar, the first obsession of the politician.
Call a meeting, then reject all the recommendations of your highly paid advisors. Since we live in advanced times, they were graciously allowed to keep their heads, although apparently their advice is worthless. Now what?
Since the Memo From Kabul was indeterminate, he must now turn increasingly from legitimate advisors (i.e., those who will give him honest alternatives and the costs of each) to the Low Men in Yellow Coats. Afghanistan is not going away, certainly not because Mr. Obama doesn't like his alternatives. Afghanistan appears to be a test of statesmanship. From my perspective, there's little possibility that Mr. Obama will receive a passing grade.
Call a meeting, then reject all the recommendations of your highly paid advisors. Since we live in advanced times, they were graciously allowed to keep their heads, although apparently their advice is worthless. Now what?
Since the Memo From Kabul was indeterminate, he must now turn increasingly from legitimate advisors (i.e., those who will give him honest alternatives and the costs of each) to the Low Men in Yellow Coats. Afghanistan is not going away, certainly not because Mr. Obama doesn't like his alternatives. Afghanistan appears to be a test of statesmanship. From my perspective, there's little possibility that Mr. Obama will receive a passing grade.
Friday, September 18, 2009
A valid comparison?
George Will comments on the Obama administration's politicizing the arts, and
This.
Of course, to some people there is no comparison. The ends, as always to some humans, justify the means. We will be told that the ends of the former are noble, humane, and socially true, therefore whatever exigencies, whatever horror must be perpetrated to carry them into effect are just. The ends of the second example were horrible and perverted, etc.
The thing is, if you dug up anyone in history who had ever attempted to direct an entire society and its culture to their own agenda.....they would tell you exactly the same thing.
This.
Of course, to some people there is no comparison. The ends, as always to some humans, justify the means. We will be told that the ends of the former are noble, humane, and socially true, therefore whatever exigencies, whatever horror must be perpetrated to carry them into effect are just. The ends of the second example were horrible and perverted, etc.
The thing is, if you dug up anyone in history who had ever attempted to direct an entire society and its culture to their own agenda.....they would tell you exactly the same thing.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
ANY Business?
Is there any substantive business before the U.S. Congress from which they cannot find a meaningless diversion, usually lasting a week or more? Now we have the seemingly chronic disease of the "Age of Apology" rearing its sordid, mendacious head once again. There's no need for a reference, the actors and the script don't matter. Someone is always demanding an apology of someone, for the sole purpose of being able to use the word "unforgivable," then running it into the ground, for the sole purpose of distracting attention from the fact that there's nobody at the helm.
I contend that there is increasingly little public business in this country, only a meaningless carnival sideshow. The average person doesn't really think a whole lot about what goes on in the halls of government, and is cautious and reluctant to say anything unless it directly bears on their interests or situation. Therefore a broad general fault running through the life of their society generally remains invisible until it can no longer be ignored. Then, the result can be an upheaval, sometimes with irreparable results- and in the aftermath, no one will understand where it came from, let alone take any responsibility for it.
A severe fault once lay beneath our society, stemming from the ratification of the U.S. Constitution with slavery still intact. It was ignored until there was division, and one that could easily, given slightly different parameters, have meant the end. However, society was reassembled, however imperfectly, and reformed since.
I am no longer certain that there is a social climate in this country that will accept currently needed reforms (this involves NOTHING that any contemporary politician will discuss), and that perhaps only another crisis is possible. If this should occur, how we will survive it with the current class of professional politicians in office is something I cannot begin to imagine.
I contend that there is increasingly little public business in this country, only a meaningless carnival sideshow. The average person doesn't really think a whole lot about what goes on in the halls of government, and is cautious and reluctant to say anything unless it directly bears on their interests or situation. Therefore a broad general fault running through the life of their society generally remains invisible until it can no longer be ignored. Then, the result can be an upheaval, sometimes with irreparable results- and in the aftermath, no one will understand where it came from, let alone take any responsibility for it.
A severe fault once lay beneath our society, stemming from the ratification of the U.S. Constitution with slavery still intact. It was ignored until there was division, and one that could easily, given slightly different parameters, have meant the end. However, society was reassembled, however imperfectly, and reformed since.
I am no longer certain that there is a social climate in this country that will accept currently needed reforms (this involves NOTHING that any contemporary politician will discuss), and that perhaps only another crisis is possible. If this should occur, how we will survive it with the current class of professional politicians in office is something I cannot begin to imagine.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Cut to the Chase.....
I really think this says all that needs be discussed Re: incipient pandemics.
(Again, thanks to xkcd.)
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Just Like Magic
We abruptly have commercials on national TV for "NORML," an organization seeking the instant high ground portraying marijuana use as "norml." It's really obvious we've entered a time when all sorts of people, having had all manner of extravagant promises made to them, are now in "collect mode." No questions about the ramifications of all this......it's going to save our economy, clear out the prisons, rectify yet another of the thousand thousand historical injustices that translate into "keeping us from doing whatever we bloody well want."
Bertolt Brecht wrote that the motto of The City of Mahagonny was "Do it."
Bertolt Brecht wrote that the motto of The City of Mahagonny was "Do it."
Monday, March 23, 2009
This is a Stalking Horse
Executive bonuses are not the issue. Reform of the system that gave rise to the current financial imbroglio is the issue. Those who scream the loudest about executive bonuses know this, and know that they have NO intention of reforming the system. Pillory some scapegoats that people will love to hate, conduct guided tours of their big houses, get them in front of some congressional committee, foam at the mouth, and after the economy recovers people will forget all about the fact that the banking / mortgate system works the same as it did before. It's an old story, because it's worked for centuries, and it will work this time. People are sheep.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
A Bit Further.....
A headline from The Onion? Oh, I wish:
Cystic Fibrosis Too White for Ottawa Fundraiser
Yep, it's real. Best comments I've read so far:
1. "That'll mean they won't do any fundraisers for sickle cell now."
2. "Unified thought leads to stupidity like this. That's a problem. People who have a vested financial interest in unified thought are a bigger problem. They take advantage of it.
The problem isn't liberalism or conservatism. The problem is that an idea (in this case, political correctness) is accepted by a group of people, without question or critical thought, and over time becomes distorted into something so radical that nobody outside that group could possibly be deluded enough to support it."
This is confined to some subpar Canadian university (Carleton), you say?
From the National Post of Toronto:
Queen's University in Kingston, Ont., has hired six students whose jobs as "dialogue facilitators" will involve intervening in conversations among students in dining halls and common rooms to encourage discussion of such social justice issues as race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, ability and social class.
"Yes, there's nothing today's coeds look forward to more than the creepy 46-year-old Divinity student who is paid to chat them up about white privilege!"
Cystic Fibrosis Too White for Ottawa Fundraiser
Yep, it's real. Best comments I've read so far:
1. "That'll mean they won't do any fundraisers for sickle cell now."
2. "Unified thought leads to stupidity like this. That's a problem. People who have a vested financial interest in unified thought are a bigger problem. They take advantage of it.
The problem isn't liberalism or conservatism. The problem is that an idea (in this case, political correctness) is accepted by a group of people, without question or critical thought, and over time becomes distorted into something so radical that nobody outside that group could possibly be deluded enough to support it."
This is confined to some subpar Canadian university (Carleton), you say?
From the National Post of Toronto:
Queen's University in Kingston, Ont., has hired six students whose jobs as "dialogue facilitators" will involve intervening in conversations among students in dining halls and common rooms to encourage discussion of such social justice issues as race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, ability and social class.
"Yes, there's nothing today's coeds look forward to more than the creepy 46-year-old Divinity student who is paid to chat them up about white privilege!"
Thursday, May 31, 2007
I Just Need an Explanation, Please.
OK- the hurricane forecast for the 2007 season is out, from whatever wizard peers into his scrying mirror, doppler radar, or whatever substitute for tea leaves they use, and it looks like Doom For Sure. What I want to know is what this means. To me.
"He (N.E. Cromancer) says there's a 74% chance of a major hurricane making landfall on the US coast. He says there's a 49% chance of a major hurricane landfall on the Gulf Coast between the Florida Panhandle and Brownsville. The 20th century average was 30%."
We can dispose of #1 on the general assumption that since I don't live within 800 miles of a coast, we can call it a miss.
Does #2 mean "this year?" And, if so-
How does it relate to #3's stated average for the 20th Century (if I understand the concept of "average" aright, and I think I do)?
Am I correct in assuming that there can't be any real relation? Did the stoplight just change to green, and is that my favorite color? Did a few too many brain cells just go "poof?"
"He (N.E. Cromancer) says there's a 74% chance of a major hurricane making landfall on the US coast. He says there's a 49% chance of a major hurricane landfall on the Gulf Coast between the Florida Panhandle and Brownsville. The 20th century average was 30%."
We can dispose of #1 on the general assumption that since I don't live within 800 miles of a coast, we can call it a miss.
Does #2 mean "this year?" And, if so-
How does it relate to #3's stated average for the 20th Century (if I understand the concept of "average" aright, and I think I do)?
Am I correct in assuming that there can't be any real relation? Did the stoplight just change to green, and is that my favorite color? Did a few too many brain cells just go "poof?"
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