The wheels are coming off

Link to an interesting piece by Peggy Noonan.

A few weeks ago I was chatting with friends about the sheer number of things parents now buy for teenage girls--bags and earrings and shoes. When I was young we didn't wear earrings, but if we had, everyone would have had a pair or two. I know a 12-year-old with dozens of pairs. They're thrown all over her desk and bureau. She's not rich, and they're inexpensive, but her parents buy her more when she wants them. Someone said, "It's affluence," and someone else nodded, but I said, "Yeah, but it's also the fear parents have that we're at the end of something, and they want their kids to have good memories. They're buying them good memories, in this case the joy a kid feels right down to her stomach when the earrings are taken out of the case."

This, as you can imagine, stopped the flow of conversation for a moment. Then it resumed, as delightful and free flowing as ever. Human beings are resilient. Or at least my friends are, and have to be.

Let me veer back to the president. One of the reasons some of us have felt discomfort regarding President Bush's leadership the past year or so is that he makes more than the usual number of decisions that seem to be looking for trouble. He makes startling choices, as in the Miers case. But you don't have to look for trouble in life, it will find you, especially when you're president. It knows your address. A White House is a castle surrounded by a moat, and the moat is called trouble, and the rain will come and the moat will rise. You should buy some boots, do your work, hope for the best.

Do people fear the wheels are coming off the trolley? Is this fear widespread? A few weeks ago I was reading Christopher Lawford's lovely, candid and affectionate remembrance of growing up in a particular time and place with a particular family, the Kennedys, circa roughly 1950-2000. It's called "Symptoms of Withdrawal." At the end he quotes his Uncle Teddy. Christopher, Ted Kennedy and a few family members had gathered one night and were having a drink in Mr. Lawford's mother's apartment in Manhattan. Teddy was expansive. If he hadn't gone into politics he would have been an opera singer, he told them, and visited small Italian villages and had pasta every day for lunch. "Singing at la Scala in front of three thousand people throwing flowers at you. Then going out for dinner and having more pasta." Everyone was laughing. Then, writes Mr. Lawford, Teddy "took a long, slow gulp of his vodka and tonic, thought for a moment, and changed tack. 'I'm glad I'm not going to be around when you guys are my age.' I asked him why, and he said, 'Because when you guys are my age, the whole thing is going to fall apart.' "

Mr. Lawford continued, "The statement hung there, suspended in the realm of 'maybe we shouldn't go there.' Nobody wanted to touch it. After a few moments of heavy silence, my uncle moved on."

Lawford thought his uncle might be referring to their family--that it might "fall apart." But reading, one gets the strong impression Teddy Kennedy was not talking about his family but about . . . the whole ball of wax, the impossible nature of everything, the realities so daunting it seems the very system is off the tracks.

And--forgive me--I thought: If even Teddy knows . . .

The piece is a good one, and describe that feeling in the back of your head that says it's all coming apart. I've been feeling it for a while, but have been putting it off to the "End of the World" stuff you see all the time. I gave it the same weight as "Bush is the worst president ever", as I figured it was just me worrying too much, and lacking historical perspective.

I'm becoming less sure. I'm less certain that historical perspective will make me feel better. Sure, we've faced darker days as a nation, but I don't know that there is a light at the end of this tunnel. And the truest piece of history that haunts my nights is the deline of the Roman Empire. We are obssessed with bread and circuses, and care not that our world is collapsing around us.

Nero is playing his fiddle while Rome burns, but this time we're Nero.

The only debate on Intelligent Design worth having

Linked from The Abstract Factory.

Moderator: We're here today to debate the hot new topic, evolution versus Intelligent Des---

(Scientist pulls out baseball bat.)

Moderator: Hey, what are you doing?

(Scientist breaks Intelligent Design advocate's kneecap.)

Intelligent Design advocate: YEAAARRRRGGGHHHH! YOU BROKE MY KNEECAP!

Scientist: Perhaps it only appears that I broke your kneecap. Certainly, all the evidence points to the hypothesis I broke your kneecap. For example, your kneecap is broken; it appears to be a fresh wound; and I am holding a baseball bat, which is spattered with your blood. However, a mere preponderance of evidence doesn't mean anything. Perhaps your kneecap was designed that way. Certainly, there are some features of the current situation that are inexplicable according to the "naturalistic" explanation you have just advanced, such as the exact contours of the excruciating pain that you are experiencing right now.

Intelligent Design advocate: AAAAH! THE PAIN!

Scientist: Frankly, I personally find it completely implausible that the random actions of a scientist such as myself could cause pain of this particular kind. I have no precise explanation for why I find this hypothesis implausible --- it just is. Your knee must have been designed that way!

Intelligent Design advocate: YOU BASTARD! YOU KNOW YOU DID IT!

Scientist: I surely do not. How can we know anything for certain? Frankly, I think we should expose people to all points of view. Furthermore, you should really re-examine whether your hypothesis is scientific at all: the breaking of your kneecap happened in the past, so we can't rewind and run it over again, like a laboratory experiment. Even if we could, it wouldn't prove that I broke your kneecap the previous time. Plus, let's not even get into the fact that the entire universe might have just popped into existence right before I said this sentence, with all the evidence of my alleged kneecap-breaking already pre-formed.

Intelligent Design advocate: That's a load of bullshit sophistry! Get me a doctor and a lawyer, not necessarily in that order, and we'll see how that plays in court!

Scientist (turning to audience): And so we see, ladies and gentlemen, when push comes to shove, advocates of Intelligent Design do not actually believe any of the arguments that they profess to believe. When it comes to matters that hit home, they prefer evidence, the scientific method, testable hypotheses, and naturalistic explanations. In fact, they strongly privilege naturalistic explanations over supernatural hocus-pocus or metaphysical wankery. It is only within the reality-distortion field of their ideological crusade that they give credence to the flimsy, ridiculous arguments which we so commonly see on display. I must confess, it kind of felt good, for once, to be the one spouting free-form bullshit; it's so terribly easy and relaxing, compared to marshaling rigorous arguments backed up by empirical evidence. But I fear that if I were to continue, then it would be habit-forming, and bad for my soul. Therefore, I bid you adieu.

Truly a thing of great satirical beauty, yet it contains within the wisdom of one who sees past the horrid sophistry that is ID. Form your own opinions, gentle reader, but always, always, always question those who attempt to advance ideology through science.

Schadenfreude

The Bush Administration is looking as rough as I have ever seen it. The sharks are circling the waters even more than when Gypsy Songman wrote his post below. Rumours of five indictments, Iraq death toll at 2000, and a plummeting approval rating all spell misery for the administration.

But the last thing we need is the Democrat party (and its' cheering fanboy adherents) leaping with joy. It is unseemly, in the first place, and perhaps too early, in the second. Third, while you may not like Bush, remember that a weakened president does hurt the country as a whole. While I don't think the president needs to enjoy some sort of magical protection in the name or misplaced patriotism, there is simply no need to enjoy the damage being done to all of us as a whole.

I would like to see the Democrats handle this with the dignity that has been all-too-absent from American politics for quite some time. As much political hay can be made from a gracious handling of victory as can be made from the victory itself.

I do not think that a bit of decorum is too much to ask, but, sadly, it probably is.

Sometimes, it's more important to sit down, than to stand up

Godspeed, Ms. Rosa Parks.

I may have issues with some of your stances later in life, but that one moment of quiet disobedience meant everything in 1955.

My eyeballs are drying out.

Never sit around in the same room as an industrial-grade dehumidifier. We had a water-problem here yesterday (washing machine went belly up and puked a horrendous amount of water out), and I now have a pile of fans blowing under the carpet, and said aforementioned industrial-grade de-humidifier running.

The topic line is not kidding, my eyes are drying out. I feel like I did when I was in Vegas a few years back. Yours truly was not meant to live in dry climes.

I know, I know, this entry is perilously close to a "boring daily life crap" entry. Just think of it as a Public Service Announcement from Your Buddy, Roy. When the service company drops off the dehumidifier version of the Big Guns, leave the house. I'm going to take my own advice and do so now. Have a nice weekend, and keep your eyeballs moist.

Something a friend wrote

I figured I should post something a tad more serious, if you will. This is a post from a friend of mine that we'll call by his board name, Gypsy Songman, over on Quellious Collective. As I mentioned before, I played EQ for a bit. Aside from a few very good friends, the only real benefit I gleaned from my time in that game was a message board that I still post frequently at. QC's "Off Topic" board is populated by one heckuva great crew of folks. We toss politics, culture, gaming, and anything else around, chew on it, and each other, and stay friends through it all. It is one of the very, very few places on the internet where intelligent dicussion is possible, and I love it, and the people on it dearly.

This particular piece is of a political bent. It's not politics I particularly agree with, as the good Songman is a bit more liberal than I am, but I felt it a very solid, well expressed piece with some very valid things to say. Admittedly, this page is read only by myself (and apparently anon), but it is one more page of exposure for this essay.

It’s a good time to be a ‘Pub-hater. Delay is facing a possible life sentence for money laundering, Frist is under investigation for multiple cases of insider trading, and President Rove is a target of the Grand Jury probe into Plamegate. The leadership of the party, in a matter of weeks, has gone from iron-fisted, ideologically driven political machinists to practical nonexistence. So degraded is the House leadership that they nearly appointed an allegedly gay majority leader to replace Delay! Things may prove still worse for the Republicans soon- Delay loved to spread his dirty money around. Even Roy Blount, the Republicans’ pick for “temporary” Majority Leader, is under scrutiny for donations to his campaign fund that Delay supposedly laundered. In the lead-up to an election year, the Republicans are without guidance, left adrift and exposed by their own corruption.

Delay’s indictments are perhaps the most important development in American politics since Watergate. He is arguably the most powerful Republican in the country- certainly the most powerful in the House, since he’s pulling Denny Hastert’s strings. Why? Money. Delay is the great political patron of hundreds of serving Republican Representatives. His dirty money has elected candidates to state and national office (remember that redistricting in Texas? Yeah, that was him), and all he asks for in return is loyalty. He gets it- when Delay says jump in the house, people jump. The remarkable coherence of the Republican party is due in no small part to Delay’s influence- before becoming ML, he was the party whip, where he earned the nickname “the Hammer”. His perversions of American democracy don’t end with buying elections, sadly.

Have you been wondering, lately, why it is the “Clear Skies Act” is making the air quality worse, or why the recently passed energy bill gives billions in tax breaks, kickbacks, and loans to the energy industry, a special interest so awash with money they’re trying to find new ways to spend it? That, too, you can chalk up to Hot Tub Tommy. Delay is infamous for his relationship to K street, and has been admonished for pressuring lobbying groups to hire only Republican lobbyists. Worse, however, he has made K street the third house of the legislature. For a price, any lobbyist who met with Delay could write favorable legislation for their industry and guarantee its passage. Certain lobbyists- among them the time bomb Jack Abramoff (WP- sub req)- made their bones trading on their access to Delay. He has facilitated- and likely cheered- the slide of America’s once-great political system from the “Shining city on the hill” to a roiling, fetid cesspit of oligarchical deception. Unfortunately for Delay, the slide has eroded the base on which he built everything. When he collapses, he will take a good chunk of the Republican party with him.

Corruption of this stripe is pervasive at both the federal and state levels. In Ohio, state Workman’s Comp chairman Tom Noe invested millions of dollars of the fund in… rare coins. He also allegedly pocketed millions of the dollars he was supposed to be investing. Not surprisingly, a lot of that money ended up in the coffers of Republican politicians- from Governor Taft to President Bush. Noe even gave money to friends and employees to donate to Bush, earning him pioneer status. In addition to the $4 million he is accused of outright stealing, there are some $12 million and 121 rare coins unaccounted for. But fear not! The Ohio AG, after returning the money Noe donated to his campaign, announced he would investigate. What do you think the odds are that he’ll come up with something criminal? At the federal level, cronyism holds our regulatory agencies captive and cripples our ability to effectively control contract spending. Witness David Safavian, who with no prior experience, became the government’s top procurement officer… and who was recently arrested for obstruction of justice in Mr Abramoff’s case. As procurement officer, he was responsible for crony contracts to Khaki, Tyco, and KBR/Haliburton that allowed them to exploit millions of extra dollars from the government.

All of this should be good news for Democrats (and democrats, for that matter)… it looks like a wash, right? Any self-respecting population would toss these assholes out on their collective ears. And yet the Dems just can’t support the idea of backing their base. Their current strategy (re: Miers) notwithstanding, they are amazingly poor political planners with no apparent understanding of how to win hearts and minds. Take the recent anti-war demonstration in DC: 200,000-300,000 people show up on a Saturday and make their feelings about Iraq known. No elected Democrats come to address these politically involved, highly motivated, anti-administration protesters- and yet, 400 anti-anti-war protesters show up, and there’s a Republican Congressman there to address them. The Democrats drop the ball more than the 1919 White Sox, and what’s worse, they just don’t seem to learn. How hard is it to say, “Poverty is a moral issue,” or “Spending our great-grandchildren in to debt just so Paris Hilton can get a tax break is a moral issue,” or, gods forbid, “Killing Iraqis is a moral issue”? Where are the Democrats who will stand up and take God back from the Repubs?

Right now, they don’t exist. At an institutional level, the Democrats, despite the best efforts of Howard Dean, just don’t have the spine to stand up and be counted. I charitably write it up to the fact that they’re appalled at the state of the country and just don’t know how to shake the rights’ hold on politics (when in actual fact it’s probably the DLC’s castration of the party), but it’s time to stop being bewildered. Americans are crying out for leadership, and no one will step up to the plate and show ‘em how it’s done.

And so I look forward to next year with hope and trepidation. The Republicans are weak right now- far closer to the ropes than they’re letting on- and their lack of real leadership (anyone seen Cheney lately?) has left them biting at each others’ flanks. Will the Democrats strike while the iron is hot? Or will they once again let opportunity sail past them?

Only time will tell.

As I said, Gypsy Songman and I differ on many things, but I felt this deserved some repeating. If there is interest, or I feel froggy about it, I'll go into my politics, and/or my views on this piece. Please keep in mind that it does not represent my views, so don't label me by this piece, nor cuddle up to me thinking we share views. I don't cuddle well.

*Smacks forehead*

And the preceding post is exactly the same sort of self-absorbed, pointless dithering that I was ranting about in previous posts. What a completely pointless account of a non-event of exactly zero-importance.

I'm going to go cane myself now, or something similarly painful and self-mortifying.

"I have sinned aginst you!"

Grumble

A message board buddy of mine told me about America's Debate. As said buddy is on a board that enjoys some of the most enjoyable debating I've seen, I figure this is a good tip. I go there, spend a few days lurking and reading, and finally see a post (on education) that sparks my interest enough to actually register and post. I type up this nice, considered reply, complete with a source or two, and a bit of exposition, and I go to spellcheck.

Now, I have no problems with spelling, never have. I've always aced my spelling tests, done well in spelling bees, been aggravated by spelling errors in published material, etc. In short, I spell perfectly well. I am, however, an absolutely horrible typist (thus explaining the various bobbles in this blog). I do some odd melange of hunt'n'peck and touch typing, a only use about 5 fingers total, spread out on both hands. I still manage a decent WPM in tests though, as I spent a lot of time in MMORPGS (Everquest, if you must know) and thus learned to type tolerably quickly (it's a survival skill in those games).

So I hit the cool phpbbSpellcheck feature, and.... nothing. I get a lil window with no text, and realise that said little window is the same browser window as my post. I frantically hit the Back button on my mouse. Nothing. I try various reloads, checking History, etc. Nothing.

It's gone.

Now I find myself eminently unwilling to return to the site, rewrite that post, redo the links, re-find the sources, etc. Apathy reigns supreme, yet I am still irritated. And it was not even that impressive an argument, nor did I put all that much time into it.

In short, I feel very slack, and thus probably ripe for some derision.

Punctuation indexing

Is it just me, or is the punctuation indexing/justification here a bit wierd. There are a ton fo times where I look at a period and wonder if I put a space between it and the next letter, yet when I edit the post, I see the space.

Bad punctuation indexing, BAD!

*gets some rolled up newspaper*

Gasp, a reader!

The news is out, kids. Seems some unlucky soul has stumbled upon my pointless meanderings, and has actually commented. I expect to have crowds of blog-fans beating down my door, clamouring for the inane details of my uninteresting life. Were this a normal blog, I'd now be posting lyrics to some appropriate song ("Unidentified Friend" by The Town Pants, would be an appropriate choice). As is, you'll be forced to imagine something pithy and hip. Slack of me, I know, but I am neither pithy nor hip, so I trust you will take up where I leave off.

Non sequitur time - Can someone explain to me what is up with Moleskine books? And Hipsters in general, for that matter? I'm lost. Is there some Sub-Genii-esque meme whose origin has utterly escaped me (not that I'm terribly hip to the Sub-Genius thing either, but that's another story), or am I simply on the wrong side of 29 and thus incapable of grokking this particular institution of disposable culture?

I see references to it scattered hither and yon, yet cannot detect any meaningful patterns so far. I admit to not being interested enough to actually do serious research. The sort of "I'm so witty. Oh so witty.." (sung to the tune of "I'm so pretty" from "West Side Story") attitude serves effectively enough to put me off. Let's face it, I've put that face on often enough in my life that I don't need that much reinforcement...

Perhaps the question is nothing more than a symptom of the aging process itself. I am no longer part of any sort of Movement, culture, or even applicable collectivist demographic, and it shows. The pop culture world passes my by at a dizzying rate, and the primary window of observation of the phenomenon (television) remains closed to me, by mine own hand.

I find myself interfacing with pop culture in a limited fashion via the web, and the web alone. It satisfies me, keeps me pleased, as I can take the information I want without being forced to accumulate too much useless noise (such as Jookie Cola on sale at Food Lemur through Saturday). When the memes aren't self-evident or prominent enough, nor do they intersect with my normal interests sufficiently, I find myself given nothing more than the occassional enigmatic bit o' info. Sometimes it is self-sufficient. I really don't need to know more about Parkour, for example, apart from watching the occassional amazing video of its' practicioners. Hipsters, Moleskines, et al intrigue me slightly more, even if it is only because I have that itch in the back of my head that says it is one more group to shamelessly deride.

*shrug* At the end of the day, I'm still a jerk, looking for more people to be a jerk towards.

Hmmm...

To release, or not to release? I mortgage my own ethics posting here, when considered in light of historical comments regarding my disposition towards bloggers, and blogs in general. Then again, what merit is there in typing anything here without some sort of release into wider readership? ("wider" would mean more than my one sole reader)

The very format chosen, and content of the posts to date, are a sort of wonderful self-irony. I must admit to enjoying it, even though it reeks of pointlessness and arrogant self-absorption. There is a sort of purity in having this particular series of mindless drivel posted for all the world to see, yet telling no one of it.

To that end, let them look. Perhaps I'll release this particular waterfowl into the wilds whenever I have something of note to say. Until then, to my one reader, I salute you, sir! Vivat!

(And if you have wandered into this spot somehow, my one reader looks upon all of this magnificence with nothing short of disdain. He's a bastard like that.)

Perversity

I find myself wanting to do some commentspam myself, just to see what sort of people respond to this most irritating of marketing memes. Do people actually buy into the BS that is spewed all over every underprotected blog on this site? Is there actual money being made off the idiots?

If any commentspammers read this, feel free to stop and leave your thoughts on the topic *wink*