The More Things Change

President Obama cites the transgressions and inadequacies of the previous administration viz. the war on terror, or whatever its now called. Citing, accurately in my view, that it is a false choice between protecting our sovereignty (which is what it really is and is the primary responsibility of the federal government; further the phrase "protecting the homeland" just doesn't sit well in my ears) and combating and preventing the idiots who would kill and terrorize us.
Dick Cheney then speaks about how the previous administration did well by the American people, evidenced by the fact that there weren't further attacks on us since the big one that happened on their watch--which was entirely preventable under then-existing US law. He then tells everyone that the new administration is putting American citizens at risk by abandoning the policies of the Bush administration.
The there's Jack Goldsmith, who served as head of the Office of Legal Counsel for the Bush administration from October 2003 to August 2004. He wrote a great book called The Terror Presidency. He has an article up at The New Republic which shows that other than rhetoric and presentation, the current administration is really just following the policies of the past one.

Peanuts

I'm reading Why is the Foul Pole Fair? Answers to 101 of the Most Perplexing Baseball Questions and I stumbled upon this little gem on page 200:

"...in 1895, when Cavagnaros Peanuts, a New York peanut vendor, couldn't pay for its ad in the Giants program and traded product [sic] for the ad. [Harry M.] Stevens sold the peanuts at the park and, according to Amusement Business magazine, this was the origin of the phrase "working for peanuts."

As anyone who knows me can attest, this is the sort of minutiae I love and I'll probably carry this with me forever.
Also, let it be known that I am indeed more than two-thirds of the way through the book and I haven't gotten the answer to the question in the title and I will be pissed if I don't. Otherwise it's a great read. It isn't just a list of facts and non sequiturs. It's the story of a middle-aged man and his son going to a game and riddled with facts and stories throughout.

Ponuru's Juju

The increasingly bitter Ramesh Ponuru, apparently thinking that conservatism is in just dandy shape thankyouverymuch, decides to alienate further pretty strong, logical allies...

Last Word [Ramesh Ponnuru]

As long as libertarians continue to display the kind of pseudo-principled indifference to public opinion and political reality that you keep flaunting, Jerry, you'll keep enjoying the political irrelevance you do today.

05/18 02:10 PM

Maybe the end could have been seen coming in his daft, incoherent book fatally rigged with logical flaws, but the end is here. Ponuru demonstrates skill at being "politically" flexible by backing an administration and party that introduced (at the time) the largest increase in federal dependency ever--by the party allegedly in favor of reducing the federal government to its proper role--and intellectually retarded by lambasting libertarians for being out of touch.

If libertarians are politically irrelevant, I would like to be the first to welcome Ponuru's & Limbaugh's brand of conservatism to Siberia.

The Drunken Driver Has the Right of Way

I heard this on NPR a few weeks ago. I was intrigued by the poem, read perfectly by William H. Macy. I picked up the book shortly thereafter and am getting through it.

The poems are perfectly written. Really a good read. Here.



'The Drunken Driver Has the Right Of Way'
by Ethan Coen
The loudest have the final say,
The wanton win, the rash hold sway,
The realist's rules of order say
The drunken driver has the right of way.

The Kubla Khan can butt in line;
The biggest brute can take what's mine;
When heavyweights break wind, that's fine;
No matter what a judge might say,
The drunken driver has the right of way.

The guiltiest feel free of guilt;
Who care not, bloom; who worry, wilt;
Plans better laid are rarely built
For forethought seldom wins the day;
The drunken driver has the right of way.

The most attentive and unfailing
Carefulness is unavailing
Wheresoever fools are flailing;
Wisdom there is held at bay;
The drunken driver has the right of way.

De jure is de facto's slave;
The most foolhardy beat the brave;
Brass routs restraint; low lies high's grave;
When conscience leads you, it's astray;
The drunken driver has the right of way.

It's only the naivest who'll
Deny this, that the reckless rule;
When facing an oncoming fool
The practiced and sagacious say
Watch out — one side — look sharp — gang way.

However much you plan and pray,
Alas, alack, tant pis, oy vey,
Now — heretofore — til Judgment Day,
The drunken driver has the right of way.

Tommy, RIP

The world is a little darker today for the loss of a man I was fortunate enough to call my brother-in-law. Tommy was 36, too young to go.
I have nothing to say right now that can do justice to this kind and wonderful person.
I cannot grasp, or accept yet, that he is gone.
I love you, Tommy. I am a better man for having known you, and devastated that you are gone.
May you rest in peace.

Newspapers

There's been lots of ink spilt over the impending doom of the newspaper industry--here is an example of the genre, filled with nonsense from an otherwise sensible writer. I have very hard and definite feelings about the newspaper industry and if the doomsayers are right, I say good riddance. They are anachronisms that have outlived their usefulness; they have failed to adapt to changing times and technology; the quality of writing, generally, has decayed at a far greater rate than society's as a whole (which is saying quite a bit) and they are run and staffed, again, generally, by morons.
A few years ago I signed up for a subscription to the Philadelphia Inquirer. I was to get the paper Thursday through Sunday. The story is too long, too ponderous and too far gone to repeat here, but the service was terrible and I realized that the writing had deteriorated significantly since I last let my subscription expire (for an example, read anything written by Stephen A. Smith, ever). The end of the road came with me discussing the lack of delivery with a senior supervisor of some sort. "If the delivery person continually refuses to deliver the paper and respond to pleadings from you and his direct supervisor to deliver the paper, and since his job is to, you know, deliver the paper to subscribers, why don't you replace him?"
His response was a guffaw or a snort, I can't recall exactly just now, and then he said, "I can't do that."
And there you have it. If the firm has grown so sclerotic that it can't remove or replace a front line employee that fails to perform the bare minimum of what he is paid to do over several months, then you deserve to rot.
I could go on and on about the Inquirer, but this is about more than just that paper. This is about the industry as a whole and people at large finding a better use for their own money and time. And Michael Kinsley does a fantastic job analyzing the situation and refuting the absurd notion (mentioned by Mr. Whitlock, above) that any public funds or government intrusion is warranted to "save" the industry.
Neither "democracy" nor our republic require broadsheet or tabloid papers to function properly. It requires the diligence of the sovereign, and in the US, that's us. The papers were filters, not examiners. They served "the truth" no more than any other industry in this country and were interested only in increasing their subscriber base and ad sales. Which is their right and their duty, but when you fail at that, you are to go away. They neither earned, nor should they be granted, any honorific or esteem by those who are sensibly directing their time, energy and resources elsewhere.
AMF

Taxes

I'll probably get more into this later, but for now another great article by Jonah Goldberg on taxes.

Due to some welcome changes at work, a side nuisance is that I now have to make quarterly tax payments. So instead of relatively smaller portions of my money being taken from my paycheck to fund our government (partially anyway) and be given to other people and countries, I get to write four larger checks per year. So I get to see and keep (briefly) what I actually earn and then personally send it off to Washington in order for it to get pissed away on things the government has no right, authority or ability govern.

And Joe Biden can still kiss my ass.