Posts like this make me long to live in New York. I realize that sounds vaguely masochistic...but yesterday the most excitement we Boise-ites had was watching the humidity drop to 8% in 103 Degree heat. Not as scorching as Phoenix, not at dry as Yuma, just the ho-hum baking melancholy of the desert's edge intermountain west.
How I long for a giant slushy tide to provide some kind of conversation piece for a city that is starting to broil in it's own boredom.
I envy you your PR snafu. Is that twisted or what?
Based on my opinion of the collected wisdom of the readership of this site (well that sentence proves I've been reading too much "politi-speak")...
I purchased the Firefly series on DVD. AND I watched it.
I have come here to give a word of thanks. I have found a new favorite Sci-Fi series and my heart has embraced all that is embodied by the word "squee".
I squee for this movie, and I owe it all to you, all of you. Thank you.
I love you guys.
Voting on the main ballot took mere moments to finish. Voting on the best short fantasy stories of all time...I gave up after an hour. Ranking them just made me feel wrong.
Avram: Thanks for the reminder not to drink coffee and read the comments at the same time. What a mess.
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Anyway, I heard Friedman on NPR last week as well, and I had a stronger reaction than I did to the book. In print he is "merely regrettable", listening to him pontificate on a national soapbox left me with equal portions of loathing and incredulous disbelief.
I doubt that he ever saw past the tinted windows of the limo driving him from the airport to the Wal-Mart "world headquarters" on that fateful drive he found so inspiring. And he clearly has NO idea of what macro-economics looks like or how it functions.
His entire interview was composed of stories that went "So I saw this thing..." [insert random micro-economic experience X] "...and a realized that it was causing..." [insert NON-SEQUITUR macro-economic reality Z] "...so I realized I simply had to warn the world."
At no point did either my wife or myself understand why this guy was getting free publicity in the guise of NPR commentary. Friedman is late to the party, everyone else already figured out that outsourcing is going to affect our economy...where's his chapter on "what happens now"?
I expected Yog to post it...and that is where my brother gets a little nervous.
As far as a collective paper on Atlanta Nights, well I think he thought of that. But frankly, convincing 15 or so English majors to put their collective butts (in the form of GPA) on the line for the sake of symmetry just didn't cut it.
While I, you and perhaps the people involved with Atlanta Nights might find such a paper amusing; one humorless professor could turn the whole thing from classically funny to classically stupid with the stroke of a pen.
The risk vs. glory equation balanced out to a "one person job".
Emma:
"Yog" (If I may address him so informally) has already contacted me to ask for a copy "at large".
I personally found the paper to be well written and humorous (but then, I am a bit biased). Section titles such as "No I'm not making this up" and "It hurts to read" used in a serious analysis entertained me more than it probably should have.
I must admit that when I spoke to my brother this morning and explained why I wanted a copy he was more than a little reluctant. But not to worry, if he resists too much I will resort to the methods that worked so well when we were younger: I will sit on him and give him "nuggies" until he gives in.
Yup, that's my plan...
I purchased a copy of Atlanta Nights from lulu.com for the express reason that our host wrote a chapter. My logic was that in the event I ever submit a "doorstop length work of fantastic fiction" I would have and example of everything I should NOT do wrapped up in one tidy place.
(Un)fortunately my younger, college age brother discovered said article of "fiction". Younger brother took it home with him after discovering its back-story on the web. Younger brother wrote a term paper for his 300 series composition class at the University of Washington BASED on said piece of "fiction". Paper was titled "The Best Analysis of the Worst Book Ever Written (Grammatical Ambiguity Intended)".
Younger brother received an A grade for his work.
I have just realized that Travis Tea (et all) would probably like a copy of said paper, if only for the mind boggling fact that Atlanta Nights is now the subject of scholarly attention.
Mara:
I have read that same story in the last year or so. I thought it was in an Asimov collection (Robot Dreams jumps to mind), BUT I have so many anthologies it could have been anybody.
So I guess that counts as a completely unhelpful attempt at helpfulness.
Sorry.
On Matt Runquist's note, does anyone else think that Niccolo Machiavelli looks surprisingly like Charlton Heston?
This is probably going to sound pathetic, but thank you all SO MUCH for this thread and your comments. I had begun to fear I was the last language geek in the universe. Your one-liners and droll anecdotes have left me giggling all morning. And I have SO needed a good giggle.
Thanks again.
Democrats on Defense:
How about a historic tradition of encouraging international cooperation and understanding. Of forging peace talks between long warring factions (Ireland & UK, Camp David accords, etc.). Of seeking to make the world safer through peace and understanding not fear and intimidation.
A party that believes in war as a "last resort" is a policy not a sound bite.
I'm sure Bruce can say it better but that's my start.
Bruce Baugh:
It has done me a world of good as well. It is a beautiful and succinct exposition of the points I have flummoxed about for the last few days.
Thank You.
Jonathan Vos Post: Well stated, but it still smacks of becoming more like what we hate to defeat them. I agree with evolution, but not with concession. I still believe in my ideology.
John Scalzi: I too realize that I need more meditation time.
adamsj & PNH: I apologize for the vitriol in my response. My red-state experience is different from yours and I overreacted in a tired and frustrated moment.
To adamsj:
Wow, a guy goes home to eat dinner and he misses out on all the misplaced self-loathing bloodletting that I thought would be limited to the Democrats actually working in DC.
Look, I live in a red state. Hell, I live in the second reddest state in the union (yes redder than Texas). And I still run into far more passionate, vocal and enthusiastic Democratic supporters here in blood red Idaho then I ever did in true blue Oregon. Wednesday morning I stood across the counter from a Starbucks girl who voted for the first time in her life with passion and commitment and, God bless her, hope. And she tried to hold it back but she was crying.
She is a college freshman, born and raised in Texas, attends church every week. She was crying quietly because somehow someone somewhere showed her the difference between a party of hope and a party of hate. Crying because she believed, because she tried hard in a place where two out of every three people she meets believes that her beliefs make her a traitor and only talk-radio hosts tell the real “truth”.
What can you blue state supporters do for us red state believers? For now, give us some reassuring words from beyond the boundaries of this insanity. We will stand here and give the disappointed and despondent red-state Starbucks girls of the world a shoulder to cry on and an encouraging voice to listen to, but when we go back to our desks and our homes we need someone to perk us up again too.
Don’t like our anger? Anger is a motivator. Anger is a release. Anger helps me see the bandwagon riders and shark jumpers from the real party faithful - from the CAUSE faithful. Am I just some punk idealist in a land of ignorance and fear? I hope so, I truly do.
I live in a state where an incumbent representative (rep. Butch Otter) closed a debate with his female democratic rival with the line “May the best MAN win.” (emphasis his). He not only won his seat handily, he got 70% of the female vote. Sexism isn’t just a reality here, it’s a platform plank.
This red state/blue state crap makes me mad, but not in the same way it does for you. It gives me the anger that I can turn into action. People in my local party didn’t understand my passion for Dr. Dean. They wanted a moderate candidate. They wanted someone who could stand in the middle. They got him and look what it got us. We rolled over again. Dr. Dean’s scream of frustration at a campaign rally wasn’t a collapse; it was the unborn voice of my current rage at American ignorance.
So how about I don’t “tone it down”? How about I stay angry, and I use that anger to stay involved. To stay motivated.
And if you don’t like it how about you kiss my ass?
The thing that most chills me in the Yoshida guy's screed (good choice of words there) is the use of "Academics" as a derogatory. A political movement that hates intelligent people because they might think for themselves and worse, inform others...
Well, I guess "conservative republican" really is a euphemism for "stupid".
I think the interpretation of "stake in the system" as property rights/ownership is missing the point. The only people with a stake in "their" system are the people who look like them. Who talk like them. And most importantly (and occasionally exclusively) who pray to their god using the words they tell them to use.
Property ownership as the definition of a voter would mean that foreign groups owning significant property could vote and we all know whom that would favor. No, they will always craft a definition that bends towards their "moral values" or some other squishy, irrational abstract concept no matter how unjust or unworkable that definition might be.
Rush and his ideology provide us a wonderful insight on the Republican modus operandi: Exclude, never include…Divide, never unite. The Republic in the word Republican refers to the concept of representative government by the few for the many. Letting everyone vote is simply too much democracy for the control freaks who drive the policy and PR arm of the Religious Right.
They may well try to create a new definition of “eligible voter” but it won’t use anything so concrete as property ownership.
| Year | Number of comments posted |
|---|---|
| 2005 | 8 |
| 2004 | 9 |
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