Politician, n. An eel in the fundamental mud upon which the superstructure of organized society is reared. When he wriggles he mistakes the agitation of his tail for the trembling of the edifice. As compared with the statesman, he suffers the disadvantage of being alive.
-Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary
31 January 2008
30 January 2008
Romney
Mitt Romney, I think, is the Republican twin of John Kerry. They look alike, and both come from Massachusetts. Both have been unable to shrug the label of 'flip-flopper'. They both have charisma issues and a propensity for awkward gaffes. They both come off as stiff and uncomfortable when wearing anything more casual than a suit, and their attempts to connect with working class folks feel gimmicky and insincere. And if Romney were to win the Republican nomination, I think his presidential campaign would, like Kerry's in '04, often define itself in opposition to the other party rather than on its own terms. And we know how well that worked out for Kerry.
27 January 2008
The Fallacy of Meat
NY Times: Rethinking the Meat Guzzler
Growing meat (it’s hard to use the word “raising” when applied to animals in factory farms) uses so many resources that it’s a challenge to enumerate them all. But consider: an estimated 30 percent of the earth’s ice-free land is directly or indirectly involved in livestock production, according to the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization, which also estimates that livestock production generates nearly a fifth of the world’s greenhouse gases — more than transportation.
My challenge:
1. Read this article.
2. Give me one - just one - good reason for eating meat or fish (outside of a survival situation). And no, "it tastes good" doesn't count.
3. Explain how you can claim to give a shit about the environment at all and continue to support one of the most ecologically destructive processes in the world.
Anyone?
Growing meat (it’s hard to use the word “raising” when applied to animals in factory farms) uses so many resources that it’s a challenge to enumerate them all. But consider: an estimated 30 percent of the earth’s ice-free land is directly or indirectly involved in livestock production, according to the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization, which also estimates that livestock production generates nearly a fifth of the world’s greenhouse gases — more than transportation.
My challenge:
1. Read this article.
2. Give me one - just one - good reason for eating meat or fish (outside of a survival situation). And no, "it tastes good" doesn't count.
3. Explain how you can claim to give a shit about the environment at all and continue to support one of the most ecologically destructive processes in the world.
Anyone?
26 January 2008
This just in: druggie girl doing drugs again
I take a certain pride in staying deliberately aloof from much of American pop culture, but that's difficult when the line between pop culture and news is blurry at best.
I keep seeing news stories about how someone named Amy Winehouse smokes a lot of crack. I hear she also sings?
I keep seeing news stories about how someone named Amy Winehouse smokes a lot of crack. I hear she also sings?
21 January 2008
Jekyll and Hyde
The world of political smear tactics presents a difficult question: how do you smear your opponent without being smeared yourself for running a negative campaign?
Barack Obama has gotten around it by, well, not smearing.
Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, has a different tactic. She has been using her husband as a mercenary. Bill does the smearing, and gets media attention because he's Bill Clinton. And Hillary gets to maintain her image as a positive, clean-fighting politician.
This technique has not been subtle. But it is irritating, and it lends the otherwise idiotic and usually sexist question of who's really running for president - Hillary, or Bill for round two - more credit than it deserves.
Bill, of course, has the right to his opinions. He also has the right to voice those opinions in public support of his wife. But the division of labor that has been set up so transparently between him and Hillary exemplifies just the kind of cynical prevarication that we've endured under this administration for eight years. I don't think we need it for another four.
Barack Obama has gotten around it by, well, not smearing.
Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, has a different tactic. She has been using her husband as a mercenary. Bill does the smearing, and gets media attention because he's Bill Clinton. And Hillary gets to maintain her image as a positive, clean-fighting politician.
This technique has not been subtle. But it is irritating, and it lends the otherwise idiotic and usually sexist question of who's really running for president - Hillary, or Bill for round two - more credit than it deserves.
Bill, of course, has the right to his opinions. He also has the right to voice those opinions in public support of his wife. But the division of labor that has been set up so transparently between him and Hillary exemplifies just the kind of cynical prevarication that we've endured under this administration for eight years. I don't think we need it for another four.
15 January 2008
14 January 2008
Now they're slinging mud over how much mud they're slinging
CNN: Bill Clinton complains about Obama's attacks
"I've got before me a list of 80 attacks on Hillary that are quite personal by Sen. Obama and his campaign going back six months that I've had pulled," he said, speaking to CNN contributor Roland Martin on WVON-AM's "The Roland S. Martin Show" based in Chicago, Illinois.
What -- is this elementary school? Oh right, worse - it's primary season.
Only a few more weeks of intraparty squabbling. Then we can look forward to eight months of interparty scrapping! God bless America.
"I've got before me a list of 80 attacks on Hillary that are quite personal by Sen. Obama and his campaign going back six months that I've had pulled," he said, speaking to CNN contributor Roland Martin on WVON-AM's "The Roland S. Martin Show" based in Chicago, Illinois.
What -- is this elementary school? Oh right, worse - it's primary season.
Only a few more weeks of intraparty squabbling. Then we can look forward to eight months of interparty scrapping! God bless America.
12 January 2008
Pleonasm
Ambrose Bierce defined the pleonasm as "an army of words escorting a corporal of thought." It's basically a fancy term for redundancy. Like, for instance, if one was to say, "At the ATM machine, you need to enter your PIN number," which stands for "At the Automatic Teller Machine machine, you need to enter your Personal Identification Number number."
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