I watched some of the ABC interview with William Ayers this morning. It is seldom I've seen such a self-serving bit of misdirection and semantic thuggery: or what it is, lieing.
Ayers skips around the central tenet of blind justice; it is the act not the end that is judged. However high toned his morality in describing his youthful indiscretion, the acts of the Weather Underground are precisely the same as the acts of the 16th Street Church bombers in Birmingham. Those men were brought to justice for a heinous crime. William Ayers and Bernadette Dohrn should be meted out the same. We are a nation of laws, not privilege, and he and his corrupt the very values they espouse.
Hang 'em high.
Friday, November 14, 2008
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Circling Coyotes
Jon Taplin and his friends and I go round about some issues political and cultural, but make no mistake, Tap knows his economics. He has a very good blog up today discussing Paulson's new epiphany.
If you have friends who have friends, pass this on.
For the sake of friendship, here are gauzy moments for certain old men who when they were young loved her songs in chevron flight. Love is still the sweet antidote to bitterness because a good wine kept well doesn't become vinegar.
The first is the only Joni Mitchell tune I performed. Simpler, plaintive, and somehow a mirror of my mood then and now.
If you have friends who have friends, pass this on.
For the sake of friendship, here are gauzy moments for certain old men who when they were young loved her songs in chevron flight. Love is still the sweet antidote to bitterness because a good wine kept well doesn't become vinegar.
The first is the only Joni Mitchell tune I performed. Simpler, plaintive, and somehow a mirror of my mood then and now.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Stuck In The Middle With You
As the rage machine keeps firing itself up with old stereotypes and burning new scarecrows, here's a pause for the cause.
The pundits talk about Open Source as a new model for bottom up development of government. It's a bad idea because a) government is top-down by definition even if local and b) government didn't fail, the law did.
Some say we had too many regulations. Some say we didn't have enough. I say it is bad regulations and ineffective proof.
What if to write a new regulation two law makers were required to sit side by side and as one wrote the proposed regulation the other wrote the test that would fail if the regulation failed?
What about pair programming and test-driven design for regulatory law?
The pundits talk about Open Source as a new model for bottom up development of government. It's a bad idea because a) government is top-down by definition even if local and b) government didn't fail, the law did.
Some say we had too many regulations. Some say we didn't have enough. I say it is bad regulations and ineffective proof.
What if to write a new regulation two law makers were required to sit side by side and as one wrote the proposed regulation the other wrote the test that would fail if the regulation failed?
What about pair programming and test-driven design for regulatory law?
Who's That Lady
Today the left wing bloggers who are not attacking Sarah Palin are laying out a strategy to attack the last bastion of conservatism and noObamians: the American South. It seems they need a scarecrow and the white southerners, racists all or so it is blogged, are the new one. They fear a Southern rebellion against the New Boss and a reigniting of conservative philosophy. It isn't happening but it is the devil of their dreams.
It is the hallmark of the inexperienced politico to fight the last war instead of the next one. 2012 will be about The Wrath of Women not so concerned with political power, but who will not consider a declining lifestyle a necessary sacrifice, just an importuning arrogance by a new elite. Wrath isn't an ideology.
Nothing changed. Palin will have a rich vein of resentment to tap in 2012 and Hillary Clinton, who subborned herself to Obama, won't be able to make that trick work. On the other hand, four years is a long time and just as many Democrats fled to the Republicans in 2000 (eg, Senator Shelby), allegiances will be shifting and some unpredictably. The catastrophe of the Obama election for the gay community is but one example of a part of the Obama coalition already feeling the pain of having disregarded the realities of identity politics in the fine print.
The Republican Party will not be revitalized by a surge of the core values of the last 25 years, but a new set of values emerging from a new coalition of voters who find themselves mystified by a wealthy elite of technocrats who insist everyone can't live in the Emerald City but the unworthy can certainly pay taxes to it. If the Republicans want to make a comeback, they need a transparent plan that is neither punitive nor exclusive.
Rome did not fall because it was corrupt; it fell because it failed to produce anything of value except new laws for the provinces.
It is the hallmark of the inexperienced politico to fight the last war instead of the next one. 2012 will be about The Wrath of Women not so concerned with political power, but who will not consider a declining lifestyle a necessary sacrifice, just an importuning arrogance by a new elite. Wrath isn't an ideology.
Nothing changed. Palin will have a rich vein of resentment to tap in 2012 and Hillary Clinton, who subborned herself to Obama, won't be able to make that trick work. On the other hand, four years is a long time and just as many Democrats fled to the Republicans in 2000 (eg, Senator Shelby), allegiances will be shifting and some unpredictably. The catastrophe of the Obama election for the gay community is but one example of a part of the Obama coalition already feeling the pain of having disregarded the realities of identity politics in the fine print.
The Republican Party will not be revitalized by a surge of the core values of the last 25 years, but a new set of values emerging from a new coalition of voters who find themselves mystified by a wealthy elite of technocrats who insist everyone can't live in the Emerald City but the unworthy can certainly pay taxes to it. If the Republicans want to make a comeback, they need a transparent plan that is neither punitive nor exclusive.
Rome did not fall because it was corrupt; it fell because it failed to produce anything of value except new laws for the provinces.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Lady Godiva
It seems the Democrats and the media are determined to provide Governor Sarah Palin with a mighty powerful career in national politics. The pounding continues perhaps because with the election over and no reasonable alternative for placing the rage, Palin is the scarecrow. One of the frequent criticisms is she is a beauty queen. I decided to find out if beauty queens are dumb broads who fade away with their crowns. Here is a short list of women who were beauty queen winners before they went on to other careers:
1. Oprah Winfrey - 1971 Miss Fire Prevention and Miss Black Tennessee
2. Vanessa Williams - Miss America
3. Jeri Ryan - Miss Illinois
4. Halle Berry - Miss Teen All American, Miss Ohio-USA, and first runner-up to Miss USA
5. Diane Sawyer - America Junior Miss
Not a bad start to a much longer list. It seems we place a high value on being able to survive the paegeant process. Good luck, Sarah!
1. Oprah Winfrey - 1971 Miss Fire Prevention and Miss Black Tennessee
2. Vanessa Williams - Miss America
3. Jeri Ryan - Miss Illinois
4. Halle Berry - Miss Teen All American, Miss Ohio-USA, and first runner-up to Miss USA
5. Diane Sawyer - America Junior Miss
Not a bad start to a much longer list. It seems we place a high value on being able to survive the paegeant process. Good luck, Sarah!
Hayley Westenra
Here is someone new to my listening list: Hayley Westenra. She's a kiwi with a beautiful voice and face.
These selections are evocative for me spiritually and personally. It is a pitch perfect rendition of Ave Maria, and then a piece very few singers attempt: Kate Bush's original smash, Wuthering Heights.
Ave Maria
Wuthering Heights
These selections are evocative for me spiritually and personally. It is a pitch perfect rendition of Ave Maria, and then a piece very few singers attempt: Kate Bush's original smash, Wuthering Heights.
Ave Maria
Wuthering Heights
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