The blogs and comment lists are still crowded with the Get Even topic. Some are just now realizing that "Change" means Clinton III. I'm onboard with that. Making good use of the experienced in the Democratic Party is smart if the transition is to be smooth.
It will be hard for some to transition out of campaign rhetoric to policy making. Intense emotions are addictive as I said before. The Onion piece was funny because it is both precise and good advice. The more zealous supporters need to accept that the President-elect will be distancing himself from them unless they can start working on a more positive agenda. The Republicans will rail a bit longer but it is expected. Gently and without rancor: Proverbs 16:8 or Superbia ante casu.
Meanwhile, a young Senator is taking on a very heavy load given the drop in the market, the jobless numbers, the auto industry implosion, the sabre rattling from Russia and so on.
Change is not the mantra; S.O.S. is.
And for that load, young shoulders may be exactly the right resource.
Friday, November 07, 2008
Thursday, November 06, 2008
The Onion Strikes Again
Thanks to Rob Koberg for sending this. Much needed laughter.
The Onion Strikes Again!
Obama Win Causes Obsessive Supporters To Realize How Empty Their Lives Are
The Onion Strikes Again!
Obama Win Causes Obsessive Supporters To Realize How Empty Their Lives Are
Longer Boats Are Coming To Win Us
Day 2 of the sigh of relief from the robocalls and the rage producing commercials. Life is good again.
There are mean streets' moments out there but they will pass.
Actually no. We will bring ourselves together or not at all. Don't lay that on him. He will have enough to do.
This one was bitter to the bone. There is no magical manna from heaven to change that. We'll get back to our routines and time does the rest. If the Obama supporters want to make that happen faster, now is the time to drop the stoner rhetoric and get focused on the tasks at hand. Time spent on the Great Get Even is time and resources wasted.
Bottom up systems rely on multiple individuals forming communities and topics of interest to explore problems and come up with the best alternatives. The illusion of the top is the existence of shared values that enable the goals to be selected and shared. If we want this presidency to be about change and restoring our image around the world, pick the one issue for which you have the most passion and knowledge and work with those who share it. Build a longer boat and pick a crew.
Obama doesn't have a mandate or a landslide. He has a clean win of six points. The good news is that stops a repeat of the Bush/Gore let the lawyers decide it debacle. But be smart and realize that a) 47% thought otherwise b) the Democratic blowout of Congress didn't happen and c) the Republican Party isn't going away. Richard Nixon had a landslide and was roasted within two years.
I'm not sure if this is about change as much as getting back to being the country that works together without the demoralizing mind killing fear and paranoia of the last eight years. Look in your hearts and minds and ask if you really do put country first. If you do, drop the partisan rhetoric and pick up an oar and row.
There are mean streets' moments out there but they will pass.
Barack will bring us together
Actually no. We will bring ourselves together or not at all. Don't lay that on him. He will have enough to do.
I don't want no god on my lawn; just a flower I can help along.
This one was bitter to the bone. There is no magical manna from heaven to change that. We'll get back to our routines and time does the rest. If the Obama supporters want to make that happen faster, now is the time to drop the stoner rhetoric and get focused on the tasks at hand. Time spent on the Great Get Even is time and resources wasted.
Cause the soul of nobody knows how a flower grows
Bottom up systems rely on multiple individuals forming communities and topics of interest to explore problems and come up with the best alternatives. The illusion of the top is the existence of shared values that enable the goals to be selected and shared. If we want this presidency to be about change and restoring our image around the world, pick the one issue for which you have the most passion and knowledge and work with those who share it. Build a longer boat and pick a crew.
Mary dropped her pants by the sand and let a parson come and take her hand
Obama doesn't have a mandate or a landslide. He has a clean win of six points. The good news is that stops a repeat of the Bush/Gore let the lawyers decide it debacle. But be smart and realize that a) 47% thought otherwise b) the Democratic blowout of Congress didn't happen and c) the Republican Party isn't going away. Richard Nixon had a landslide and was roasted within two years.
Cause the soul of nobody knows where the parson goes.
I'm not sure if this is about change as much as getting back to being the country that works together without the demoralizing mind killing fear and paranoia of the last eight years. Look in your hearts and minds and ask if you really do put country first. If you do, drop the partisan rhetoric and pick up an oar and row.
Hold on to the shore or they'll be taking the key from the door
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Miles From Nowhere
It's good to know the endless political commercials are over. It's good to be back to watching programs about UFOs the way a kid watches cartoons. The fun can come back to living without the constant harranguing. There are some people I don't want to see for a few months but then, I don't need to. Life is good.
If there was a real loser by their own hand in the election, it is the mainstream media. Trust in them is now at the same level as Congress.
And that makes what comes next devilishly hard. We are in uncharted waters and blind as a bat.
There are very high expectations for this administration worldwide. It will be best to make the most of those while we can. I don't expect them to last and Obama won with a fragile coalition. No one really knows what he has in mind and he didn't win a filibuster proof Congress. The Democrats are now clearly in the driver's seat but unless their maps are better than what I've seen during the election, we won't know where we are going until we are there.
I've the same advice here as on Taplin's blog: bottom up systems don't work by having a master plan. They work because different people put their hand to different tasks and if they share the right values, the illusion of the top is enough to hold them together.
Otherwise, this moment of drunk exhiliration won't last to Christmas. Find the passion you have and work on that. Some will choose energy, some education, some net neutrality, some world hunger.
Some will make it the full time evisceration of Barack Obama just as the left did to Bush and the right did to the Clinton's.
And that means we go nowhere fast.
If there was a real loser by their own hand in the election, it is the mainstream media. Trust in them is now at the same level as Congress.
And that makes what comes next devilishly hard. We are in uncharted waters and blind as a bat.
There are very high expectations for this administration worldwide. It will be best to make the most of those while we can. I don't expect them to last and Obama won with a fragile coalition. No one really knows what he has in mind and he didn't win a filibuster proof Congress. The Democrats are now clearly in the driver's seat but unless their maps are better than what I've seen during the election, we won't know where we are going until we are there.
I've the same advice here as on Taplin's blog: bottom up systems don't work by having a master plan. They work because different people put their hand to different tasks and if they share the right values, the illusion of the top is enough to hold them together.
Otherwise, this moment of drunk exhiliration won't last to Christmas. Find the passion you have and work on that. Some will choose energy, some education, some net neutrality, some world hunger.
Some will make it the full time evisceration of Barack Obama just as the left did to Bush and the right did to the Clinton's.
And that means we go nowhere fast.
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Boiling the Barbarian
This election is almost over. No doubt, a lot of people are glad about that.
I didn't support Obama.
I voted for him. I am a Democrat.
I don't like many of his positions, I think his campaign was one of the most mean spirited I've ever seen, and some of his supporters are really ready for Thorazine, but all of that aside, he's our candidate and he will have to step up to the plate now. It is time for a change.
We're a nation of adventurers and gamblers so we roll the dice with Obama and if it comes up snake eyes, we'll try again in four years with Hillary. If we can take eight years of Bush, we can take anything.
From the news:
Wow. Some of you must live in really mean neighborhoods. Here's what is going on in North Alabama:
People started lining up at 5:30 AM. When I got to the polls at 7:20, the lines were long and the cars were parked a mile away. We walked, we talked, we had a good time. In the lines, me and the two black women behind me joked about anyone hesitating inside the polling office (a church) should be immediately taken outside because after two years and a billion dollars, any one who still can't decide is not smart enough to vote.
We voted and headed out to Starbucks, Chick-fil-a, Krispy Kreme and Ben and Jerry's to get our freebies. Now it's back to work and life goes on better than before.
It's a bit of a party down here because everyone is glad it is over and glad to have the right to have our say.
America is Fabulous. Freedom to vote, freedom to be together, and free munchies. It doesn't get better than this.
So put down the bitter butter. You have your moment in the booth and then you have the rest of the day to enjoy it.
Why did I debate his supporters for months on end?
1. It was fun. Because I am a Southern White Male, I've been called names that would mean a fist fight in person. Life in the South is nothing like what the West Coasters make it out to be. After awhile, cultural stereotyping deserves a bit of nose tweaking and toe stomping. Having grown up in a town where only 15% of us were native Southerners and the rest are g---D---- Yankees who call us morons, well it becomes habitual.
Does the phrase "the pleasure of boiling the barbarian" mean anything to you?
2. Only by peering deeply into the darkness do our eyes ever open completely.
But today and for the last nine months, the blacks around me have been walking around with their heads up smiling. Today, I didn't see fear or loathing in their eyes when we joked. There was acceptance.
That can't be anything but good.
Sing it Ray! Let the good feelings wash over you.
I didn't support Obama.
I voted for him. I am a Democrat.
I don't like many of his positions, I think his campaign was one of the most mean spirited I've ever seen, and some of his supporters are really ready for Thorazine, but all of that aside, he's our candidate and he will have to step up to the plate now. It is time for a change.
We're a nation of adventurers and gamblers so we roll the dice with Obama and if it comes up snake eyes, we'll try again in four years with Hillary. If we can take eight years of Bush, we can take anything.
From the news:
BLACK PANTHERS' BLOCK ACCESS TO VOTING STATION
Wow. Some of you must live in really mean neighborhoods. Here's what is going on in North Alabama:
People started lining up at 5:30 AM. When I got to the polls at 7:20, the lines were long and the cars were parked a mile away. We walked, we talked, we had a good time. In the lines, me and the two black women behind me joked about anyone hesitating inside the polling office (a church) should be immediately taken outside because after two years and a billion dollars, any one who still can't decide is not smart enough to vote.
We voted and headed out to Starbucks, Chick-fil-a, Krispy Kreme and Ben and Jerry's to get our freebies. Now it's back to work and life goes on better than before.
It's a bit of a party down here because everyone is glad it is over and glad to have the right to have our say.
America is Fabulous. Freedom to vote, freedom to be together, and free munchies. It doesn't get better than this.
So put down the bitter butter. You have your moment in the booth and then you have the rest of the day to enjoy it.
Why did I debate his supporters for months on end?
1. It was fun. Because I am a Southern White Male, I've been called names that would mean a fist fight in person. Life in the South is nothing like what the West Coasters make it out to be. After awhile, cultural stereotyping deserves a bit of nose tweaking and toe stomping. Having grown up in a town where only 15% of us were native Southerners and the rest are g---D---- Yankees who call us morons, well it becomes habitual.
Does the phrase "the pleasure of boiling the barbarian" mean anything to you?
2. Only by peering deeply into the darkness do our eyes ever open completely.
But today and for the last nine months, the blacks around me have been walking around with their heads up smiling. Today, I didn't see fear or loathing in their eyes when we joked. There was acceptance.
That can't be anything but good.
Sing it Ray! Let the good feelings wash over you.
Friday, October 31, 2008
The Virtue of Selfishness
Obama says about his plans to add to the tax burden:
Since the left bloggers have been waging war on objectivism and Ayn Rand in particular, it makes sense that this would surface in Obama's speech. What it reveals is that despite his attempts to portray himself as a centrist, he is what he appears to be: a hard core radical leftist with a socialist philosophy of government and finance.
Obama says he can enrich the individual at the expense of other individuals but that is the oldest con after 'try it, you'll like it'. It only enriches the con man. When done to an eager mark, it is an act of confidence over arrogance. When done to a country simply wanting to be rid of confidence men, it is fraud against justice.
The extreme objectivist position is that if a government gives to each according to needs and takes according to abilities, a society of incapable needy emerges. Experience shows that is too extreme. What happens is the needy move to the capable and unless the capable take more, they can't give more. This is called the 'free rider' dilemma in web communities. The response is usually to close the lists to real contributors with participation agreements for intellectual property that do not harm the commons but do not enable the commons to be pillaged.
Objectivism isn't wrong. Rand overromanticized her position but behaviorally, it is correct.
Selfishness isn't virtuous but neither is theft by a powerful minority in the name of an undiscriminated majority. It is the supreme confidence game which victimizes the poor and the rich simultaneously for the good of a few who are grabbing for wealth and power. In short, it is piracy, a very democratic institution, which, by the way, is why America is a republic.
John McCain and Sarah Palin they call this socialistic. You know I don’t know when, when they decided they wanted to make a virtue out of selfishness.
Since the left bloggers have been waging war on objectivism and Ayn Rand in particular, it makes sense that this would surface in Obama's speech. What it reveals is that despite his attempts to portray himself as a centrist, he is what he appears to be: a hard core radical leftist with a socialist philosophy of government and finance.
Obama says he can enrich the individual at the expense of other individuals but that is the oldest con after 'try it, you'll like it'. It only enriches the con man. When done to an eager mark, it is an act of confidence over arrogance. When done to a country simply wanting to be rid of confidence men, it is fraud against justice.
The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities. - Ayn Rand -
The extreme objectivist position is that if a government gives to each according to needs and takes according to abilities, a society of incapable needy emerges. Experience shows that is too extreme. What happens is the needy move to the capable and unless the capable take more, they can't give more. This is called the 'free rider' dilemma in web communities. The response is usually to close the lists to real contributors with participation agreements for intellectual property that do not harm the commons but do not enable the commons to be pillaged.
Objectivism isn't wrong. Rand overromanticized her position but behaviorally, it is correct.
Selfishness isn't virtuous but neither is theft by a powerful minority in the name of an undiscriminated majority. It is the supreme confidence game which victimizes the poor and the rich simultaneously for the good of a few who are grabbing for wealth and power. In short, it is piracy, a very democratic institution, which, by the way, is why America is a republic.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Always A Woman
The gals at ABC, Claire and Katy, are discussing with their husbands why men like Sarah Palin. The comments are like those at Taplin's blog: men are obsessed by sex.
It's a cop out as explanations go. Men are obsessed about cars but they don't want them to run the country, just the track. Yes, NASCAR is a metaphor for life.
If a man's opinion about men's opinions counts, then I know why I like Palin:
She likes men. And she doesn't apologize for it.
She stands up to the media onslaught like a beauty queen and keeps smiling. Every day her media chops get better and yet her personality remains convivial and compassionate.
She is Caribou Barbie and you know what, that's a pretty good example to follow.
In other words, she's normal. After the slutarama starting with Madonna through Pink, or the hobnailed boots approach from Joy Behar, aka, Grandma Grumpy, it is attractive to see a woman act as if being a woman was a good thing but not a special thing.
Chalk it up to minority fatigue. Fifty years of majority-be-guilty has gotten very old.
Give us a woman we can love easily and we will love them forever.
Give us an ordeal and a deal is all it will ever be.
Palin represents something that angers a lot of women: a successful woman, standing proud, staying tough, and holding on to hers by rights without a fight.
When any of you can do that, you'll quit talking about womenomics and start running a country.
Palin may not be your cup of tea but she always a woman to me.
It's a cop out as explanations go. Men are obsessed about cars but they don't want them to run the country, just the track. Yes, NASCAR is a metaphor for life.
If a man's opinion about men's opinions counts, then I know why I like Palin:
She likes men. And she doesn't apologize for it.
She stands up to the media onslaught like a beauty queen and keeps smiling. Every day her media chops get better and yet her personality remains convivial and compassionate.
She is Caribou Barbie and you know what, that's a pretty good example to follow.
In other words, she's normal. After the slutarama starting with Madonna through Pink, or the hobnailed boots approach from Joy Behar, aka, Grandma Grumpy, it is attractive to see a woman act as if being a woman was a good thing but not a special thing.
Chalk it up to minority fatigue. Fifty years of majority-be-guilty has gotten very old.
Give us a woman we can love easily and we will love them forever.
Give us an ordeal and a deal is all it will ever be.
Palin represents something that angers a lot of women: a successful woman, standing proud, staying tough, and holding on to hers by rights without a fight.
When any of you can do that, you'll quit talking about womenomics and start running a country.
Palin may not be your cup of tea but she always a woman to me.
Original Inspiration
There is a text circulating among the Obama supporters that cause them to become weak kneed. It goes as follows:
It is inspiring but not original. Here is the original from Flip Wilson:
Rosa sat, so Martin could walk
Martin walked so Barack could run
Barack is running so our children can fly
It is inspiring but not original. Here is the original from Flip Wilson:
"Before this church can do great things for God, it's gotta learn to crawl."
"Let it crawl, Rev" shouts the congregation, "Let it crawl."
"And when it's learned to crawl" the preacher continued, "it's gotta learn to walk."
"Let it walk," the congregation responds loudly, "Let it walk!"
Then, fixing them with his eye, the preacher shouted, "And when it's learned to walk, it's gotta run and we all know a church can't run without money!"
There is a momentary silence, then the congregation responds,
"Let it crawl, Rev, let it crawl!"
The Great Get Even
Some of the right wingers are comparing Obama to Chairman Mao. I don't agree.
What we are seeing is the immaturity of the current electorate in action. The Bush administration is like a starter marriage gone bad for two teen agers. Once they become spiteful, one will choose a new partner with the maximum potential to make the old partner mad. It doesn't matter if the new partner has glaring character flaws to any third party, the slicker the better because revenge is living well in the eye of the party out for revenge.
Obama is the Democrats introducing that revenge, the Great Get Even, to the American public and like a teen-ager out to settle scores, Americans are buying it. It will be six months before they realize just what a horrible mistake they have made. As an old song said, "We got married in a fever hotter than a pepper sprout"
Watch the entertainment as this new couple goes to battling the way they did in the Carter years, unless of course, Obama manages to get his civilian police corp established. Then it will be time to get a passport and get the hell out of Jackson.
What we are seeing is the immaturity of the current electorate in action. The Bush administration is like a starter marriage gone bad for two teen agers. Once they become spiteful, one will choose a new partner with the maximum potential to make the old partner mad. It doesn't matter if the new partner has glaring character flaws to any third party, the slicker the better because revenge is living well in the eye of the party out for revenge.
Obama is the Democrats introducing that revenge, the Great Get Even, to the American public and like a teen-ager out to settle scores, Americans are buying it. It will be six months before they realize just what a horrible mistake they have made. As an old song said, "We got married in a fever hotter than a pepper sprout"
Watch the entertainment as this new couple goes to battling the way they did in the Carter years, unless of course, Obama manages to get his civilian police corp established. Then it will be time to get a passport and get the hell out of Jackson.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
The Swift Wind Turbine
For those of you interested in the greening of the planet, here is a wind turbine for the home. The Swift produces about 1.5kw at 35 decibels given average winds. So you mileage may vary and it isn't as inexpensive as some would like, but it is definitely a step in the right direction.
To make headway against our energy challenges, replacing a 19th century design grid that stores power by keeping it in cirulation on a nationwide system with small local grids that produce power close to the point of consumption is the key idea.
Localize. Localize. Localize.
To make headway against our energy challenges, replacing a 19th century design grid that stores power by keeping it in cirulation on a nationwide system with small local grids that produce power close to the point of consumption is the key idea.
Localize. Localize. Localize.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Close the Barnyard Gate
First, Watergate, Whitewatergate, Travelgate, Cattlegate, Indonesiagate and now Troopergate and WardrobeGate.
Then there was the gate to summarize all of the Clinton gates: TailGate.
I think we've almost covered the barnyard with gates now and the animals are still getting out of the pens.
This should be the year we officially retire this meme. Let's call them scandals, high crimes and misdemenors so someone has to actually file a charge or indict before the innuendo consumes the news cycle for a week.
No video for this. Just a song.
Then there was the gate to summarize all of the Clinton gates: TailGate.
I think we've almost covered the barnyard with gates now and the animals are still getting out of the pens.
This should be the year we officially retire this meme. Let's call them scandals, high crimes and misdemenors so someone has to actually file a charge or indict before the innuendo consumes the news cycle for a week.
No video for this. Just a song.
Redistributing the Wealth
Barack Obama, in 2001:
You know, if you look at the victories and failures of the civil-rights movement, and its litigation strategy in the court, I think where it succeeded was to vest formal rights in previously dispossessed peoples. So that I would now have the right to vote, I would now be able to sit at a lunch counter and order and as long as I could pay for it, I’d be okay, but the Supreme Court never entered into the issues of redistribution of wealth, and sort of more basic issues of political and economic justice in this society.
And uh, to that extent, as radical as I think people tried to characterize the Warren Court, it wasn’t that radical. It didn’t break free from the essential constraints that were placed by the Founding Fathers in the Constitution — at least as it’s been interpreted, and Warren Court interpreted it in the same way, that generally the Constitution is a charter of negative liberties: [It] says what the states can’t do to you, says what the federal government can’t do to you, but it doesn’t say what the federal government or the state government must do on your behalf.
And that hasn’t shifted, and one of the, I think, the tragedies of the civil-rights movement was because the civil-rights movement became so court-focused, uh, I think that there was a tendency to lose track of the political and community organizing and activities on the ground that are able to put together the actual coalitions of power through which you bring about redistributive change. And in some ways we still suffer from that.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Sunday Will Never Be the Same
When I read the blogs from the left coast, I am never surprised that the doomsday suicide cults usually live in California. There is a concerted effort to get together and talk each other into a desperate stupor of demoralization and defeatism. America is never right, the rich are always thieves, and somewhere someone is always plotting to undermine their rights to sex, drugs or bad movies.
I think they are doing it to themselves but I try to avoid going there to check. The weird thing is that the people who have these blogs are richer than most of us.
In all my years, I've never seen anyone held down who worked for the wealth. I've seen artists and faux artists (say producers) do everything to keep a competitor's product off the street through lame critique, and I've seen software vendors dissing other vendors for not being socially progressive then shorting their stock. Still, America remains the destination mall of third world entrepeneurs. It is still the easiest place in the world to start a business or to launch a career.
There is a politics of depression. Some of these wealthy coasters are very good at it but I don't see them slowing down their consumption of energy or trading in their Lamborghinis for Hondas. I realize the cost of living is going up fast and I can't retire, but they are paying off higher mortgages and living in one of the most expensive areas in America in smaller houses. Somehow, I don't get depressed about that.
It seems the best way to make the unthinkable thinkable is to demoralize a nation, and Hairy Anna, Taplin and their friends are getting very good at it. Me, I'd rather read a textbook to learn a skill and make a dime than to get depressed and drop a dime. Things are still good in America and maybe if we just turn off the tube and work on our chops, they always will be. Today is Friday and that's a good day. Monday comes around soon enough.
Sunday will never be the same. Monday always is.
I think they are doing it to themselves but I try to avoid going there to check. The weird thing is that the people who have these blogs are richer than most of us.
In all my years, I've never seen anyone held down who worked for the wealth. I've seen artists and faux artists (say producers) do everything to keep a competitor's product off the street through lame critique, and I've seen software vendors dissing other vendors for not being socially progressive then shorting their stock. Still, America remains the destination mall of third world entrepeneurs. It is still the easiest place in the world to start a business or to launch a career.
There is a politics of depression. Some of these wealthy coasters are very good at it but I don't see them slowing down their consumption of energy or trading in their Lamborghinis for Hondas. I realize the cost of living is going up fast and I can't retire, but they are paying off higher mortgages and living in one of the most expensive areas in America in smaller houses. Somehow, I don't get depressed about that.
It seems the best way to make the unthinkable thinkable is to demoralize a nation, and Hairy Anna, Taplin and their friends are getting very good at it. Me, I'd rather read a textbook to learn a skill and make a dime than to get depressed and drop a dime. Things are still good in America and maybe if we just turn off the tube and work on our chops, they always will be. Today is Friday and that's a good day. Monday comes around soon enough.
Sunday will never be the same. Monday always is.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
An Essene
A quote from one Alex Bowles expressing a point of view that says it well:
Until we get our values right, the ideology doesn't matter, but my experience is that we pick our ideology in accordance with what we value, and then it is easy to tell the light from the dark, the Essene from the Sadducee and Pharisee. I value truth and as Gandhi said, the only way to know truth is through non-violence. As long as we lust for dominion, we violate truth.
Without truth, only darkness has dominion.
For me, the change we need isn’t about swings from left to right. It’s about moving from the darkness below to the light above. My hope is that we start to worry less about ideology, which has provided cover for all sorts of nefarious agendas, and, instead, start worrying about corruption as such. Until we start naming it directly - and punishing it accordingly - we’ll continue to sink.
Until we get our values right, the ideology doesn't matter, but my experience is that we pick our ideology in accordance with what we value, and then it is easy to tell the light from the dark, the Essene from the Sadducee and Pharisee. I value truth and as Gandhi said, the only way to know truth is through non-violence. As long as we lust for dominion, we violate truth.
Without truth, only darkness has dominion.
Anoushka Shankar
Here is a video for you that is simply breath taking, or breath giving. The artist is Anoushka Shankar, daughter of Ravi Shankar, demonstrating a mastery of sitar that few can claim and even fewer women have demonstrated. This is stunning and will give your day a wonderful respite from the rage and demonizing out there. Turn off the TV, avoid the political blogs, delete those emails your friends and family are sending you full of vitriol, and enjoy the serenity of her playing and marvelous spirit.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Feeding the Fire: Part 3
Since there are some things being said that are false on their face:
1. I am a Democrat. I've been a registered Democrat since 1972. I'm not supporting Obama because I don't trust him and my encounters with his supporters prove to me they are neither credible nor honorable. The thuggery is too evident to ignore and means do matter.
2. Sarah Palin is a fine woman. That seems to bother people who can't find anything else to disparage her for. I suspect the Hollywood crowd would like it much better if she didn't have a husband and a good family. Their therapists can't make money off normal people.
3. I notice that when the left gets angry, they go immediately to the topic of sex. I realize they are mammals, but they are also a bit addicted to that subject in their rants, their critiques and their politics. Sex is good but so is housekeeping. It tidies up the spirit. Angry sex is the mean street of power. Don't go there.
4. No matter who is elected, raising taxes is a bad idea right now. Only a fool fights in a burning house. I've never said anything about Obama's comments on "spreading the wealth around". I don't think it necessary and I'd like to get some of that too. I don't mind doing it the way I always have: work. The economy can't be 'fixed' particularly with more stimulus packages. We have to restore manufacturing and adjust costs. Anyone who tells you the situation is more complicated than a checkbook is part of the problem. It's like weight loss; eat less, do more. The rest just works.
5. The politics of rage depend on getting everyone riled up through frustration. The more calm one tries to be, the more they "get in your face" as Obama told them to do. Leave their signs alone. Ignore their insults. There will be plenty of time for bonfires after the election and lots of leftover tinder. Obama will win if the polls are right. Then we'll see what he's made of. May having be as good as wanting.
6. If Peter Paul and Mary and the Kingston Trio hadn't covered Bobby Zimmerman's songs, he'd be teaching English in a junior college in upstate New Jersey. For my tastes, he is like Hank Williams: I like his songs when other people do them. He had a heckuva good band years ago. They went out on a high note and haven't done anything since. Some people know when to get off stage.
Now is a good time to meditate on shunyata. It calms the spirit and reveals the true nature of reality. Peace.
1. I am a Democrat. I've been a registered Democrat since 1972. I'm not supporting Obama because I don't trust him and my encounters with his supporters prove to me they are neither credible nor honorable. The thuggery is too evident to ignore and means do matter.
2. Sarah Palin is a fine woman. That seems to bother people who can't find anything else to disparage her for. I suspect the Hollywood crowd would like it much better if she didn't have a husband and a good family. Their therapists can't make money off normal people.
3. I notice that when the left gets angry, they go immediately to the topic of sex. I realize they are mammals, but they are also a bit addicted to that subject in their rants, their critiques and their politics. Sex is good but so is housekeeping. It tidies up the spirit. Angry sex is the mean street of power. Don't go there.
4. No matter who is elected, raising taxes is a bad idea right now. Only a fool fights in a burning house. I've never said anything about Obama's comments on "spreading the wealth around". I don't think it necessary and I'd like to get some of that too. I don't mind doing it the way I always have: work. The economy can't be 'fixed' particularly with more stimulus packages. We have to restore manufacturing and adjust costs. Anyone who tells you the situation is more complicated than a checkbook is part of the problem. It's like weight loss; eat less, do more. The rest just works.
5. The politics of rage depend on getting everyone riled up through frustration. The more calm one tries to be, the more they "get in your face" as Obama told them to do. Leave their signs alone. Ignore their insults. There will be plenty of time for bonfires after the election and lots of leftover tinder. Obama will win if the polls are right. Then we'll see what he's made of. May having be as good as wanting.
6. If Peter Paul and Mary and the Kingston Trio hadn't covered Bobby Zimmerman's songs, he'd be teaching English in a junior college in upstate New Jersey. For my tastes, he is like Hank Williams: I like his songs when other people do them. He had a heckuva good band years ago. They went out on a high note and haven't done anything since. Some people know when to get off stage.
Now is a good time to meditate on shunyata. It calms the spirit and reveals the true nature of reality. Peace.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Feeding the Fire: Part 2
As I thought it might, the first part of this riled the Taplin bloggers. I was told that as a troll, I could only comment on cultural issues or leave.
I said no deal.
I'm disappointed. There are some there who's names I know from the music business and respected, but like John Lennon said, it's not always good to meet your heros.
In my past, these were the good guys, but like the dragon in Dragonslayer, with age comes only pain and that makes them spiteful. In all my years on the web and before, I've never encountered a group quite like that. The rage turns any claim they make for their candidate into a shrill scream for justification to hurt their enemies.
Driven by the news media, shows like The View and the speeches of the candidates, the rage is building. I don't know if it can be stopped. The left wing has traditionally been the peace party in this country. Now it is something unrecognizable, a twisted characature of itself spitting back obscenties and intimidating anyone who dares dissent.
I thought Bush was bad. He was just dumb. These are the intellectuals, the elite, the people America lavished its best in education and opportunity on howling at the moon like wolves in blood lust. They are even quoting Dave Winer as a supporter. Dave is familiar with the flame wars and what the RSS zealots did to him should be enough to make him understand a rage machine. I wonder if he approves.
The right is little better. All you have to do is read the blogs, follow the links and you see what this is about. McCain's campaign was pretty docile during the primaries. With the negative campaign and the left in their faces, they've surrendered to the madness too. Now we are in the eye for an eye part of the campaign and nothing good will come of this.
Are either of the candidates worth this? In my opinion, absolutely not.
I said no deal.
I'm disappointed. There are some there who's names I know from the music business and respected, but like John Lennon said, it's not always good to meet your heros.
Oh, I know this creature of yours... Vermithrax Pejorative. Look at these scales, these ridges. When a dragon gets this old, it knows nothing but pain, constant pain. It grows decrepit... crippled... pitiful. Spiteful!
In my past, these were the good guys, but like the dragon in Dragonslayer, with age comes only pain and that makes them spiteful. In all my years on the web and before, I've never encountered a group quite like that. The rage turns any claim they make for their candidate into a shrill scream for justification to hurt their enemies.
Driven by the news media, shows like The View and the speeches of the candidates, the rage is building. I don't know if it can be stopped. The left wing has traditionally been the peace party in this country. Now it is something unrecognizable, a twisted characature of itself spitting back obscenties and intimidating anyone who dares dissent.
I thought Bush was bad. He was just dumb. These are the intellectuals, the elite, the people America lavished its best in education and opportunity on howling at the moon like wolves in blood lust. They are even quoting Dave Winer as a supporter. Dave is familiar with the flame wars and what the RSS zealots did to him should be enough to make him understand a rage machine. I wonder if he approves.
The right is little better. All you have to do is read the blogs, follow the links and you see what this is about. McCain's campaign was pretty docile during the primaries. With the negative campaign and the left in their faces, they've surrendered to the madness too. Now we are in the eye for an eye part of the campaign and nothing good will come of this.
Are either of the candidates worth this? In my opinion, absolutely not.
My love for nonviolence is superior to every other thing mundane or supramundane. It is equaled only by my love for Truth, which is to me synonymous with nonviolence through which and which alone I can see and reach Truth.
....Without ahimsa it is not possible to seek and find Truth... Ahimsa is the means; Truth is the end. Means to be means must always be within our reach, and so ahimsa is our supreme duty. If we take care of the means, we are bound to reach the end sooner or latter. When once we have grasped this point, final victory is beyond question.
Ahimsa is not the goal. Truth is the goal. But we have no means of realizing truth in human relationships except through the practice of ahimsa. - M.K. Gandhi
Monday, October 20, 2008
Feed the Fire
I've had a jolly good time debating the ObamaBots at Jon Taplin's blog. These are the true believers who have made his campaign a raging success. It is noticeable throughout the primaries and now just how much his supporters depend on rage and feed on it. It is a destructive technique for culture in general.
The trick is to frame the opponent in a bad light. Jon and his friends are practiced at this but not terribly skilled. It seems to be a reflex move when they are confused by a reply or contradicted. This is something they share with Obama who is thin skinned when his intellectual superiority is questioned.
The framing of his organization as intellectually superior and all others as inferior ('dumb', 'moron', 'scoundrel') has been their most consistent approach throughout the primaries and beyond. This results in the 'self/other' antipathy that feeds the rage machine. They are doing this deliberately because they are doing it consistently. Means matter when considering a candidate and the means used by the Obama campaign indicate his term in office should he win will be a divisive one with little achieved except to drive divisions deeper into the American psyche.
Don't respond with rage or hurt. It just empties your life into their hell instead of feeding your own fire.
The trick is to frame the opponent in a bad light. Jon and his friends are practiced at this but not terribly skilled. It seems to be a reflex move when they are confused by a reply or contradicted. This is something they share with Obama who is thin skinned when his intellectual superiority is questioned.
The framing of his organization as intellectually superior and all others as inferior ('dumb', 'moron', 'scoundrel') has been their most consistent approach throughout the primaries and beyond. This results in the 'self/other' antipathy that feeds the rage machine. They are doing this deliberately because they are doing it consistently. Means matter when considering a candidate and the means used by the Obama campaign indicate his term in office should he win will be a divisive one with little achieved except to drive divisions deeper into the American psyche.
Don't respond with rage or hurt. It just empties your life into their hell instead of feeding your own fire.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Where Do the Children Play?
Someone asked:
Fund investors take run up money from the stocks and leave the companies trying to pay off the leverage. If the leverage isn't paid, they break it up into pieces and sell them.
Someone said to me that if I am better off today than I was eight years ago, I should vote Republican. The funny thing is, I am better off. By about 40%. My 401k has taken a beating but I am much better off. Why?
The last company I was working for was bought by a San Francisco-based investment firm. During the previous ten years, we had worked hard to bring our stock value up from about $4 a share to around $30. That is when the Board tossed out our President and replaced him with a fund manager from Wall Street. He brought his Harvard grad buddy in and they began to squeeze the company down to show higher profits on the books theoretically through cost reductions.
It sounds like good business. Why isn't it?
Where we had been careful and scrupulous in our bidding for work, they tossed the safety rules aside and had us pursue work we couldn’t do at prices we couldn’t perform. We won a lot of business that way. So when they began to look for buyers (the plan the board had from the beginning), on paper, we looked like a great buy or so the story went.
The truth was, our money in hand was cash from winning intellectual property lawsuits. The value was the patent portfolio, but the time was running out on that, so the cash in the bank was a lottery ticket we couldn’t play again.
So they squeezed. Result: while we looked good on the books, we had devastated our human capital which is the real engine of a business. There was no way we could perform.
Smart engineers and managers knew it and bailed fast. I was one of those. That company is now having to buy back parts of their contracts as their customers are becoming furious with their underperformance. The investors who bought them don’t care. They were buying the cash on hand and they took it out of the company at purchase.
So how do they do it? They descend on a company like locusts and hollow out the value while polishing the outer shell. It takes a while to notice this and people believe what they are told. This is why XBRL and other technologies are so important to achieving transparency.
Me? I went to work for a company run by sharp immigrants from Mumbai who’s company is also their passion. We stay lean, we stay smart, and we meet our deadlines with good technology. We work hard. We have a good time together. Our products save lives. We are proud of that.
As a result, I am better off. Should I vote Republican? Well, I won't vote Democrat and oddly, I AM a Democrat. Obama cheats and lies to win and just as the story related above, means matter.
How does one, as CEO, lose billions and make millions??
Fund investors take run up money from the stocks and leave the companies trying to pay off the leverage. If the leverage isn't paid, they break it up into pieces and sell them.
Someone said to me that if I am better off today than I was eight years ago, I should vote Republican. The funny thing is, I am better off. By about 40%. My 401k has taken a beating but I am much better off. Why?
The last company I was working for was bought by a San Francisco-based investment firm. During the previous ten years, we had worked hard to bring our stock value up from about $4 a share to around $30. That is when the Board tossed out our President and replaced him with a fund manager from Wall Street. He brought his Harvard grad buddy in and they began to squeeze the company down to show higher profits on the books theoretically through cost reductions.
It sounds like good business. Why isn't it?
Where we had been careful and scrupulous in our bidding for work, they tossed the safety rules aside and had us pursue work we couldn’t do at prices we couldn’t perform. We won a lot of business that way. So when they began to look for buyers (the plan the board had from the beginning), on paper, we looked like a great buy or so the story went.
The truth was, our money in hand was cash from winning intellectual property lawsuits. The value was the patent portfolio, but the time was running out on that, so the cash in the bank was a lottery ticket we couldn’t play again.
So they squeezed. Result: while we looked good on the books, we had devastated our human capital which is the real engine of a business. There was no way we could perform.
Smart engineers and managers knew it and bailed fast. I was one of those. That company is now having to buy back parts of their contracts as their customers are becoming furious with their underperformance. The investors who bought them don’t care. They were buying the cash on hand and they took it out of the company at purchase.
So how do they do it? They descend on a company like locusts and hollow out the value while polishing the outer shell. It takes a while to notice this and people believe what they are told. This is why XBRL and other technologies are so important to achieving transparency.
Me? I went to work for a company run by sharp immigrants from Mumbai who’s company is also their passion. We stay lean, we stay smart, and we meet our deadlines with good technology. We work hard. We have a good time together. Our products save lives. We are proud of that.
As a result, I am better off. Should I vote Republican? Well, I won't vote Democrat and oddly, I AM a Democrat. Obama cheats and lies to win and just as the story related above, means matter.
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