Redeem the Time

Change your links

2004-05-19T04:29:00.000-07:00

http://www.liverevolt.com/redeemthetime/ http://www.liverevolt.com/redeemthetime/ Is the new site of Redeem the Time. Eventually it will evolve from the MT template. This blog will die a natural death as the rainforests of blogger slowly overgrow its crumbling remains.

SoCal

2004-05-13T23:30:00.000-07:00

No article has described it better (at least when one is angry at it) than this one.

Been a while

2004-05-13T23:14:00.000-07:00

Yes, yes, had a birthday, got a girlfriend, a new car, and in the middle of finals. I am back, and preparing a new site hosted by live revolt. Sorry to my vast audience for my absence. I am back, and the Revolution continues to be live.

The Reichstag Is Burning!

2004-04-20T17:38:00.000-07:00

The LA Times took note of widespread "hate-crime" hoaxes across the country in a suprisingly interesting and fair article today. The article details many hoaxes similar in vein to the one recently perpetrated at Claremont McKenna College by visiting professor Kerri Dunn. Some highlights (from the LaLa Times, no less): Several researchers say the liberal atmosphere at many of the nation's colleges creates an environment ripe for deception. "There's the preconception that if a charge is made, it's true," said John Perazzo, author of "The Myths that Divide Us." "One common thread running through many such incidents is the accuser's sense of victimhood." The conclusion of the article says: Still, experts say, campus hoaxes can actually help achieve some goals of the perpetrators by bringing sympathetic attention to an issue. After the incident at Miami University, officials stepped up efforts to recruit and mentor minorities. Snow, president of the campus' Black Student Action Assn. at the time of the suspected hoax, said he wonders whether the campus would have changed if not for the event. For years, he pushed administrators to improve conditions for minorities. "Ironically," he said, "everything I asked and wanted them to do, they have implemented now." Well, Mr. Snow, thats because they are either cowardly dummies, or they are using minorities for the sake of a larger, liberal agenda. After all, where would the Democratic party be without its solid minority base? Do you think they actually care about racism? They are giving you bread and circuses in return for your vote, while minority neighborhoods and schools remain in ruins. They can't have minorities going through college learning things, after all--they might get uppity. They also must keep the non-minorities on campus nice and guilty in order to ensure their stranglehold over the college. They, in fact, create racial tension that doesn't otherwise exist for their own benefit. And now, in ever-growing numbers, students are faking crimes against themselves! If only those who gave money to academia had to live on the wacky campuses their well-intentioned dollars support.

Only a matter of time, really...

2004-04-20T12:46:00.000-07:00

Before someone posted the link to a Blog that is: "An exercise in drinking Guinness and flopping the nuts on Party Poker." His links to many other Poker sites and blogs, are, perhaps, worthy to be explored. I have time to post this, but not to read on...although there is a link in the first post to a blog that connects Poker and the Big Lebowski, so it can't be all bad.

Wild Boars Rule

2004-04-20T11:19:00.000-07:00

In the "coolest random story of the day category," wild pigs are becoming a problem in Texas.

With Friends Like These...???

2004-04-20T09:51:00.000-07:00

"The National Right to Life Committee was founded in 1973 in response to" Roe V. Wade. "The ultimate goal of the National Right to Life Committee is to restore legal protection to innocent human life." With 3000 chapters in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, the NRLC is the largest and most influential pro-life group in the nation. They have achieved several legislative victories since Bush took the White House. The Born-Alive Infants Act, the Partial Birth Abortion Ban, and most recently, the Unborn Victims of Violence Act are all now part of federal law. These victories while important, are obviously only partial. The NRLC, which had adopted a vigorous "all-or-nothing" strategy, fighting without success for a complete end to abortion, changed its mind largely due to the Stenberg v. Carhart decision, which protected partial-birth abortion. If the Supreme Court would prevent the proper elected officials of the state of South Dakota from passing a law outlawing this chilling method of murder, which the vast majority of Americans find abhorrent, how would it ever overturn Roe v. Wade? Perhaps there were other, more prudent steps that could be taken in order to ultimately end abortion for good? Hadley Arkes' book, Natural Rights and the Right to Choose, which ought to be read by all those interested in the subject, reveals the start of what was an important shift in the tactics of the pro-life movement. After the Stenberg decision, the NRLC opened up to what Arkes and others had been pushing for years--limited, finely crafted, federal legislation that would redefine the debate around the life of the infant, rather than the health of the mother. This was the equivalent of taking realistic stock of the legal situation and retreating in order to return to the fray with a more intelligent and pointed strategy. Arkes mentions, however, that at the time the NRLC was necessary for his brainchild, the Born-Alive Infants Act, to have a chance of becoming law. It was only after the NRLC decided that its own all-or-nothing strategy had failed that it agreed to push Arkes' bill. The Thomas More Law Center is a "not-for-profit public interest law firm dedicated to the defense and promotion of the religious freedom of Christians, time-honored family values, and the sanctity of human life" whose "purpose is to be the sword and shield for people of faith, providing legal representation without charge to defend and protect Christians and their religious beliefs in the public square." The Center is related to the new Ave Maria Law School. They have issued a disturbing press release and report "detailing the role of the National Right to Life Committee and is its state affiliate, South Dakota Right to Life, in opposing and ultimately defeating a South Dakota law that would have banned virtually all abortions and challenged Roe v. Wade." The irony is that it has only been a few years since the NRLC began to pursue a strategy that allowed for any means other than these sorts of comprehensive abortion bans in the effort to overturn Roe v. Wade. As they are lawyers, the members of the Thomas More Law Center no doubt understand the role that prudence must play in politics. The odds of overturning Roe v. Wade at present through such a bill are slim to none. The framework around the sort of debate such a bill engenders is already set by the other side. It would be interesting to see what the response of the NRLC is to the Center's report. There may indeed be many good reasons to save energy for other matters rather than the sort of law that the South Dakota Legislature attempted to pass. The most disturbing aspect of this incident to me is what seems to be the assumption of all power and leadership by the NRLC. As the Thomas More Center points out, what harm does it do to allow others on your side to push for the goals you both desire? The attempt to quell such efforts is shocking. What harm would it do? The burden of proof is on the NRLC now. They ought to explain their actions in detail. Otherwise, it seems that they may have, over the course of time, have built up an attitude and mode of action that must be countered and checked by other pro-life groups. Prudence must rule our actions in such battles at all times, but prudence cannot live in harmony with arrogance. More than half of the problem in the so-called "culture wars," seems to be, in this lowly commentator's eyes, caused by the disorganization and ignorance of the good guys. Hopefully this will resolve itself, as the stakes are too high in this deadly game for friends to be bickering among themselves while Rome burns. [Thanks to yet another revolutionary who ought to have his own blog for pointing this report out.]

Hot-Air America

2004-04-19T22:45:00.000-07:00

Even the liberals, when honest, can't stomach the new liberal radio network, Air America. The radio network is supposed to counter the prevailing titans of talk radio--Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Dennis Prager, Hugh Hewitt, Bill Bennett and so on. It is a sad day when even the media column of the LA Times does not give those it agrees with full support. The liberal author of this review took a full day to listen to Air America, and admitted (in a rare moment for the LaLa Times) that he agreed with the views of much of the hosts. Notwithstanding, he says of the day he spent listening to the fledgling radio network: "It may have been the most boring day of my life." The Times columnist, in another rare moment for the LaLa Times, even realizes that: "In a country in which 64% of the public say they attend weekend worship services at least once a month, mocking religion might not be the most effective way to win converts — and yet, on Good Friday no less, that's exactly what the various Air America hosts repeatedly did." And when I read the following line, I almost had a heart attack. This moment of clarity is brought to you by the Spirit of the Lord, which must be slowly blowing through the stagnant halls of the LaLa Times. Well, maybe it was just an accident: "In fact, I think what ultimately annoyed — and disappointed me — the most about Air America was all the false, aren't-we-funny, aren't-we-smart laughter that virtually all the hosts gave each other." Bwhahhahhhahhahhahha....yesssss, yessss....a bit more of this and you might realize--no, could it be?--that maybe you clowns aren't right about everything...wait a minute...could you guys be the dogmatic, arrogant millstones and those neanderthals in the heartland be the enlighted and humble saviors of the nation? In fact, this is what has annoyed the rest of the county about you and all the rest of the pseudo-intellectuals in politics, the media, and academia for a great long while. This sort of attitude is why Plato enjoyed smacking down sophists so long ago. This sort of snide attitude is what separates the sophists from the common sense the rest of us share. Welcome, LA Times, to reality. Wait, where are you going? Come back.... Oh well. It was nice while it lasted.

Kerrying Favor

2004-04-19T20:52:00.000-07:00

[If you haven't already, check out the Element of Style's continuing series on John Kerry's many possessions.] George Neumayr at the American Spectator reports on John Kerry's attempts to smooth things out with the spineless Catholic leadership of America. Politicians, like all men, will take what is given to them. Before the Church condemns America, it ought to condemn itself. The American leadership of the Catholic church, with the exception of a notable minority, has utterly failed its role in the public square. Sermons continually decry petty and small strawmen while significant issues such as abortion and other sexually related matters are ignored. The Church constantly speaks out about topics which it has no proper authority over (foreign affairs, international relations and liberal labor causes), while staying largely silent on the moral matters it has the authority and duty to teach. That a man of such political stature who consistently supports the murder of innocent children is allowed to take communion every week is maddening. I wonder how anyone could, without grace, join an institution that is so hypocritical as the Church in this country. That he is being bargained with by church leaders with a similarly high stature in the church is an outrage. Until the church gets its act together in this country, don't complain about those who do not ascribe to its tenets. If half or three quarters of Catholics voted according to the teaching of the Church, there would be no abortion in this nation. Colleges and public figures must no longer be allowed to reap the benefit of calling themselves Catholic while picking and choosing what doctrine they ascribe to. If this means a large number of people leaving the church, so be it. They are free to start a new sect at any time. If they don't wish to do that, then they can repent and recant. Instead the Bishops are spending their time cleaning up the mess that they created by allowing homosexuality to prosper in their seminaries. When "Catholic" colleges are allowed to teach blasphemy, and priests are sexually attracted to other men and little boys, and the Church is largely silent in the public square on matters of faith and morals, one ought to wonder about those within the church who blame our system of governance or "modern" times for the evils of our day. There is a real sense in which we need to deal with these two-by-fours in our own eyes before yammering about how corrupt America and modern society is.

Announcing the new Polly award winners:

2004-04-19T18:45:00.000-07:00

ISI, an organization you should already know about, announces the top five assinine antics of the modern academy for the year. "Sex week" at Yale sponsored by porn companies, multicultural sex research, and much, much, more. Worth a look.

Wisdom

2004-04-13T21:11:00.000-07:00

It is a great thing to realize that one has been an idiot. Maturity seems largely to consist of realizing how immature one has been--in the distant and in the uncomfortably near past. To look back on the past and realize this is something that, I think, one should always be doing. It means that you are progressing forward, and there is no end to this. Although it takes a humble admission by oneself, maturity can only be attained with the help of others. With the drawing of this Love and the voice of this Calling We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time.

The Good News that's never fit to print

2004-04-10T16:53:00.001-07:00

Read the blog below first. In the propaganda piece I describe below, the Times cites a survey in order to make their "case" that "The Passion" promotes antisemitism. Do you know what the Times doesn't tell you about that survey? Why, everything important about it, of course! Listen to the statistics of our secular, ever-worsening culture...oh...its sooo bad...there really is NO hope for "modern times," and our nation is surely going to hell in a handbasket: Do you believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross, or not? 1986 1997 2004 Yes: 93% 93% 92% No: 5% 5% 4% Don't know/Refused: 4% 2% 4% Do believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead, or not? 1997 2004 Yes: 84% 83% No: 10% 11% Don't know/refused: 6% 6% But you say, the masses will say anything. Most people don't understand subtle nuances that we, we happy few philosophers and theologians, do. Well, try this one: The Bible is the actual word of God and is to be taken literally, word for word: 1996 2001 2004 35% 36% 40% OR: The Bible is the word of God, but not everything in it should be taken literally, word for word: 1996 2001 2004 47% 43% 42% OR: The Bible is a book written by men and is not the word of God: 1996 2001 2004 14% 14% 13% Don't know/Refused: 1996 2001 2004 2% 4% 5% The first two choice are tough, and hinge on what taking scipture literally here. Given the state of our current culture, I think the best answer is the one that most people choose consistently, although I understand the only trend in all these questions, which is that more people are describing themselves as taking the bible literally. This is probably happening because one needs to differientiate oneself as a believer from the many of the moron who teach religion. The point here is that most people are on target, and they usually are on most matters, which is why Aristotle always started with common opinion as well as what the "wise" say. We forget this a lot. Funny thing is, I don't usually see the newspapers talking about these amazingly high numbers. Occasionally academics express concern about them, while conservatives many times ignore them, but, come to think of it, very few people talk about these sorts of statistics at all. If you knew these statistics, and studied many more like them, and accepted them, perhaps you would know before others things like, say, that a movie about "The Passion of the Christ" would be of interest to the vast majority of the American populace? Interesting.

Need to get the blood pumping?

2004-04-10T16:53:00.000-07:00

Planned Parenthood spends money on many things besides killing helpless infants who happen to be in their mother's womb. Like this cute little satire that exudes tolerance and rational argumentation.

Hand-Wringing award of the weekend...

2004-04-10T11:05:00.000-07:00

and the winner is...The LALA Times. Sorry to harp on it, but it is Easter Weekend. The LA Times today, still angry over The Passion's success, runs yet another article on it in today's paper. The article is in the calendar section, which is not available online unless you pay for it. Given that the calendar section of the LA Times is consistently chock full of more idiocy than any section of any newspaper I have ever read, it is fitting that they pride themselves on it. This article begins with a deceptive and snide headline: "'Passion' changes hearts, minds." Many local newspapers around the country have run such articles, detailing the emotional reaction of people in their area to the movie, or perhaps running a human interest story about criminals who have turned themselves in to the police after watching it. Do you think the LA Times article is about either of these two things? Of course you don't. "It's unlikely that as many people ever shared a single vision of Jesus' execution as have during this Lent...the images they shared, however, came not from scriptural canon but from the gospel according to Mel." Lets stop here. A) "They" are upset with the movie because it sticks too closely or literally to the scriptural account. -A) "They" are upset with the movie because it is Gibson's own personal vision. For instance later on in this article, "Gibson's movie is a pastiche of biblical literalism". . . The film is somehow also full of "various obsessions that preoccupy the so-called traditionalist, pseudo-Catholic fringe." Can't help but think of some of their other objections: B) "They" are often upset with the movie because Gibson is selfishly indulging his own artistic vision, regardless of the cost. -B) "They" are often upset with the movie because Gibson is just out to make money, simply pandering to the religiousity and thirst for violence of the masses. C) "They" praise gruesome violence, especially in artsy independent films, on a daily basis. "They" also defend violence against censorship at every chance "they" get. -C) "They" are upset with the movie because it is too violent, and wish to warn everyone they can of this fact. D) "They" love independent films, and the sort of artistic vision that is free from the constraints of the studios, especially if the film is "controversial" (i.e., normal people hate it). --D) "They" hate Mel Gibson's film because it is controversial and divisive (i.e. they hate it) and created out of his own selfishness. We could go on, but I digress. The rest of the article claims that all the naysayers were right--the film has caused anti-semitism. "Profits apart," [profits that usually quell any criticism from reviewers in the case of all other movies...except in this case...oh they hatesss it] "the real question about 'The Passion of the Christ' is: were those concerns justified? Has Gibson's film contributed to a climate in which anti-semitism can flourish?" Surprise, surprise folks, the answer is YES. You know why? Because in 1997 the Pew Research Center did a poll asking the question "Were the Jews responsible for Christ's death?." They just did another poll asking the same question, eight years later. 7% more people now say that the Jews were responsible for Christ's death. The argument goes as follows: since the biggest rise in answering yes to this question has been among young people, and young people watch movies, clearly, this rise that occured sometime over the last 8 years must be the fault of a movie that came out while they were doing the poll the second time, a movie that has been out for one month during those eight years...yessss, the movie that we hatessssss! Nevermind the fact that, in a literal sense, Jews were responsible for putting Jesus to death. This is simply historical fact. Most Christians believe this and are not antisemitic. Most christians (especially protestants in this country) bear a special affection for Jews, and support the state of Israel in much higher numbers than, say, liberal journalists. The article ends, "When those who reckon by standards other than profit and loss come to judge the success or failure of Gibson's film, they might hold in mids another admonition from the Christian scriptures: 'By their fruits you shall know them.'" WE SHALL KNOW THEM BY THEIR FRUITS?!?! Obviously, the anti-semitic argument here is rubbish, as usual. Beyond this, however, how many times have people claimed to actually gain inspiration from movies and songs for doing evil? How many times has Hollywood held up viciousness and vice for all the world to emulate? (To say nothing of pornography--the correlation between pornography and deviant sex acts, illegal and not, is shocking). And, of course, how many times have we heard these guys defend ALL that sort of thing...always maintaining that it is never the "work of art's" fault, but rather the fault of depraved individuals who use their work as an excuse. Once again, this applies to every movie, except "The Passion." Gross irrationality can only begin to describe this article, anothe fine piece of propaganda worthy of Goebbels from the good people at the Times.

The Passion...changing the industry?

2004-04-09T17:51:00.000-07:00

The Hollywood Reporter explains how Mel Gibson broke the Ten Commandments of tinseltown. One of the more interesting aspects of Gibson's recent success is that he did the whole thing himself, on his own terms. He was able and willing to reject help from the rest of the business, and break established paradigms in order to do so. I wonder how much more of this there will be in the future. If wealthy people involved in the industry really did care about their artistic integrity and so forth, and really did desire to make more artistic movies, they have now been shown that they can successfully do so without big money ordering them around. What will they do now? Of course, they will probably continue along the same unimaginative lines they always have, while complaining that the system holds them back. The real reason they cannot go out on their own, I think, is that what they would produce if left to their own devious visions would be utterly rejected by the majority of their customers. In the end, they need to be kept in check by the larger elements of the business in order to make them marketable. Indeed, they need this side of the business in order to get people to want to see their questionable products. On the other hand, if one goes out on a limb and creates a work of acceptable production value that people want to see on its own merits, one stands to do just fine without the system. In fact, the individuals involved will personally make more money than they otherwise would have. Many will try this in the future and fail, but no doubt some will succeed. Should be interesting to watch.

good friday instapoem

2004-04-09T17:25:00.000-07:00

The quote below inspired some instapoetry.

Good Friday

2004-04-09T14:08:00.000-07:00

“The dripping blood our only drink, The bloody flesh our only food: In spite of which we like to think That we are sound, substantial flesh and blood— Again, in spite of that, we call this Friday good.” -T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets—East Coker

Condi is Sexy

2004-04-09T00:10:00.000-07:00

What often gets lost in this whole political mess the 9/11 inquisition...errrr...commission has caused, is the fact that Condoleezza Rice is sexy. She is incredibly brilliant, well spoken and in great shape for her age (she is 49, and works out every day). Her first name is a musical term that means "to play with sweetness." She is an accomplished pianist (she was playing Bach and Beethoven even before her feet could reach the piano's pedals) and was a figure skater in her youth. When she first met Bush the younger, she got along with him because she loved sports. She knows Russian too. She grew up in the deep south in the midst of racial strife. Her dad once took her to DC and showed her the White House, telling her that someday she would work there. God Bless America. Today, she smacked down a bunch of self-righteous, grasping, over-officious jerks in front of the world on live TV. She does cool things like this all the time, with the sort of alacrity, style and grace that is....dead sexy. Its really too bad that few people notice this amidst all the "important" stuff going on. You see, she is also single. She really hasn't had time for a man. I guess its going to be even harder for her after this job is over. I mean, the former national security advisor for the most powerful nation on earth can't just date any assclown she meets in a bar. I hope she does get married soon though, and I hope she conceives a daughter. At the rate I am going, and at the rate this daughter's intelligence would pull her, by the time this daughter gets her PhD, I will probably just be finishing mine. I would buy her a Gin and a Tonic, and we could get to know each other. Just when you lose faith in the opposite sex, you see women like Condi. Raise a glass to her sometime soon. Dead sexy.

Quotation of the Day

2004-04-06T12:47:00.000-07:00

From a busy member of the Revolution, who will hopefully have his own blog up someday soon: "You may alter the place to which you are going; but you cannot alter the place from which you have come. To the orthodox there must always be a case for revolution; for in the hearts of men God has been put under the feet of Satan. In the upper world hell once rebelled against heaven. But in this world, heaven is rebelling against hell. For the orthodox there can always be a revolution; for a revolution is a restoration. At any instant you may strike a blow for the perfection which no man has seen since Adam." --GK Chesterton, from a chapter in Orthodoxy entitled "The Eternal Revolution" The Revolution will be Live

PhDs and movies

2004-04-05T11:24:00.000-07:00

As Achilles Running has pointed out, PhDs who teach religion at Harvard don't like the movie "The Passion of the Christ" very much. In fact, they hatessss it. Hollywood didn't like it either. Both the experts on the content of the movie and the experts on the medium through which that content was expressed thought the movie was bad for various and sundry reasons. Again, we don't trust PhDs and experts anymore, and there are good reasons for this. The Passion of the Christ is the highest grossing R-rated film ever made, and today became the 10th highest grossing movie in America ever, and we haven't even got through Easter weekend yet. Meanwhile conservatives will still complain mindlessly about how horrible our atheistic culture is without pausing to consider that EVEN NOW we live in one of the most Christian nations that has ever existed. And yes, I am aware of its faults. Consider that and get to work. This majority will fade over time, especially if the conservatives (who have gone from the "stupid party" to the "smart, bitching and whining" party) and other people of good will continue to wring their hands. ALL TIMES are corrupt folks, so gird up your loins like men and take action. "Modernity" has been present since the fall of man. All men live in the present, and all men are born with a fallen human nature. Even if our time was particularly bad, the fact wouldn't make a lick of difference in what we are to do. "Ours is ONLY the trying, the rest is not our business." Whether we succeed or not has no bearing on what we are to do. Even whether it looks possible or not often has no bearing on what we are to do. "Yes, but look at ALL the evils in our society and most people are stupid and not wise, virtuous philosophers or pure and holy saints and oh oh oh wring wring wring" mmm hmmm. Welcome to reality--play ball or shut up.

PhDs and Kerri Dunn

2004-04-05T10:49:00.000-07:00

Like all attempts to "standardize" and "certify" the knowledge of individuals, PhDs are of limited value. The concept makes some sense, as it is practically necessary to maintain some sort of universal requirements through which one gets a recognizable stamp of approval. This inspires trust in those who might wish to learn from you. The present way of doing things, however, ought to inspire the same amount of trust one would give to a dirty and snarling stray Rottweiler. Despite conservative intellectual handwringing about the "masses," most people have figured this out long ago. We don't trust PhDs and "experts" anymore, and there are good reasons for this. Like this, for instance

Southern California Breeze

2004-03-29T00:06:00.000-08:00

There are times when you realize that, on this earth, there are both real manifestations of God AND your fellow humans' souls, both of which it is possible to commune with in different ways. And these two things suffice. Nothing else matters too much.

Higher Education Email, Again

2004-03-23T21:39:00.000-08:00

(Slow and tired voice) When I finally delete all the spam mail offering to enlarge my male member and let me watch grainy videos of high society's "whore of the month" Paris Hilton, I get to open the real email. sigh. Sorry, but this is uncensored. God bless us, every one: Happy SOCS A support and social group for GLBTQ people of color and allies and is open to people at the colleges and in the community all ages, races, genders and orientations in hopes of promoting dialogue and socializing within and across identity groups. All races, genders, orientations welcome. Thanks for the offer, but I'll pass. How many acryonms do we need now? Excited for Margaret Cho coming to campus? Can't wait until saturday to get a Cho fix? Come by _______ to watch Margaret Cho in I'M THE ONE THAT I WANT. "Karl Lagerfeld is such a faggot," Margaret Cho insists in the opening of her hilarious new concert film, and she means that in the nicest way. As she later notes, "I love the word 'faggot' because it describes my kind of guy." She herself is a fag hag and "fag hags are the backbone of the gay community." Why? Don't worry Ms. Cho will tell you. She'll also explain why the guys in straight porn films are so ugly, how oral sex can develop your abdominal muscles, and when she used to watch "Facts of Life," she always felt "Jo was such a lesbian. Didn't you think she was going to fuck Blair?" But the film's highlights are autobiographical. There's Cho performing on an all-girl cruise to Alaska: "Lesbians love whale-watching more than pussy." Her own one same-sex experience. Her failed TV show "All-American Girl." Her bouts with alcoholism and drug addiction: "I gave a lot of unnecessary head." Her fight to break Asian stereotypes. And best of all, her recreations of her cantankerous Korean mom's delicious mangling of Eastern and Western cultures This is a one-woman show about surviving at all odds, one which exhilarates while it has you guffawing nonstop. HIGH-larious. I can't stop laughing. So I'm going to crawl away in an attempt to find some more fragments to shore against my ruins... But then providentially, I always get these random airfare deals. Today though, they don't take me far enough away: Los Angeles, CA $89 one-way, to/from Indianapolis, IN $29 one-way, to/from Las Vegas, NV $94 one-way, to/from Orlando, FL $94 one-way, to/from Tampa Bay, FL Indianapolis...YAWN...Vegas is the reason I don't have the money to buy any of these tickets, so thats out...the thought of Disneyworld and Epcot Center fills me with spasms of culture-rage.... But I've never been to Tampa. It is on the ocean. Maybe I could volunteer to work on a yacht down there...

THE REICHSTAG IS BURNING! (1)

2004-03-23T13:52:00.000-08:00

Many conflicting stories have been told, but... It all began with a piece of modern "art." Over Christmas break of this school year, a small group of bored students at the "5Cs" of Claremont, California, either found a "sculpture" in a dumpster or took it from an art gallery. By some accounts it was made of woven fabric and/or paper mache over an iron frame. The students, most likely under the influence of a few adult beverages, took it back to their campus and burned it in a moment of gleeful post-finals week stupidity. This petty act of vandalism almost went unnoticed, except someone found the charred remains afterwards. Unfortunately for the young pyromaniacs, the piece of iron was shaped like a cross. Certain individuals complained to campus authorities. As two campuses were involved, the lines of communication among the colleges were confused. After some time and consideration, the colleges decided that no action would be take. The rule of law in America requires a "crime" to involve a "victim." Since no one actually saw the burning take place, and it coud not be proved that the burning was directed at any individual or group, it could not be classified as a "hate-crime." Meanwhile, the phrase "cross-burning" spread across campus, along with heaping gobs of righteous indignation. One of the beleagured pyros, no doubt fearful of a being lynched, printed an anonymnous letter in a campus publication. This individual tried to explain that the act was not racially motivated in any way. The artist of the "cross" said he was outraged at his "art" being stolen from him, and doubly outraged that people had cleaned up the charred remains, as they would have made an even better piece of "art." Soon it was widely reported in the press that there had been a KKK style "cross-burning" at the Claremont colleges, and while the criminals laughably denied that their action was racially motivated, the colleges had covered it up and refused to take action. Rumblings of discontent grew across campus, with many students linking the "cross-burning" to two other racial incidents on campus. A fraternity scavenger-hunt had required its participants to take a picture of ten asians, and the N-word had been scrawled on a wall next to a hanging calendar picture of George Washington Carver. These two events, together with the "cross-burning," were said to constitute a pattern of racism at the 5Cs. Angry students, dissatisfied with the colleges' response to this pattern, but well educated by the same authorities they begrudged, knew exactly what to do. A group quickly formed called the Student Liberation Action Movement, or S.L.A.M., and planned a day of protest. With all the usual characteristics of what is now a ritual on campuses across our nation, S.L.A.M. staged their protest, which culminated in a march to the site of the "cross-burning" and a moment of silence. A student leader then read a poem she wrote when she visited the site where Martin Luther King was shot. In turn, the combined student leaders of the 5Cs issued a letter to the entire community. It began: This cross burning incident is emblematic of a larger problem that is present on every campus at the Claremont Colleges. A dangerous climate exists, one that allows for incidents of ignorance and hate to occur. The five college community must address this climate and recognize that this latest incident is only the most public incident in a long series of hate-related crimes. The elected student leaders of the Claremont Colleges then expressed their "alarm" and "outrage" at "the degree of misinformation and the lack of a unified administrative response...the failure of every administration to recognize how the actions of students on one campus affect every student at every college is seriously disheartening and dangerous." They called for all the colleges to "address this hostile, unsafe climate" and "constructively generate ideas in order to increase the consciousness of our own community regarding issues of race, gender, class, and queerness." They embraced the newly formed S.L.A.M., saying "We openly support the activities of the Student Liberation and Action Movement in all that they do to promote a safer and more aware environment across the colleges." The four students who burned the "cross," although not charged with a crime, were punished by their respective colleges. They were put on probation for their entire college career and banned from inter-collegiate athletics for one year. They also "agreed" to compensate the artist, apologize in writing to the entire college community, perform 100 hours of community service and undergo "education programs" to "help them understand what they did." S.L.A.M., in concert with various racial organization on campus, continued to press for new "programs," more awareness" and above all a greater "response" from the respective colleges. Although there was a spirit of unrest in the air, a majority of students did not yet think that a serious problem existed on the campuses. Enter Visiting Professor of Psychology Kerri Dunn of Claremont Mckenna College. Events continued to be held in response to the "pattern of racism" at the 5Cs. One of these, an open forum on Free Speech vs. Hate Speech, included professor Dunn. After the event was over, she called attention to her car. Its windows were broken and its tires were slashed. The words, "shut up bitch," "nigger lover," and "kike whore" were spray-painted onto the car, along with an unfinished, confused looking attempt at a swastika. The director of Black Student Affairs said students from the Student Liberation Action Movement and the Pan African Student Association (PASA) immediately called as many people as they could to the scene. The Reichstag was burning.

Wimps and Barbarians, the sequel

2004-03-22T13:02:00.000-08:00

In the latest Claremont Review of Books, on newstands now, Terence O. Moore continues his Wimps and Barbarians piece with "Heather's Compromise: How Young Women Make Their Way in a World of Wimps and Barbarians." The entire issue is pretty good stuff.

Gordon's Gin

2004-03-22T04:13:00.000-08:00

is almost done and birds prepare their morning songs and morning is cold and night is long and smokes are harsh and much is gone.

The Modern Poet (not a poem-questions for Bob and T.S.)

2004-03-22T03:46:00.000-08:00

An ancient quarrel, or am I just drunk? What would you do if you had to stare at your heart, ripped out of your chest (this you know well), but still well-connected to your insides? What would you do, if not a poet? When its still there, hanging, worse for wear and bruised (this you know well), but still intact? When you know you can't put it back in or tear it out? So what kind of poem does that engender? And the "long, lonesome road" before and behind?! What then? Play me that melody and sing me that song. A song about a "simple" operation, when you put it back into your chest and wander on straight down the road? When you must willfully ignore dull aches that will fade, with no rhythm or rhyme or poetic nuance or even poetic simplicity possible? When I can't look right or left, but you do anyways....would you create something out of the event? Since it seems I can't, and instead must concentrate wholly as possible in putting one foot in front of the other, what do you do now? Where is your singing and poetry now? "Keep on keeping on" is an end to poetry, not a beginning, eh? Or is it? Is this my fault, or yours? Answer me now, when Beauty does walk a razor's edge, yet I don't have the luxury to let myself wander off the path and you do, in willful decay and stagnation. I may end up in the same place, with none of your kind of talent, but will this matter then? Let me know when you get the chance. In the meantime, I'll walk slowly, without rhythm and rhyme, or song and melody. I'd stop and listen. To stop and listen...not my errand? Let me know when you get the chance to compose this song. Would that we could compose this song. Then I could watch the women in vacant lots without wiping my hand across my mouth? Then I could still be on the road? Where am I now, oh wise one? Continue on, as I will. I hope we meet in the same place, but in times like these I don't count on it. I try to whistle as I walk and fail. And I hope that Plato was exaggerating.

4) Whatever Else Happens (see "Coming Soon," below) Skip post for non-rambling...I am going to ramble...

2004-03-22T01:00:00.000-08:00

At 25. You can rent cars at normal prices. It makes sense, kind of. Insurance goes down, because a majority of people are more mature at a quarter century. hmmmmmm. Hey, I'm not complaining. Its a nice, neat number. Sounds significant, et cetera. I used to say, years ago (and now when I say years ago, it actually is YEARS ago) that I didn't want to get married young. I'd try to think fast of an age that sounded far enough away to be practically forever, but not absurdly old. I would always blurt out that I didn't want to get married until...twenty...twenty--five. I still think along the same lines, except I feel a little more immature now...although now... Now....I would never make such a definitive statement on such contingent matters, whether I felt at the moment like falling deep into love and having enough kids to field my own football team, lieing shallow into lust, flying up to the priesthood, cruising even at bachelor speed, or just going 120 miles an hour down the 5 with three percent of my blood consisting of 6-dollar-a-pop wellGin in a 50,000 dollar convertible. Yeah, yeah, laugh and scoff here..."Never affirm, always deny"....and then there is that last part..."always distinguish." Well, I can do that a bit. That's probably one of the few "strengths" on my young resume. Shall we dare distinguish while drinking Gin and Tonics? Lets. At 25... Aristotle said, in his classic old colorless and cold and so damn when-I-read-it-I-don't-want-it-to-be-true-because-it-is-so-true way: If then, there is some end to the things we do, which we desire for its own sake (everything else being desired for the sake of this), and if we do not choose everything for the sake of something else (for at that rate the process would go on to infinity, so that our desire would be in vain), clearly this must be the good and the chief good. Will not the knowledge of it, then, have a great influence on life? Shall we not, like archers who have a mark to aim at, be more likely to hit upon what is right? To paraphrase: Since it sure as hell seems like we do things for reasons, there most be some ultimate one we are trying to achieve. And since it also sure as hell seems that we do some things for their own sake, (if this is not the case everything is pointless/doesn't make sense/there is no reason to live), there most be some ultimate one. So lets try to hit this one, even if we're not going to really hit it at all. At least we tried, and we might get lucky and hit close. Thats the real trick...because you ain't ever going to hit that bulls-eye. At first, you don't get that old Aristotle isn't being "dogmatic" and expecting more out of men than he can get. The example is maddeningly poignant to the topic at hand. The important thing is where you aim here, not whether you hit that bulls-eye. Don't think about that red spot too much. Just aim for it, and concentrate on all the things you have to do to hit it. If you think about IT itself to much, you will be worse off than if you just randomly shot into the air. Not only will you miss, but you will be really pissed off about it. And keep trying the same random way, thus snowballing your failure into a big ball of mixed-metaphor rage. So lets distinguish in order to try to hit that bulls-eye. Our lives are in between heaven and hell. Our earthly lives seem to be the same way. The beginning full of wild-eyed anticipation and deliciously exciting experience. The middle plodding and trudging on. At the end we sit back and hopefully are, in a qualified way, more or less satisfied with what we've done, kicking back and trying to help others with a knowing gleam in our eye. (Of course, in old age there is also the next life to think about, so the end is also a beginning, as always...everything is full of beginning, middle and ends, obviously....my point here is that the middle/in between part always...sucks...in some way). Well, my "middle" now is this. I am in between the fast moving groove of what I am going to do with most of my life and belligerent youth. I am in between a bunch of married people and a bunch single people....some of whom are where I am at, most of whom are younger and not quite (but almost) to the exact middle of 25. I am old enough not to give a shit about revealing what I feel, but young enough to feel a lot of stupid things. I know that most of what you "reveal" is usually what everyone feels (so don't get all high and mighty or existentially romantic about it--alone in my Ivory Tower, pacing the floor with my huge brain sort of thing), and don't be too proud to just say it. If others pretend to have so much more to say and feel and know, let them. 99 times out of a hundred, they don't, although for a time they may look pretty cool. You can't get down on yourself if what you feel is stupid. As women usually realize better then men, we are all just human beings. In turn, this fact can't be used as an excuse for being an ass. On the other hand, don't reveal it all the time, because people are asses (including you) and will trample all over whatever you show them, pretending that they are above it. Assume this is going to happen, count the cost, and if you are fine with it anyway, proceed. Marriage--easy to get down on at this young age: So-and-so doesn't do the same things, I won't be able to do the same things, live the intellectual life, live the debaucherous life, etc., etc. ...Trust me on this one. I am good at being a bachelor, and this is one area in which I have heard it all. I have sat through more drunk and otherwise emotional single guys talking about their problems and related issues on this one to last me a lifetime and more. I have watched myself speak in the same situations. In the end, the stuff against marriage that isn't bullshit amounts to realizing a vocation for what it is. I think one should probably be aware of this before one decides on any vocation. But then, who the hell really sits down and "decides" on a vocation...you decide along with all the rest of you that is not your reason, and things just happen. So its fine to blow off steam and complain and bitch and moan, but in the end realize it for what it is. And shut up. This takes either time and maturity or finding a woman (Which often happens to guys who complain the most...when they find a girl you won't see them long enough to even be able to ask what happened to all the anti-woman bravado). The other thing that brings reality is just not going out with a girl for a nice long while....although this will tilt the emotion scales a tad toward bitterness...ahem... On the other hand, there are the guys who make an idol of the thing, or say that the "hardcore" bachelors are bitter. They are usually immature, or woefully lonely. In the same camp are the guys who always have a girl. They usually don't understand the conversation at all, or just bring everything back to sex like a broken record. No patience for anyone in this camp, but I try. The other side of this is just actually being single. I know a lot about this. Smoke filled rooms and drunken hazes and wild parties and near death experiences and fast moving images and fast cars and gambling and waking up alone in the afternoon with a hangover and smoking a cigarrette while hacking your lungs out. And being angry because the rest of the world doesn't want and isn't serving breakfast. And all manner of other absurd cliches. Any one at my stage knows this isn't all its cracked up to be. Some try to cling to some romantic cool image (a few are even successful at this, and use it to great advantage, at least when it comes to getting a piece). I did that a lot in my early past with a certain amount of sucess, but after a while, if you are even a tiny bit honest, it just gets old. Wow, you can quote poetry after an absurd amount of alcohol underneath the stars and have a semi-rational conversation about philosophy for the sake of the impressing a girl...yawn...now its just--thats great bro, I hope it gets you somewhere...I'm going to sit on the couch and turn up the Dylan. Other guys just get depressed a lot. I know that side too, but it ends up in delusional self-absorbtion. But most people I know, although they gravitate to extremes, are not in any delusion about it. One is in between--there is nothing one is really pining for. There are just times one is lonely and times one is not and times one is full of raging lust and times one is not and times when one is laughing and times when one is wondering what in the hell is going on. Right now, I am coming out of the "what in the hell is going on" stage, mostly because I have had a hell of a ride the last...25 years, to tell the truth. I've never lived in one place for more than 3 years, with the exception of college, when I traveled all over during the summers. Right now is a back to the grindstone time, whatever the hell the grindstone is...actually right now "the grindstone" is....AGAIN, writing a 15-20 page paper that I haven't even started that is due tomorrow at 4PM. AGAIN. It will come out alright. AGAIN. I'll get good grades in the end, and keep a job at a prestigious thinktank, and all the other good stuff that I know I'll be more motivated for as this mood passes in the coming weeks...and after its over kick myself a bit for not doing more. AGAIN. The honest married guys admit that its hard to have the same motivation when one is single. But of course, I always think, what kind of man are you if you need a woman and the ensuing kids to kick you into gear. Don't you want to do it yourself, and then go for the other stuff? What kind of weak souled puss are you? But then I see reality too... There is this so-called "girl" thing. Lets talk about it, shall we? In the past few years, besides things like climbing up walls to sneak into open-air-rooftop-clubs in Dallas, riding Greyhounds with strippers who just got of the Army and want to screw at the next stop, being a guest on a local Republican club public access show, losing my shirt in Nevada (twice in the last month alone), breaking down in the middle of B.F.E. Utah, hanging out with cokeheads in Greenwich Village on New Years, going to raves on Hollywood and Vine, being an extra in a short film, converting to Catholicism, hanging with intellectual elites, going to 8 billion marriages, having awkward, confusing almost relationships and parties with sophomore undergrads and shaving cream...INTER ALIA... Girls I've been interested in....before the last year, say... One is going into a cloistered convent and another is a crack-whore in New York City. And an Irish girl...that was 8 years ago...8 YEARS...sorry, but this is a shock to my young system...who is now in charge of a center for Autistic kids in Dublin. Thats enough for now. I think I like extremes. All of them are extremes. And here are some distinctions about women, from a 25 year old bachelor "legend" in anywhere but his own mind. I know one girl now who thinks she likes me but really doesn't. I know a girl from Brazil who via email is jokingly offering to be my psychologist for free. I know another one who thinks she knows me but doesn't, while I think I don't know her, but do. Its always this way. Its always a big bloody mess of distinctions. Not good or bad or cool or anything else...just life. Dont be too humble or too proud...too down or too up...too wistful or too non-chalant...don't ask too much or too little...yeahyeahyeah. You can't pretend to be something you are not, but if you go around revealingly naked all the time you are a sap and will get trounced. You can't get bitter and you can't be callous and you can't be sanguine. If you try to help anyone, or in general just try to hit that virtue bulls-eye, you will not do well enough for the good girls, and be another "nice-guy" to the "bad" ones. And no matter how much you question your motivations, you will never be able to quite figure out how pure they are, though its good to struggle with this. Its enough to make you want to be Clint Eastwood in...any of his movies, but now I am thinking of the "The Outlaw Josie Wales." Quiet, alone, with nice small situations to look out for the common good in. But thats the attraction of the Western. Its never that simple. And even if you had those fantasy situations, they would, in fact be full of the same clouds. Plod on and take the confusions. Have a drink and blog or whatever. People will think you are mad when you are not, and not-mad when you are. They will think you hate when you love, and love when you hate. They will get mad when you are not what you told them you are not. And on and on and on. You will do the same thing. No one knows anyone--not that well. But this cannot be cause for bullshit depression. Do you have any idea what I am talking about? They will think you are smart, and then know you and think you are dumb for all the wrong reasons. They will overrate you and then go to the other extreme. They will underrate you and then go to the other extreme. You see, if you actually play the asshole, you will eventually be called on it. If you don't, you will still get...nevermind. I like to listen to more laidback music these days. The raging thumos is still there, waiting to be let out in unchanneled belligerence, but the belligerence is more focused now. When it does come out, things can get scary, and I can be last man standing and outlast "the kids". But I don't need loud, obnoxious drum and chest beating anymore...the Velvet Underground is pleasant, but I have to ignore their nihilistic, depraved lyrics...which are still attractive like the sirens, but like Odyseuss I am tied down enough to make it through. They were playing, and now Paul Simon is singing his urban Jewish folk tunes. Its fine with me. Slip-Sliding Away, for instance. Good tune, decent song, etc. But you can't get too into its emotion and drift. On the other hand, don't be too proud to change the station if you feel like hearing it. Right now, I say, let it play. "A bad day's when I lie in bed and think of things that might have been... God only knows God makes his plans The information's unavailable to the mortal man..." Fair enough. But I got a paper to write tonight. You know that poem by Robert Frost (its been abused in commercials and countless college commencement speeches), The Road Less Traveled? Cheesy and cliche, right? Read it again. His point is the opposite of what THEY say. His point is that both roads were really pretty similiar, although he was trying to figure out which one was less traveled, they were about equal. He would have liked to explore them all, to see all of that fresh smelling and dense northeast forest he was exploring. But at a certain point he had to choose, and for a second he thought that one was less traveled. So he took that one, even though they were both similar. And he realizes that, regardless, when he is old, he will say that he took the one less traveled and it made all the difference. Whether it was good or bad is up in the air--will he say this with regret or satisfaction? I know the feeling, I think. Always willing to drive around the next bend, and look over the next mountain, in the hope there is some truth, goodness, or beauty to be gained...sometimes noble, sometimes prodigal son...able to drop everything in 5 minutes if the heat is coming around the corner...and in the end, it will make a difference, you just hope its the right one. The Passion shows visually something to think on in this context. No matter what their sin, they all (the apostles) left Christ. They all ran, no matter how grave their sin was--this didn't matter. The only question is whether they come back--like Peter--or not--like Judas. The only question is whether WE come back or not. We've all left. And in the meantime, on this middle road we walk, less traveled or not, its not a bad idea to distinguish. And its also not a bad idea to write cathartic blogs and have a few G&Ts, regardless of their incoherency. Keeps one from thinking in extremes, and avoid self-absorbed bitterness and sorrow. And come on now, we all are tempted toward that sometimes. So its time to clear all the shite off my "desk," including the plastic bowl a tenth full of a Ramen concoction thats been sitting here for three days. And write a book 15-20 page glorified book review on Religion and the Courts in America. And wonder why I just blogged this much in one take, and marvel at its beautiful incoherency, and marvel at you, dear reader, if you've read this far. (wry laugh) (sip of G&T) Back to it.

Coming Soon...

2004-03-21T15:23:00.000-08:00

Copying Endless Approach here. The "real" world has kept me busy, so here is a list of upcoming blogs: 1) The Reichstag Is Burning! -rundown of current absurdity at the Claremont Colleges 2) Vegas Trip Story - two or three more installments and its over 3) Lips That Would Kiss - Epilogue 4) Whatever else happens...

What do you call a man who got HIV from his girlfriend?

2004-03-19T07:33:00.000-08:00

...a liar. From the Drudge Report today in a link to this article. If one simply reveals statistics/truth these days, beware. Read how those who didn't tow the party line on AIDS were persecuted, although they are now proven to be right. Some truths are more equal than others, I guess...

A nice, short distinction

2004-03-18T16:11:00.000-08:00

By Bill Bennett on free speech issues (recent Howard Stern episode, etc.).

Blog Power

2004-03-12T05:09:00.000-08:00

Check out Hugh Hewitt promoting Military blogs. I recall that the Sunday LA Times just commented on the rise of blogs for classical musicians. (Online article is pay--and who is going to give money to the LA-LA Times for their Calendar section!?!)

Angelina Jolie and Sex

2004-03-11T01:14:00.000-08:00

Got your attention? Ms. Jolie is a mother. I wish her son well. Especially in light of this: According to the fiercely frank Angelina, she's "realistic" about the odds of ever finding the "perfect man," who must also be a devoted dad to her 2-year-old son Maddox, so right now she's determined to keep her love life "very, very separate" from her home life. "As crazy as that sounds, meeting a man in a hotel room for a few hours and then going back and putting my son to bed and not seeing that man again for a few months is about what I can handle now," the twice-divorced star tells the paper. "I can feel like a woman and get close to a man but it's not a relationship that interferes with my family." Ummmm...righhhhht. These relationships do not interfere with her FAMILY?!?!?! Many levels, dudes and dudettes, lots of ins and outs here...and several what-have-yous... But not to worry--she "takes pains to add, "I've never had a one-night stand in my life -- these are people that I know very well."

Passionate Hypocrisy

2004-03-09T19:52:00.000-08:00

To those who haven't seen The Passion, I urge you to do so. To those who have seen it once, I urge you to do so again. The first time I saw it, and I believe others may have had the same experience, I had thought and read so much about it that the cold, analytic side of my mind was on the whole time. It was still a moving experience, but because of all the asinine objections circulating in the media, my mind was not open to simply watch. A word of advice--go and simply watch...and ponder. Meanwhile, of course, the arrogant denizens of the public press, the academy, and the arts are still wringing their hands and hissing about it. They are once again revealed to be completely irrelevant and hopelessly out of touch with the majority of the nation. It looks as if this film is going to make megadollars, and the season of Lent isn't even over. (Think about what Easter weekend will do!) Most reviews have been childish. I find it hard to see how anyone could come out of the film thinking anti-Semitic thoughts--especially if no one had ever brought the issue up to begin with. It is not worth talking about. The biggest supporters of Israel in this nation (evangelical protestants) are the biggest supporters of the movie, and the movie is full of Jewish heroes, including the main character, who is presented as the Son of God. As for the violence--much could be said, but simply ask yourself the last time the media, the academy, and the artistic elites were concerned with violence in a film. The hypocrisy of the oh-so "shocked, shocked" media and their shallow worrying over the film is unbelievable. There are too many examples to give. We all know that if the movie contained something that Christians consider blasphemous...like say...Jesus having a dream about having sex with Mary Magdelene, like Scorcese's acclaimed bomb, "The Last Temptation of Christ," they would have been all over it. But no...all of a sudden "controversial," "cutting-edge," "disturbing," "ground-breaking," and other words describe bad movies instead of must-sees. All of a sudden deep themes that confront serious questions of human life and dialogue about such themes are inherently divisive and awkwardly evil. And the director's father is a jerk. The flat-out ignorance of the press in regards to religion, in addition to their hatred of it, is astounding. Finally, a story that I haven't seen in the major news media yet (Just on imdb and "South India's leading news site"). I wonder why. This movie was supposed to be dangerous because it would cause people to hate Jews and possibly do violence to them. Maybe the real danger is that it angers intellectuals and liberals to the point where they start spitting invective over the public airwaves and into the newspapers. And threaten actors. Tsk, tsk...intolerance, discrimination, and violence. Calm down guys. How much money has it made again?

More Important Political Academic Events

2004-03-09T19:22:00.000-08:00

I can't wait to learn from this sort of important upcoming lecture..sort of thing the Academy pays for all the time (part of why college costs so much, really): The EU Center of California cordially invites you to attend a talk by ------ --------, Visiting Professor, on Turkish Pop and Hip Hop: German-Turkish Youth in Berlin This event is part of the EU Center's Spring 2004 Speaker Program. All EU Center events are free and open to the public.

Damaged Argument Control

2004-03-08T17:59:00.000-08:00

The specious, tired old argument used by the lovers of "comprehensive" sex education (a similar argument pops up now and again as regards drug use) infuriates me. We all know it by heart--since we cannot prevent something, we must do damage control--"they are going to do it anyway, so make sure they know about condoms and the pill." Hmmmm. We know that many young people, at some point, are going to drink and drive. There is, ultimately, nothing we can do about this. So why don't we just tell them to drive safer cars (Volvos, etc.), make sure they always wear their seatbelts, increase funding for driving lessons so they will all be better drivers to begin with, build safer roads, etc. They are going to do all manner of drugs, right? So let us provide them with government produced drugs (they will be safer) and provide them with safe places to do them. Since we know that a certain number of people are going to do acid ANYWAY, we could just sell it at safer doses than would generally be available and provide a neutral place to do it at, perhaps with a counselor/guide so as to minimize the chances of a bad trip. Let us also provide the youth with government sanctioned and tested pornography and prostitutes, and this way the government will be able to make sure that everyone is safe when they have sex. We know also that some young men are going to rape girls, and there is nothing that we can do. We will tell them not to, but we ought to instruct them to use birth control IF they ever decide to do this. Some people will become angry and kill people. This is not preventable, so while we ought to tell them that we don't think killing anyone is good, and provide them with alternative means of anger management, we must also tell them that IF they do kill someone, they ought to use a quick and humane method. (Perhaps a trip to the shooting range ought to be mandatory in high school.) Some people also say and think words and thoughts that discriminate on the basis of the pigment in people's skin. Since we know we can NEVER really get rid of racism, we ought to teach them that while we disapprove of racism, IF they are going to be racist anyway, they ought to be quiet about it, as this will lessen the chance of possible violence. IF they have to say some racist remark, they ought to direct it at whatever race will be least offended. Perhaps a class that gives all the students "knowledge" of the many different racial slurs would be good here. After this class, they could make their own "choices." This is, of course, absurd. The argument is that of a rebellious child or someone who lacks the thumos to deal with a rebellious child. Excuse me, but could we all all grow up? Could we act as adults and actually take authority over the young, who do not know what is good for themselves, and ought not be cruelly left in the lurch to make choices they cannot handle--choices that will seriously mar their souls if they go the wrong way? Could we just flat out say what is more uncomfortably obvious than we would like to admit? Nancy Reagan's "Just Say No" program WORKED. One of the greatest untold public policy victories was the reduction in drug use over the course of the 80s. When permissive or ambivalent textbooks were used during the seventies, drug use skyrocketed to record peaks. Think about it. Regardless of what rebellious sixteen year olds may SAY, giving solid guidance to young kids is necessary and good for all concerned. It is an obvious but overlooked fact that crime goes down when we actually put people in jail. Curiously, young people act better when they are told firmly that certain things are bad. Reasons must be given to them, and the lessons must be tailored to various ages and needs, but common sense is common sense. A "class" on sex is absurd. This is the most fundamental and deep-rooted biological desire. We all can figure it out pretty easy. You see, its actually a natural thing. Go figure. The idea that in prior times and ages people didn't know as much as we enlightened, scientific scions of modernity is a laughably arrogant and misguided one. Those in the past, be they "repressed" Victorians or "superstitious" medievals or any other of the usual stereotypes, must have figured something out. We all got here somehow, didn't we? And did they have as much of all the problems related to sex that we do now? It is more uncomfortably and obviously true than we would all like to admit--young kids having sex is not a good thing for them or anyone else. In fact, statistics and experience and all manner of social ills tell us over and over again that sex out of the context of marriage in general does not lead to anything good for those involved or society at large. The rising numbers of divorce, sexual abuse, etc., must be caused by something...why are we so scared to ask what these causes are? And finally, why are we so scared to tell young people they shouldn't be having sex? Why do we seriously entertain the sophomoric arguments of rebellion? In the end, it doesn' matter what they say. Many of them will no doubt react with the false airs of sure confidence that only the young can have. Many will no doubt think and speak as if they were wiser than Solomon. Many will act as though we are oppressing some fundamental right. But they are kids--without enough cool-headedness and experience of life , or, (even worse) with bad, marred experience--that do not know or see clearly what is good and true and beautiful in this case, and out of love and mercy we ought to firmly tell them the truth, replete with causes. What is so hard about this? Are we afraid its just not "cool" to say it? Give me a break. Why the hell can't we all just grow up?

Sexual "Education"

2004-03-08T16:03:00.000-08:00

The debate rages on. Planned Parenthood is angry at Bush's budget. His administration has the audacity to raise funding for sex-ed programs based on the notion of abstinence. Such programs tell teen-age kids not to have sex until marriage. They usually refrain from any sort of religious injunction and just give natural and practical reasons as to why abstinence is a good idea. A Planned Parenthood spokesman says that this is "not what the public wants." This is false--parents, at any rate, overwhelming want something akin to abstinence education. Planned Parenthood also hisses that "not one of these programs has been proved effective." This is a LIE. As his organization has received millions over the years from the federal government (our tax dollars), I wonder if he and his ilk could explain how the teaching methods they espouse have been proven "effective." Sex education has been widespread since the early seventies (late sixties, even?) , and virtually all of it is written by those on Planned Parenthood's side. Doesn't seem like its done too well. Just like the National Education Association, Planned Parenthood has the gall to criticize "unproven" alternative modes of action while defending years of colossal and absolute failure. Of course, "Safe-sex educators contend that abstinence-only programs drag schools and community outreach programs back to the dark ages by covering up frank sex talk with an unrealistic drumbeat about 'waiting for marriage.' " Funny. Back in the dark ages...like, a whole thirty years ago, when we didn't feel the need for the public dollar to make 13-year-olds put condoms on bananas, things seemed to be a lot better as far as STDs, unwed mothers, divorce, etc. were concerned. But we also had the fortitude to teach kids determinate, actual moral principles back then instead of being a bunch of whiny, handwringers who desperately want to "understand" and "be understood" by rebellious and emotional kids. We used to think that young kids didn't have the authority or maturity to judge or break the moral law on a juvenile whim. The state didn't feel the need to be the almighty arbiter of sexual morality, and parents acted like...parents. There was no such thing as "sex education" for most of the history of the human race, including almost two hundred years of American history. And statistically here, things used to be alright (although they obviously never have been or will be perfect). We used to know that "science" cannot take the place of morality. The problem here has nothing to do with "knowledge." The problem concerns human action--what ought and what ought not to be done.

Prudence and the Abortion debate

2004-03-03T13:31:00.000-08:00

Over at Achilles Running, there have been some comments on the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, which recently passed the House. Although there might initially be cause for concern when one attempts to pass laws that go out of their way to protect abortion, I think prudence and a closer look at the bill resolves the problem. The key here is the passage that Achilleus quotes: "the term ‘unborn child’ means a child in utero, and the term ‘child in utero’ or ‘child, who is in utero’ means a member of the species homo sapiens, at any stage of development, who is carried in the womb.’’ The law must carve out exceptions for abortion in order to meet the political demands of the rabid pro-aborts and the imperial Supreme Court. But the whole point of the Act is not thwarted by this price of admission. Federal law, in yet another respect, will call the unborn a person regardless of its "state of development." This strikes at the heart of the pro-aborts argument. Of course, this sentence is contradicted by the legality of abortion. This contradiction is brought forth clearly in the Act, which not only works to enact justice for the murdered unborn, but also provides more ammo for the looming major assault on Roe V. Wade. It is suprising that this trojan horse got passed at all, but like the Born-Alive Infants Act which preceded it, the proposed law is difficult to argue against. This is so because it centers the debate where it should be--on the life of the child rather than the mother. Both bills carefully choose the ground they fight for. This is, granted, at the margins--botched abortion procedures and infants in the womb injured or killed by an assailant--but this is exactly where one should begin attacking after taking heavy losses. This sort of legislation attacks at the weak points and is spectacular strategy. Another name for the UVVA is "Laci and Connor's law." This name alone probably gains a hefty percentage of votes. The pro-life side, after many years of experience, is getting much better at politics. Remember, this is all out political warfare at the highest levels--every win counts. If you still don't believe this bill and others like it are helpful for the pro-life cause, read why NARAL says they are against it--they know what is at stake.

Now its not so "Living"

2004-03-03T05:02:00.000-08:00

George Neumayr makes a good point, revealing the contradictions of Kerry regarding garriage. Jonah Goldberg makes much the same case--as the garriage debate begins to revolve around the Constitution, it is amusing to catch members of the left talking about state's rights and considering the Constitution a "sacred document." Now we must be cautious and hold to the recent "tradition" of the imperial courts. Next thing you know they might be talking about self-evident truths and whatnot. All of a sudden the Constitution ought not be changed and tradition and natural rights are good. The whole issue brings us all to the heart of what the natural law, the family, and the political order mean. Let the debate begin in earnest, but keep watch for such contradiction-embracing flip-flops. Specious arguments like these will gain more prominence as time goes on, crying out for vengeance. The left refutes themselves these days well before anyone else gets a chance to. Let them do this and then point it out. Saves us all time and trouble.

I went to Las Vegas and all I got was this lousy blog-3

2004-03-03T01:38:00.000-08:00

As might be expected of a structure that cost a billion dollars, Ceasar's Palace is a large building. I made various pitstops as I headed vaguely towards what my instinct told me could be the Front Entrance. Not a lot of prominent exit signs in casinos. I decided to gamble a bit more until I decided what ought to be done. Vegas couldn't have asked for a better patron. Money and chips flew in all directions. I was up big, I was down, I was up, I was down big. The place was packed, and everyone was milling and moving about at breakneck speeds. Things were moving too fast. I had to slow down. I needed to stop gambling. I needed sleep, sobriety, and to be out of Vegas, but this was out of the question. Couldn't be too careful...Vegas wanted me to stay sucked in, to stare like the proverbial deer into its lights and walk like a zombie into the abyss. I had to get a hold of someone, do something else, turn my gaze away from the black hole that beckoned with glittering power. I had come here this time to peer into it, to see the soul of Vegas, and now I had changed my mind, clawing for some hold as I was mercilessly dragged towards it. I needed to make a phonecall. I didn't have the number. I feverishly called directory assistance for numbers that could lead to numbers that could lead to...but they couldn't help me out. Got to get it together, must conquer the surroundings, KILL THE BEAR, command and control....can't stop now...but stop thinking so much...we are here for recreation...wreck-reaction...dreck-creation...retch-irraction.. Then I remembered the blog—ahh, like a salvific light it beckoned to my weary mind. This would slow things down. I could find a computer, and blog my way out. Somehow this would redeem the time and heal the aching wounds. Something in the front of my brain started to say something about "nerd" and "dork," but I easily ignored this quiet inner voice as it was was quickly drowned out by the mixture of alcohol and the pleasant whirls and soft ding-dings of the slot machines. All other ends were put aside. I would find a computer in the midst of all these swirling colors that I could blog on. All my failing strength, reeking of and weakened by countless Gin and Tonics, brandnew Trailblazer plastic, and innumerable Camel Filters would be channeled into this quest. I locked down all other thoughts and desires and set about the task at hand with the determination of a Navy Seal. The problem was finding a computer. I asked several people, purposefully chosen to represent a random slice of society in order to get the best possible advice. I walked forever down paths with fake sky roofs and overpriced shops, full of humans, shuffling and jostling and smiling and walking and strolling and laughing. It was a maze. There was no way out. I was working against the best minds that money could buy, all of whom had crafted every detail of the place to keep me from getting out, to force me to drink and spend money. Those who create this city of man leave NOTHING to chance. What with two harsh hours of shutting my eyes in the last 36 hours of gambling, driving, and drinking to extremes, I was not playing against them on a full deck...had to be careful...careful...keep moving...do not look to the left or right...beautiful women, laughing at the money fluttering in the air on this St. Valentines day, much of it spent on them. Airs and bravado and pathetic posturing from the guys...why were we all here? What were we all doing? How was this fun? The prison of materialism that is the casino was stripping everyone of their money and dignity, providing only a place to posture and attempt impossible and vain feats. Reason and causes cannot be forced upon chance. And they were smiling about it? A couple would be better off going to a public park together for free than riding the lightening here. This sort of thing cannot be done in common. Gambling, and the sort of drinking Las Vegas generally provides, is something that tends towards flying solo. This is not good for the individual doing it, but is probably part of the attraction, and certainly the groove, the gutter down into which the whole thing flows. So many girls...walking around, obviously pretending to be interested in the absurd games of chance their guy was absorbed with...what the hell was going on? And then there were those women who clearly liked the whole thing...they were easily set apart. We had seen two of them, awash with self-satisfied wearyness—tired, tight, and tattooed skin without any glow--earlier that morning. They stepped awkwardly over a thick and fuzzy red rope hung by brass poles that was blocking the way down into the “After Hours Party-Reserved” hall they were coming out of at 9:00AM. It looked as if whoever they were with had only used them as much as they had used him. Vampiresses, folding their wings and heading back to their dark quarters...And everywhere: wealthy, ugly (usually obese) men with young, beautiful women. There was nowhere one could look--not even in the snapshots stored in the mind's eye--where pairs so wildly inappropriate they parodied themselves more than any black and white caricature or political cartoon could were not somewhere in the background. Girl: “Its not really true that guys just want good looks and sex, is it?” Well, no, that is cartoonish...but.... Guy: “Its not really true that girls just want someone with power and money, is it?” Well, no, that is cartoonish....but... Vegas is not a place for those who err towards cynicism. After an extremely long journey to what seemed to be the end of a mile long pathway of false stone and sky, uniformed men and women (I believe they were affiliated with an overpriced restaurant) told me the "internet cafe" was closed. A pretend “cafe” down a pretend “street” under a pretend “sky” in a ghostly city of fantastic mirages...closed. BlackJack to the dealer. I was prepared for this--I knew they would have a laugh if it was closed, as I would have to find my way back through the labyrinth again, through the plastic people and shops, so I had already foreseen I would lose this first hand. Too easy.

Ivy Walls--The Tolerant and Diverse

2004-02-27T09:09:00.000-08:00

Hadley Arkes is always worth reading. This short piece on Scalia and the Ivy leaguers is no exception. As always, the truth is a powerful thing.

Link of the Day

2004-02-25T21:53:00.000-08:00

Aristotle t-shirts? This guy is good.

Just when you'd thought the Mass. Supreme Court had gone too far...

2004-02-24T20:53:00.000-08:00

They go and do this.

From the NEA's upcoming conference:

2004-02-24T19:40:00.000-08:00

NEA Higher Education Conference As public financial support for higher education dwindles and campus administrations look to find alternative sources of funding, faculty and staff are engaged in the struggle to define their work as an essential public good. Check out the cover of the schedule for this conference, which is entitled, "Higher Education on Dangerous Ground: Defending a Public Good." The picture shows a chasm opening in the earth, lit by what could only be flames from deep below. Observe where the NEA logo is on the page. Hmmmm. The essential public good that is their "work".... I suppose this must include such knowledge events like those I mention below impart? Just a brief, random sampling of email this week from my higher education institution and its surrounding affiliates:

I'm glad to pay 25,000 a year to learn and be oh-so-smart:

2004-02-24T19:37:00.000-08:00

Asian American Studies 197 and the gender and sexuality committee at the AARC proudly present: Speaker: Ryka Aoki Race and Gender/ Race as Gender The speaker will address parallels between being marginalized as a person of color and being marginalized as transgender. FMI: contact Asian American Resource Center x18639

The study of the mind, brain, and medicine:

2004-02-24T19:33:00.000-08:00

Healer-Physician Collaborations in the Americas: The Indigenous Peoples' Experience Opening Mario G. Maldonado, M.D., M.Sc. Henry R. Luce Professor in Brain, Mind and Medicine: Cross-Cultural Perspectives Could Healers and Doctors work Together to Heal American Indian Historical trauma? Native American Research Center, Oregon Using Traditional Healing Ceremonies to Help Native American Prison Inmates in Oregon Tyler Barlowe, M.S., Spiritual Advisor Klamath Tribal Health & Family Services Behavioral Health Clinic Oregon Department of Corrections Are American Indian Patients Using Both Traditional Healers and Physicians? Jeffrey Henderson, M.D., M.P.H. Black Hills Center for American Indian Health The Yachactaita (Inca Healers) Contribution to Mental Health in the Andes Mario G. Maldonado, M.D., M.Sc. Runajambi-Institute for the Study of Quichua Culture and Health

Theology, the study of Race and diversity:

2004-02-24T19:16:00.000-08:00

Dear Students and Faculty: You are cordially invited to attend an interfaith roundtable discussion: "Many Faiths, Many Faces: The Future of Religious and Racial Diversity in Southern California." The roundtable is sponsored by ---------------- Graduate University and The -------- School of Theology. A wine, beer and hors-d'oeuvres reception will follow the Roundtable. Featured Speakers: -- Mark Paredes, Consultant to the Latter-Day Saints Public Affairs Office -- Bonnie Boswell, Buddhist Spokesperson -- Dr. Maher Hathout, Islamic Center of Southern California -- Father Michael Kennedy, Dolores Mission, Boyle Heights, California -- Prof. Shampa Mazumdar, UC-Irvine, Author, "Of Gods & Homes: Sacred Space in the Hindu House" -- Amanda Susskind, Regional Director, Anti-Defamation League The roundtable, which will be moderated by Professor Phil Zuckerman of Pitzer College's Department of Sociology, is part of CGU's 2004 Thornton F. Bradshaw Seminar, "The Most Segregated Hour: Race and Religion in the American West"

College, where all the smart people are...

2004-02-24T19:01:00.000-08:00

The Asian American Student Union at Scripps College and ASAM 197: Queering Asian America proudly present... Alison Delacruz and D’Lo "Naturally Graceful" and “Basic Human Politics” D'Lo is a Sri Lankan-American performance artist based outta LA. She'll be performing excerpts from her show "Basic Human Politics", her current work-in-progress 1-person-show consisting of spoken word and monologues. Alison M. De La Cruz is a poet, performer, producer, cultural activist, ate (older sister). Alison successfully toured her one-woman show "Sungka" throughout the country and will be sharing excerpts from her new solo show "Naturally Graceful." Exploring the questions: Can a girl find true love at Chuck E. Cheese? Can Flipper Moonwalk? Have you ever seen an Auntie Float?

Suburban front yard at night-Thanks

2004-02-24T01:28:00.000-08:00

I am glad of the pine trees. Solemn sentinels, neither listening to nor ignoring the ceaseless rush of traffic's din and their dead cousins that make up the drab houses. Just growing, slowly without sound. I smoke a cigarette and look at them against the clouds in the dull, dirty-yellow suburban light. And smile quickly at the scene- Thanks.

I went to Las Vegas and all I got was this lousy blog-2

2004-02-24T00:39:00.000-08:00

[Cue The Star Wars Cantina music, then Billy Joel's Piano Man, and finish with Stevie Ray Vaughn's Little Wing] We drifted a while down the strip, amidst three-day-weekend and St. Valentine's day tourists. A truly democratic place, Vegas. All are there...rich and poor, some pretending to be each other...but mostly all kinds pretending to be absurdly wealthy and/or to be wise as concerns the chance games that fund the billion dollar buildings. And us. We found a nice bar-at-the-end-of-the-universe off the strip thanks to Old Fashioned. Two fitty for a heineken and a decent hot dog...and then we discovered the dollar fitty mixed drinks. This was, as some would say at academic conferences, a "point of departure." This was the sort of challenge our hearty triumvirate would all too willingly accept. We stayed at this bar for glorious hours of G&Ts and V&Ts, respectively. The drinking was truly an "endless approach." Just when we vowed and made blood-brother pacts to leave, someone would mysteriously disappear or we would realize that we were only half done when the third guy was finished. The third guy would then get another ("I'll drink it fast dude") and this would start the process over again. We were at an alcoholic Costco, and free samples were on every corner. The crowd we sat with was small and strange, but not surprising considering its location. We were in a city of lights and bread and circuses in the midst of a large desert. We were just off the center of Sin City. And so was the rest of the small bar. It was quiet and oddly enough a peaceful, small, cozy area protected by some kind of slipstream. We kept drinking. Endless talked to some locals. We kept drinking. I won money. We kept drinking. I lost money. We kept drinking. Old Fashioned lost less money. We kept drinking. Endless lost borrowed money. We kept drinking. We talked about leaving. We kept drinking. I started to feel a disturbance in the force at this point. A lacking, nagging, dull pain in the soul began to rise. I steeled my will and decided that sleep would cure my ills, although I tried to write something on a napkin first (for various reasons, this failed miserably). At this point we all walked back to our hotel room on the third floor of the parking garage at Ceasar's Palace again. I decided to stay in my spacious accomodations in the front seat while they took off to Circus Circus for a "literary tour." I don't know if they ever gained the insight they wished into Fear and Loathing. It would be a long time before we saw each other again. They walked away, and I tossed and turned on my driver seat of a bed in room TrailBlazer. I tried music. This made things worse. I thought for a long time, trying to dig and pry down into these depths and discover their roots. I failed, but made up my mind I had to communicate to other human beings. Perhaps even one other human being. This, and a vow to cease ingesting alcholic beverages in the immediate future were my two guiding principles. So I stumbled out of a Chevy TrailBlazer on a Saturday night in the parking garage of a large Vegas Casino and walked into it, all the while fighting repeated and deadly lacks of sleep and surpluses of alchohol, with no real idea where I was going or what, exactly, I was going to do.

Theology--The study of theories of theories of theories of theories of theories...

2004-02-23T23:37:00.000-08:00

From an upcoming conference entitled, "Theorizing Scriptures:" "For the sake of excavating traditionally sublimated always complex often painful and power-ful aspects of the construction of the social and of the self—especially the over-determined subaltern self—what is urgently needed in critical interpretation, especially interpretation of phenomena deemed "sacred," is a new orientation. This new orientation—and its new facilitating research vehicle—is here named "Signifying Scriptures." "The Institute for Signifying Scriptures is a research institute that facilitates collaborative, trans-disciplinary and comparative research and programs on religion, placing a particular focus on the phenomenon of scripturalizing. The Institute’s focus on the “performed scriptures” offers an alternative to the traditional text-focused academic study of religion. It is also the first of its kind to base general critical theorizing about religion explicitly on the basis of the experiences of the historically enslaved and colonized peoples of the world. Because their socio-cultural positions have dictated creative appropriations of sacred texts, i.e. a form of signifying scriptures, the practices of African Americans and other enslaved and colonized peoples suggest that interpretive meaning is less about the codified text, and more about the encoded meanings in cultural behaviors." As this all makes me want to use foul language rather than witty rhetoric or syllogistic reasoning, I will merely provide you, dear reader, with a link in case you are interested.

I went to Las Vegas and all I got was this lousy blog-1

2004-02-20T01:18:00.000-08:00

[Cue Animal’s version of “The House of the Rising Sun”] Friday, February 13th, 2004 Around 5PM. The idea hits like lightening from the heavens, a thunderbolt to the soul, a telegram from the gods: GO TO VEGAS... NOW Do not pass go, and bring more than 200 dollars. Endless presents many well crafted logical arguments that deny the gods their fair portion. He directs these mostly at himself, which means that there is another side in an inner dialectic that is speaking loudly but not out loud. Time takes care of this, and syllogisms dissipate into adrenaline. We follow what the thunder says and the entrails confirm. Fate speaks further when we arrive at the airport to choose a mighty steed worthy of the venture. There are no luxury vehicles available. We must choose something else, something worthy. A Chevy Trailblazer (an essentally meaningless cross between a pick-up truck or van and a real SUV) is the only option that offers any consolation among the pathetic generic cars available. At least it has room for more travelers--converts to our newly revealed mission. After a pick-up in Pasadena, a drop-off in Ventura, and a stop at a bachelor party in Ojai, I sip a brilliant Martini at Seldom Sober's. We have exhausted the few possible options left for more companions. We have space for two to Vegas, but they must leave NOW, without warning, without packing anything. No one is up to this challenge. At this point all other thoughts, desires, and notions, fleeting or otherwise, have long been pushed out of my mind. No matter how hard they try to regain admittance, they are held outside. Feeling like a Santa Claus on Christmas morning with many presents mysteriously getting rejected by all the children, we must leave, we must leave NOW. They have rejected the fates, the message of the gods, they will be left in our dust. We must leave...NOW. So after a few stops, shots, and a hundred miles of driving, we are ready to go. Three timeworn travelers, one clear mission—GO TO VEGAS NOW. Cancel all appointments, rent a cheap SUV, and leave town. It all goes smoothly and our speed increases as we get nearer to this desert oasis, this geographical anomaly, this mirage of lights and mirrors that draws us ever nearer at faster and faster rates of desire. There are no “Swingers” moments in our vehicle. We know exactly what we are in for, well versed in the battle against sleep, our enemy from of old. We pull onto the strip at 4 in the morning. Sleep is for mortals, and Caesar’s Palace is as a good a place as any in the universe to have a few drinks. Talk of Theology, Eros, lust, life and that older, ugly gentleman with the two provocatively dressed women ensues. A cougar* winks at me, like out of a movie, but I decide not to mention it to anyone. We move on. They eat, I gamble. Winning, an unstoppable force, I race back to the table, deposit my winnings with the non-gamblers, and head back out to conquer the world again. Nothing stands in my way and I am invincible. It is St. Valentines day in Caesar’s Palace in Los Vegas, Nevada, and also, unbeknownst to me, it is breakfast time. Sleep and food eventually become necessary, even we must grudgingly nod to the body--and a Burger King in an "Irish" themed casino provides just enough to energy to plan out our sleep strategy. This takes a long time, as there are many what-have-yous to weigh and consider. After two amazingly uncomfortable cold hours in our hotel room, a rented Chevy Trail Blazer in the third floor of a parking garage of Caesar’s palace, it is pointless to close our eyes anymore. We walk out to meet the Strip, and a fine V.D.* afternoon greets us warmly. I have more hundreds than what I came with, and even given the past 18 or so hours, we still look and feel passable in Vegas. *cougar: a woman past her prime (35-45, roughly) who prowls the bars, shamelessly seeking younger men *V.D.: V.alentine's D.ay

Awake.

2004-02-19T04:33:00.000-08:00

I go to bed when they deliver the papers.

Lips that would Kiss-Conclusion

2004-02-19T02:13:00.000-08:00

Evil, the wise tell us (revealing what we can know with effort ourselves), is a privation. As we know that darkness is merely the absence of light, so we can ascertain that evil is an absence or lack once we strip away the thing that only appears good. Alcohol, which I am drinking now, feels pleasurable as the body absorbs it, but it does this through the annihilation of brain cells. A positive and actual thing, person, or action, in some manner, through too much or too little or whatever misuse, prevents what ought to be, and hinders and destroys what is. A disordered relationship of things to people, or people to people, creates emptiness, a disjointed gap in place of what should be a tight, right and fitting connection. Man is not perfect or complete, but he longs and aches and hurts to be. Even without sin (in fact, without sin this is felt in a deeper and clearer manner) he knows and desires what he lacks, what he can and should be, that for the sake of which he is, and he experiences this painful nothing from the deepest depths of his soul to the flightiest heights he can only gingerly attain. As long as he has not achieved, received, or possessed that which perfects him he is always in some state of flux, some kind of motion. He is therefore always in need of some kind of act, always hovering between act and potency, sometimes actually achieving this, but most times ceasing to move forward and falling back to formless potency through sin. When this urge, from its primal roots to its divine end, is ignored and denied, the core of what it is to be human is ripped out of the soul leaving nothing in its place. One has no direction to go, and wanders, tossing and turning without knowing why. One may try to fill up this hole with distraction or enslavement to various pleasures, either knowingly or unknowingly embracing self-destruction. One can only feebly fight against this, as one is ignorant of what is needful to know, not even able to explain the most basic of desires. One ceases to “try,” and as in this middle earth between heaven and hell “ours is only the trying,” this leaves the soul hollow, turning life into death. It is that striving, that seeking, even the very knowledge of that lack that evil prevents. Its shadow falls like an iron wall separating the idea in our feeble minds from what truly is. Motion, filled with potency, is stilled before what is only in part can become what it specifically and wholly aims to become. When hollow, even the relation between our reason and/or ideas and reality and /or action is severed. The completion of motions cannot be fulfilled. Between the idea And the reality Between the motion And the act Falls the Shadow The separation between the idea and reality is speculative error, falsity, deceit, or lies. Practically this means that there is disconnect between the thought and the acting out of it, the bringing to fruition of what should be. One moves towards, but never succeeds in achieving the end, the act, the positive good that slips through one’s grasp as one sinks back into hollowness and despair. Our intention and prayer are frustrated. One tries to pray, one strives to groan in humility for help from the Almighty, and it comes out halfheartedly and one gets distracted and forgets, never finishing or persevering. For Thine is the Kingdom And always, in the absence of the meaningful, the full, the rich and substantial, that which fills and perfects, there is this shadow-the absence of light, blocking and hindering and crushing and suffocating that which should be, that which is striving to blossom, create, respond and connect. Between the conception And the creation Between the emotion And the response Falls the Shadow And this gap and emptiness causes life to drag on pointlessly, as there is no ultimate end. There are not even real stops along the way. There is no way, no path, no direction. Life becomes a heavy burden. Life is very long And even physical pleasure is marred and cut from its fulfillment, and there is no movement and no creation—only an infinite, unbridgeable gap between what ought to be and the little that is. And one feels this is wrong, and it burns, and one tries to pray, tries to reach above and hold on while all that is solid slips from ones grasp. Between the desire And the spasm Between the potency And the existence Between the essence And the descent Falls the Shadow For Thine is the Kingdom For Thine is Life is For Thine is the And you descend into darkness, blinding oneself to what ought to be, losing even that vague desire for what you never really knew. The shadow falls when you allow what you have done or what has been done to you cause you to not only stumble but lie still. The shadow falls when you give up. The shadow is when you put all out of your mind and ingest the toxins. The shadow falls when one feels the soaring desire for completion stuffed into one’s inadequate soul that struggles without fruition and accomplishment—and then turn on the TV. The shadow falls when you say what you shouldn’t or fail to make that small effort to say what you should. The shadow falls when you look to what ought to be done and quietly turn away. The shadow falls when you let the waves of sin overtake you and move you wherever the eddy chances. The shadow falls when you become angry at those who would do you good and embrace those who seek to destroy you. The shadow is when you roll over only to turn off the alarm. The shadow falls when you seek to destroy yourself, and find perverse consolation in this pain. The shadow falls when you yell at her because dinner isn’t ready. The shadow falls when you push all that you know out of your mind, when you force what is true to flee and reject what you freely received. The shadow is when you decide not to write that essay and read the paper. The shadow is when you reject that hurtful, blinding light and return to what is comfortable in all its shallow, seductive and ultimately monstrous vain-glory. The shadow is what you feel when you gaze around the corner and see how hard the going is and sink back into the couch. The shadow is when you foresee the pain of humility and wrap yourself in easy loose-fitting pride. The shadow is when the colors are too bright and all you allow yourself to see is grey. The shadow is when you know better than all those other morons. The shadow is when you lie and tell people that the issue is not clear, but a complex difficulty. The shadow is when you say there are many perspectives. The shadow is when you make nice, neat, silly rationalizations and accept them. The shadow is the hollow apathy you allow to enslave you. And this shadow is only broken by the light of Christ. It is Christianity that tells the story of bleeding color, even unto God himself bleeding from torn flesh on the Cross in vibrant red drops mixed with sweat and mud. This light burns and rages, ravaging all that is corrupt, filling the empty and making actual what was ghostly potency. This light bridges the gap between potency and act, life and death, action and inaction. This light vomits out the lukewarm and lets yes be yes and no be no. All the fake pathos of modernity is revealed to be whiny, sniveling pride in the light of the truth. All the indecision and brittle fronts we put up are washed away by the life filled soul that shines through everything else. There is never, I think, as much distance as we are all want to think between those who truly succeed and those who fail and lay stagnant. No one is tempted beyond what he can bear, and it is always that little extra that is the difference between victory and defeat. That extra striving, that push, that acceptance of and looking beyond what is painful only because of the fall (the rejection of sin), is the difference between virtue and vice, good and bad, truth and falsity, beauty and ugliness, life and death. Life is full of sorrow—real sorrow that penetrates the soul but also elevates it. There is real suffering, the suffering the hollow men wish to avoid, but suffering that if embraced leads to life and joy. This is not the despair of the hollow men—indeed it is the opposite. This suffering is allowing oneself to be humble enough to know what ought to be known, and do what ought to be done, regardless of if it makes you look like a naïve idiot. This suffering is what leads to perfection and satisfaction, always giving you just enough to keep on keeping on. This suffering rejects those things you are not guilty of and do not have to be condemned for, instead seeking healing and virtue. This suffering seeks to suffer for those things that are worth living for. And life is the message of those who oppose the hollowness of modernity. Life, lived in all its vibrancy, with real sorrow and real joy, not manufactured by chemicals in the body or false pride in the soul. This allows for real love as well—not paltry likes and dislikes or mutual masturbatory pleasure or shared self-absorption. But real Love is in many ways to us a frightening, all powerful thing that cleanses through fire and drives us ever upward to perfection, to blessedness, to purity, to life itself. One of the central aims of the revolution is to defend, renew, and bring forth this life and in so doing beat back the bloodless death of hollow men. For this apathy is an end to joy, to virtue, to the good, to the true, to the beautiful, and to the soul. Nay, it is even the end of the world: This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends Not with a bang but a whimper The Revolution has had enough of whimpers.

Melodramatic Blog Thought of the month

2004-02-19T00:00:00.000-08:00

It's such a sad thing to see beauty decay It's sadder still, to feel your heart torn away

Suburban front yard at night again

2004-02-13T03:33:00.000-08:00

Still Nature, present in its silence, is solemn and awake when air stays quiet. The only sounds are those of man. Travelers on a highway, soft roars in two directions, crossing each other on paths we built. They fade and rise continously, within nature's pregnant calm. My throat, soot-filled with flem, coughs up echoes in the night. These structures house eternal souls sleeping for the sake of fleshly bodies. Man, enveloped in what he made, is further enveloped in what he received, present but at rest. A lonely dog barks to no one in particular. His owner sleeps at night. For there is much more to do and always much farther to go.

Lips that would Kiss-Body

2004-02-13T02:47:00.000-08:00

A brief warning—this is poetry, and there is no set meaning. One should just sit back and take it in. But this is a blog, and in response to a question I am also going to blab about it. As far as the two opening references go—read “The Heart of Darkness” (short story by Joseph Conrad) before you die. The other quote is explained in most books that contain the poem. Let’s just “common sense” the words as they stand. Let’s be as simple and obvious as we can, thus defying many commentators. We are the hollow men We are the stuffed men Leaning together Headpiece filled with straw. Alas! Our dried voices, when We whisper together Are quiet and meaningless As wind in dry grass Or rats' feet over broken glass In our dry cellar These men are “leaning together” and lament their state—“Alas!” They are also hollow. This especially pertains to their heads, where their brains ought to be. They are stuffed with mere straw, a placeholder that does not possess any good in itself. It is useful only to maintain the illusion that they are full. Dried voices, dry grass, and a dry cellar—their speech is quiet, meaningless, and dry. “Wind in dry grass” sounds random and without direction or substance. “Rat’s feet over broken glass” sounds the same, with an element of ugliness and delicate, nasty pain. Shape without form, shade without colour, Paralysed force, gesture without motion; Here is a brief commentary on these strange men. They have no defined shape or color. Their power to act is frozen. They cannot show, express or direct anything through motion. Those who have crossed With direct eyes, to death's other Kingdom Remember us -- if at all -- not as lost Violent souls, but only As the hollow men The stuffed men. Whoever they are in “death’s other kingdom,” they have “direct eyes.” Although they might not even remember these hollow men, they would remember them “not as lost, violent souls” but only as they have already described themselves in the first lines of the poem, with which the first part also ends. Eyes I dare not meet in dreams In death's dream kingdom These do not appear: There, the eyes are Sunlight on a broken column There, is a tree swinging And voices are In the wind's singing More distant and more solemn Than a fading star. Again, eyes very different and distant from those of the hollow men are present somewhere else, far away, and their description involves trees, wind, sun, voices, and motion. Let me be no nearer In death's dream kingdom Let me also wear Such deliberate disguises Rat's coat, crowskin, crossed staves In a field Behaving as the wind behaves No nearer -- Not that final meeting In the twilight kingdom The narrator, a hollow man, does not wish for that other place. He would rather blow randomly like the wind, or let it move him, while acting like a scarecrow filled with straw. He does not want some kind of final end, in some other place than where he is. Where is he? This is the dead land This is cactus land Here the stone images Are raised, here they receive The supplication of a dead man's hand Under the twinkle of a fading star. He is in a place that has cactus and stone and can be called dead—a desert. Stone idols are held up to be worshipped with no life in near darkness. Is it like this In death's other kingdom Waking alone At the hour when we are Trembling with tenderness Lips that would kiss Form prayers to broken stone. It seems that in the other place, things could be different. As it is, in the place the hollow men are alone and cannot kiss, although there are times when they desperately wish too. Instead of loving, they end up worshiping lifeless idols. The eyes are not here There are no eyes here In this valley of dying stars In this hollow valley This broken jaw of our lost kingdoms There are no eyes in the place the hollow men are—implying they cannot see, and no one can see them. They are in a valley with nothing, a valley with small and dying lights, a valley like a broken jaw bone. When one’s jaw is broken it is hard to speak or eat. They are also inside of a jaw. They have lost great things that were formerly theirs. In this last of meeting places We grope together And avoid speech Gathered on this beach of the tumid river They are in the final place in which one can be with others, but they do not speak to each other. They “grope,” or touch blindly. Even when together, they are alone. They are on a beach next to a river that is could be swelled or enlarged, rising above the level, pompous and arrogant, or all of these things together. Sightless, unless The eyes reappear As the perpetual star Multifoliate rose Of death's twilight kingdom The hope only Of empty men. They cannot see unless eyes—either theirs or someone else’s—come back. The rest is somewhat unclear. Although the “perpetual star” is said to rise, the adjective “multifoliate” refers to plants with many leaves or petals. “Rose” is also the name of a kind of flower. Whatever this rose or star or star that is like a rose is, it is like eyes reappearing to the hollow men. Here we go round the prickly pear Prickly pear prickly pear Here we go round the prickly pear At five o'clock in the morning. This is strange. It appears to be a child’s song. It seems meaningless and repetitive. Between the idea And the reality Between the motion And the act Falls the Shadow For Thine is the Kingdom Between the conception And the creation Between the emotion And the response Falls the Shadow Life is very long Between the desire And the spasm Between the potency And the existence Between the essence And the descent Falls the Shadow For Thine is the Kingdom For Thine is Life is For Thine is the This is some kind of commentary intermixed with someone attempting to speak. The hollow men try to pray and fail. Their lives are without meaning and weigh on them. This last part of the poem is clearly much different from the rest. So far we know that there are a bunch of human beings who are not full of anything substantial. They cannot see, and are hardly seen or taken notice of. They cannot communicate to each other. They are not determinate, and cannot act. They cannot love, but worship dead stone in the empty and dark desert they inhabit. They think that life is too long, and we leave them failing to get out a prayer just before they ought to say the word “kingdom.”

And I was all, like, whatever, you know?

2004-02-10T18:37:00.000-08:00

As one of our number has gone so far as to adopt the name of a grammatical classic, I thought you all might like to see what the author of "Wimps and Barbarians" has to say on such matters here.

Tolerance

2004-02-10T18:25:00.000-08:00

We are told that diversity of opinion and tolerance are virtues seventy times seven times a day. Achilles Running has posted some of Supreme Court Justice Scalia's opinions. The same people who speak of diversity and free speech, when encountering those like Scalia, usually act like this instead of practicing what they love to preach. Of course, this happens on a daily basis on campuses today. [Yawn.]

THERE IS NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN

2004-02-10T15:26:00.000-08:00

"Let us work for a world where someday war becomes archaic. That is the vision which the proposal to create a Department of Peace envisions." -- Dennis John Kucinich As National Review said once, the Nobel Peace Prize should be given to the U.S. military, which is responsible for more peace this century than any other entity.

Just another day in intellectual paradise.

2004-02-10T15:23:00.000-08:00

"The Modern Languages Department at ---------------- Colleges Invites you to a job talk entitled "Women and Sex in Inquisitional Spain" Presented by Lisa Vollendorf Wayne State University Candidate for the position in Spanish Histories of sexuality have been written for many places and periods in the western world, but most of these treat women's sexuality as a secondary matter. In this discussion of Hispanic women's writing, Lisa Vollendorf will decipher the frequent references to sex and intimacy in women's Inquisition cases, literary texts, and biographies from 17th century Spain. Taking into account the ethnic, religious, and class differences among women whose words are recorded in the archives, this talk proposes a methodology for recovering a history of intimacy for Hispanic women in the early modern world and beyond." Huh, huh...she's gonna talk about doing it.

Lips that would Kiss-Introduction

2004-02-10T02:28:00.000-08:00

I don't know of any good published commentary on this poem, but I will try a little here. This was one of the first poems I ever understood or liked. I did find this, in a quick google quest, which makes some good basic points, although doubtless there is much more to be found. No systematic exposition will be given here. Just...why I like this poem...starting with one take while a roommate softly strings and strungs and sings "Sunday Morning Coming Down" at 4:01 in the morning in a suburban bachelor-pad living room with a filthy yellow rug that has been charred and stained since its unfortunate installment in the early seventies. And out of this humble beginning, I inevitably will blog on and on and on… The poem hauntingly conveys one of the shapes evil takes. The implication is that this sort of evil is characteristic of the era we happen to live in, although there is nothing new under the sun. This kind of evil is particularly hated by the revolution. This kind of evil insidiously dominates the generation raised by the baby boomers. Apathy plagues our souls. When the last tired and bloody century came to a close, the right side proved victorious, largely due to the efforts of the very nation in which we live. Great and monstrous regimes devoured and spewed forth souls, and hundreds of millions of bodies and eternal souls were scarred, damaged and ripped apart by their cruelty. These regimes are now, for the most part, dead and gone. The raging torrents of violent hatred that burst through the twentieth century have, for the most part, ceased their flow. All of these movements specifically rejected God and nature, seeking to make the might and will of men define what is right and true. They were ugly, false, and evil. Yet our victory over them was largely a physical one. While we won these wars in a bodily manner, the brutal principles they espoused and the deadly lies and half truths they based their actions on are taught and toyed with by our schools and much of our culture. For instance, the premises and principles upon which our regime is based—self-evident truths that can be known by man’s reason and received from nature—truths that are supported, coincide with, and are further explained by the revelation of the Christian religion, the very truths that caused us to be in a better material position and win those wars—are now rejected by an influential minority in our culture. Still possessing much that is good, the American regime as a whole has never seriously entertained the possibility of acting on these lies and accepting their real consequences, but many have rejected the older truths, and there are is an ever increasing number of those who do seek to enact what follows from rejecting God and nature. They have, especially in regards to sexual matters, achieved several significant victories. Yet since western civilization springs from these “older truths,” and has been formed and soaked in them for nigh on two thousand years, a real shift has not yet occurred. Although these truths have been rejected by many, there is no one predominant substitute. This leaves the human soul with no where to turn and nothing to receive. It leaves the soul empty and hollow. It leaves us alone, cut off from our fellow man, as we have rejected the commonly held thoughts and beliefs that formerly allowed us to communicate to each other through art and the practical and speculative disciplines. To the extent they have been “replaced,” they have been torn asunder, and are now in chaotic disorganization and general disarray. In fact, there can never be a real “replacement” of truth, goodness and beauty. Without God and nature, one loses any true idea of what reason is. All that is left is man’s will, which is fallen and seeks to act as God, echoing the first sin of the garden and of Satan himself, the root of all sin, namely, Pride. Yet, again, this is not fully seen or understood or—most importantly—fully embraced by most of us. In the absence of truth, goodness and beauty, before one attempts to assert oneself and gain all things, one is simply left with nothing. This is easily seen in the generations that followed the baby boomers. The “revolution” of the sixties began with a profound sense of dissatisfaction with major aspects of modern culture. The youth did, for good reason, sense something hollow about the prevailing authorities in the arts and sciences of the time. Yet they were young and without a guide. They asked questions that for the most part were never answered, and began to lose themselves in their own increasingly self-absorbed folly. Today’s popular culture is owned and produced by them. They lost themselves in chemicals and and toxins, assinine and silly politics, and shallow, paltry philosophies without meaning. They turned aside from seeking anything real, pronounced their rejection of the older notions of truth, goodness, and beauty, and for the most part turned to plastic materialism and all those things they said they were against to begin with. Those who should have guided them failed miserably. In fact, much of the Church, the Academy, and the State followed, encouraged, and even led them to become hollow men themselves. The prevailing authorities of the time thus, in an odd and unfortunate way, proved that the early nubs of dissatisfaction in the youth of the sixties were on to something. Our revolution repudiates most of what this generation wrought, but it will not get rid of those nubs. It seeks to encourage them. There is now no sense of the questioning and seeking that defined the youth of the sixties. Listless despondency has long since replaced their misdirected eros and thumos. There is an underlying understanding that, while the music wasn’t all bad and maybe it would have been fun, the sixties and seventies, when all is said and done, never found anything meaningful. Some would approvingly mention such things as the changes in civil rights, but overall it is understood that they failed to “find themselves” even as many of them now wallow in solipsistic arrogance. The young now see the essential failure of the cultural change of the sixties and seventies as a self-evident fact. Yet, without realizing their origins, they accept the conclusions of the baby boomers as self-evident as well. They accept that philosophy and religion and art and all things that ought to be meaningful are in fact, meaningless hobbies. They take as a premise that there is no such thing as what is true, beautiful, or good but only many perspectives that often contradict each other. All that is “higher” is seen as uncertain and weak, rather than most certain and powerful, as it truly is. The effects of these ideas have led to apathy and despair. Not a soul-searching gut-wrenching despair, but a whiny, self-obsessed despair. Real despair requires asking serious questions we do not know how to ask anymore. This apathy is the result of rejecting the meaningful while desperately trying to distract oneself from it by various forms of immediate gratification. This leads to hollow men. At the beginning of this century, all was promise and hope. The industrial revolution was in full swing, and Hegel’s world spirit and Darwin’s evolution were both unfolding, progressing rapidly. Even Kant was now passé. American graduate schools were founded, based on the German model. Disciplines such as the new science of administration were invented, so that governments could be run more efficiently through an impartial, compartmentalized, and expert bureaucracy. The old, scholastic models were finally being ripped out at the roots. It was understood that Nietzsche was an interesting, if irrelevant, philosopher who happened to go crazy. Marx was just another disaffected, angry intellectual who stood in the way of progress. Then the “war to end all wars” happened, along with some bloody revolutions. The Gates of Hell opened, and black clouds poured forth from them. Thousands died in mere hours on the battlefields. Established political orders were overturned by angry mobs. Men writhed in contorted agony from poison gases, and Tolkien spent nights in his tent writing unpolished stories to stay sane. This was a big downer for all concerned. So, reluctantly, the U.S.A. sent its troops, the war ended, and a sham peace was cobbled together so that everyone could forget the whole thing. With reckless abandon the world threw itself into the flesh in order to avoid the uncomfortable problems this event had raised. Ideas were not the problem, at all, of course, and Woodrow Wilson sought to create the League of Nations in order to prevent such unpleasant things from happening again. The roaring twenties roared, and F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote about them. The Weimar Republic and Hollywood-long-before-the-ratings-system cranked up the volume. Cocaine was an ingredient in soft drinks, and intellectuals said that there could be no God. After all, look at the mess he had just caused. Secularism became militant. The ACLU was founded. Margaret Sanger founded Planned Parenthood and proclaimed Eugenics to be the new science that would help us keep the darkies and retards from reproducing. California lept at the chance to do just that. Movie Stars were world-renowned figures. Atonal music was the cool-new-thing. New styles of architecture that rejected order and symmetry were birthed. The academy and the arts were overrun by modernity. Enter our heroic protagonist, Thomas Stearns Eliot. At some point in 1925, he sat down somewhere, and as poetry always is, probably for reasons completely unrelated to anything I have just said (more likely he was angry at a woman or waiting for dinner to be ready), hashed out a poem he called “The Hollow Men.”

Suburban front yard at night

2004-02-10T01:22:00.000-08:00

The wind played an airy symphony tonight, sonorous strains through pine set to scraping dry leaves on concrete sidewalks. No whispers or rustles, these. More melodic than the low, rythmic roars of ocean swells. More variance and nuance, from slow to raging power. A concert lit by a soft-glow moon. No man turned on the switch or built the hall because no man was necessary. The assorted stolid houses were quiet in their rows as they are in the day, when their owners have left this place for work, and now, when they sleep for work tomorrow. The concert was set to play regardless, as they are not necessary. I heard nature speak to itself tonight (I happened to be there). It said that it is alive.

It seems so cliche, but thats because its just the way things are these days

2004-02-08T12:11:00.000-08:00

And when a fish points out the water to other fish...their reaction is kind of like the reaction to this little poem. Ain't it the truth though?

The Separation of Church and State

2004-02-06T02:08:00.000-08:00

What they don't tell you in high school: 1) In the 19th century, there was a strong movement for an amendment to the constitution to separate church and state. Odd considering that we all know now that that's what the 1st amendment means, eh? 2) The separation of church and state was pushed in the 19th century by an ever-growing mix of secularists--no surprise there--but also, and at first mostly, Protestants who were afraid of Catholics gaining control. These Protestants were many times vehement nativists, worried about the morals of America being destroyed on account of all those poor, funny-sounding immigrants that took all the low paying jobs. The immoral immigrants were seen as rowdy drunkards, and were usually Irish. There were riots and Catholic churches were burned. In the 20th century the KKK was a powerful organization in the south, and also an extreme protestant organization that supported the separation of church and state and hated Catholics. They helped get a man elected to office. This man resigned from their organization, but kept his views and thanked them for their support. He also hated Catholics. His name was Hugo Black, and he became a Supreme Court justice. In his decision in Everson he brought Jefferson's phrase about a wall and separation into a prominent place in modern jurisprudence. Just some random snippets and facts. Much more to come.

Superbowl II

2004-02-04T12:07:00.000-08:00

I'm not the only one. Read this awesome piece on the superbowl halftime by Michael Novak.

Don't want to rant here, but...

2004-02-04T11:50:00.000-08:00

Get up, check email, plan the order of the day out. Then its time for a...brunch, I guess, of a pasta hamburger concoction I brilliantly conceived of last night. While eating this, I made the mistake of turning on our 10 channel mysteriously free cable, which consists of less stations than we'd get with an old school antenna. I haven't seen daytime TV in a while, and...WOW. Besides the Mexican stations, God bless 'em, which carry basically the same sorts of shows as the others except the exceptionally hot women usually wear less clothes, there was the usual assortment of soaps, local news, and "hard-hitting, heart-wrenching" talk shows. "Classic" (I kid you not) Jerry Springer was on, and after an unfortunate shot of a 1600 pound woman (again, I kid you not) I stayed away from that station. What I saw was "The View," a talk show with a bunch of women that I have never watched before but have seen Saturday Night Live's parody of. The parody of SNL, as it turns out, is actually more like a real show, and the real show is more like a parody. Some excerpts: Bette Midler saying of John Kerry that he is a lot like Abe Lincoln, "Lincolnian," even. She met him once and these were her impressions. Uhhmm...yeah. He is a lot like Lincoln, I guess...they both are...tall? Thanks Bette, for your insightful political commentary. A pregnant actress responding to the hot young blonde host, who said she is worried about parenting, as she [hot young blonde], is the "slamming doors type." Pregnant actress responds by looking her in the eye and saying "Well, they are going to hate you then." I guess SNL is right, they really do hate the dumb blonde. No one seemed to notice though. The dialogue was hard to follow, as they talk over each other and at the same time for most of the show. It would take ten pages in a transcript to get through all the "And then- I was thinking- about Kerry- yeah it was soooo-" dashed words and follow through the sentence of one of the hosts. And generally, on all stations, effeminization and homosexuals. And this brings me to what a roommate pointed out. The only standing heterosexual male on daytime TV, who has been there for decades, is good old Bob Barker. God bless the Price is Right and the dirty old man Bob, who when a college guy kissed him as he got up on stage, flashed a fake smile that said "Kid, I invented the phrase bored housewife and have gotten more than you can imagine. I am from before the era of 'tolerance,' and if you do that again I will kick your lily college boy ass. I have been on the air since before you were born. Enjoy my hot models in the showcase showdown, and get your pets spayed and neutered, but don't touch me again. I am a horny old philanderer, but I am not gay and not a silly emotional woman. And thats all you are going to see on the rest of the shows in this slot, so either go join the cast of the Young and the Restless or stay here and ogle the models, punk."

Superbowl

2004-02-03T08:43:00.000-08:00

Another season ends. With a bang, this time. Thank God for that. The game, as always, was pure. The elements of competitive sport that drive grown men to abandon their families and friends in the pursuit of winning a mere game--known and accepted rules and goals, principles and ends, victors and losers, wins and losses, and general disciplined and practiced human excellence striving for glory--all these and more were palpably present in the main event of the evening. Yet as some commentators have noted, this game was juxtaposed against, and indeed almost crowded out by, what seemed to be an assinine circus-of-the-absurd performing crude stunts in a cramped sewer. The hi-larious commecials based on horse flatulence and bestiality were sandwiched in between the numerous ads for varying brands of erection inducing pills. These pills were needed by all when the centerpiece of the genius vision of those wily corporate TV execs unfolded in all its splendor--the halftime show--the strange fantasies of a bisexual teenager floating on a shallow sea of cheese. This descended down into the depths of pop culture absurdity/puerile filth long before the 38-year old Janet Jackson had one of her breasts unveiled by the 22 year-old and even less talented Justin Timberlake, although this really summed up...or down, as the case may be, the elements of the night other than the game. Besides some obvious questions-- What if old men just let nature take its course and didn't have to have an erection ALL the time? What if not having the overwhelming, uncontrollable urge to &*^# like a rabbit twenty four hours a day is actually a normal and healthy state of being? What if not being in a state of perpetual readiness or near readiness for copulation, which incidentally is the natural state of man and woman, actually accentuates the pleasure of those times when one does have sex? And what would Cephalus say about all this? What if it is not erotic for a 38 year old breast with a gold, sun-shaped metallic nipple cover to be bared for 2 seconds in front of millions of people while gawdawful music plays loudly in the background? What if this is really just a mixture of the just plain weird and the just plain dumb? If I didn't get an erection from this, do I need to buy pills? Why are we singing songs that sucked ten years ago on TV now? Why wasn't Justin Timberlake put into the stockades and publicly flogged years ago? Can we start now? What if the ad execs are really just a bunch of 13 year old boys brainstorming while having a "sleep over" in the tree house with a sixer of cheap swill someone stole from their parents? --WHO LIKES THIS crap? Human nature being what it is, they may elicit a smirk on the face every once in a while, but the assault of stupidity on the senses by the TV gods this time was overpowering. Are they targeting some strange "mean" or "median" consumer who doesn't really exist? Are there lots of people who thought it was all a good time? Is it all 14 year old kids who love it? Is it true that NO ONE really likes it? I hope?!?!? Its hard to even describe--its not just dirty, weird, moronic, or adolescent....but a strange amalgamation of all these things with some other spices thrown in. Why do we even have to talk about this stuff? "And you yell to yourself and you throw down yer hat Sayin', "Christ do I gotta be like that Ain't there no one here that knows where I'm at Ain't there no one here that knows how I feel[???] Good God Almighty THAT STUFF AIN'T REAL"

I have established a compromise

2004-01-31T12:06:00.000-08:00

From now on, when I do what I did last night, which is to get drunk and scribble all over, I will erase it the next day. But if you catch it early enough, feel free to read it. It makes me laugh, at any rate.

A few more words

2004-01-30T10:03:00.000-08:00

The effort to change all this, as the author says, "must be seen as the truly revolutionary and cutting-edge effort to recover authentic manliness. Second, a new generation of scholars must tell the tale of how men used to become men and act manfully, and how we as a nation have lost our sense of true manliness." The, ahem, revolution, is, well, revolutionary and hence up to the task. Scholars are needed more than the author knows, as is summarily and bloggily described below. Also, the author is working on a new article on women for the next Claremont Review of Books. This will do the same thing with young women as he did for men. I don't expect as much out of this one, as: A) the author is not as familiar with young woman, and this will hurt him unless he sees: B) thumos in women is manifested differently than in men. C) the real problem is eros, which he doesn't metion. D) no one understands women, including women.

Eros and Thumos

2004-01-30T06:02:00.000-08:00

A few words about Wimps and Barbarians. I don't think one can talk about this well without explicitly bringing up Eros. Erotic desire is the highest and most central desire of the human soul, and it begins with what is distinctly bodily. All the other senses, are, in a way, for the sake of this--procreation. Wise Plato, prefiguring and even shaping later, revealed truth, also shows that it is the Erotic desire that leads to our highest end. This is the desire for immortality, to be sure, but this means, more generally, our own perfection. Eros is painful because it is an awareness of a lack, a privation of something that is needful. This is more than just immortality--we are missing something, something that is necessary if we are to achieve our perfection. This thing, whatever it may be, is both the cause of our movement towards it, and also what we need to move towards and be unified with. Since all things clearly desire their own perfection, when one is in tune with Eros the worse our state seems, and the more unfulfilled one knows and feels humanity to be. Thumos will always dovetail in some way with Eros. One is spirited on the most basic level in order to defend and provide for one's wife and children, thus accompanying erotic desire. Even the common good of the regime is inextricaby bound up in the good of the family (although the regime is defended more on account of a higher understanding of virtue--regardless, both levels of thumos correspond to eros). We are hopelessly ignorant of it, but there is a real way in which one can say the highest end we have on a bodily level is to conceive and raise children. As this erotic desire deepens and grows spritedness is associated with all virtue, the intellectual life, and one's religious or "Beatific life." The highest parts of man are the weakest, as all the wise say, and are dependent upon receiving from the outside. Once the intellectual currents of one's time throw away all things outside and especially those things above man, and proclaim him as the highest being in the universe, the real end of Eros is gone. The term of human desire is neither outside of him nor received from some "other." It is in himself somewhere, and he is the material, formal, agent, and final cause of his own perfection. The article in question here perceives this effect on the thumos of young males. Consider--if Eros becomes nothing more than the physical act of sex, without even procreation as its end, then the end of man is clearly physical pleasure. The woman is present only for the sake of one's own pleasure, whereas before she was --to speak even just on a base biological level-- needed for a lot more. Nevermind the intellectual life to which Eros leads--now there is no family, much less regime, to defend. And since we are obviously made for much more than sexual pleasure, the state of the young male starts to go awry. Given the first desires of Eros, and the lack of understanding of its proper end, thumos is undirected. One must either try to bottle thumos up for one's own sake, as the barbarian does, or abandon it altogether, as the wimp does. If, in the context of not having the real end of man ever explained or even treated as a premise in your education, entertainment, or upbringing by your parents, you are of such a disposition as to keep thumos, you channel it for your own sake. (This can also be a conscious decision, as one is young and close to nature, often without understanding it, and in rebellion against what one rightly judges as unmanly the course is chosen.) Eros is seen as not being needful, as it is misused by so many in our culture. The life of the mind is full of arrogance, and what ought to be beautiful is ugly. Since you are completely misdirecting a third of your soul (thumos), and trying hard to ignore another third (Eros) you can be a boring drag to be around and a real ass. The barbarian involved in sports for this caricature is in it for his own glory and pleasure, and as he is also in the pursuit of women. This is, of course, unnatural insofar as it abandons the real end of man and the common good, which is the whole purpose for thumos to begin with. At root, the kid is unhappy, and this manifests itself in self-destructive behavior and the music, which is full of rage, but he is not as angry as he pretends to be ALL the time--this anger is many times a show or sham-anger that manifests real, deep rooted sorrow and general fustration. The Barbarian is still human, and secretly desires Eros (ultimately meaning Beauty and especially the truth side of the truth and goodness beauty entails), and so is just as woefully unhappy as the Wimp. He bottles this up tightly, but the fustration is channeled through physical actions, be they sports or sex or drinking or violent music. This is why he is prone to sudden frenzied outbursts and binges. He may seem to be having a good, rowdy time when drunk, but every once in a while a profound dissatisfaction will reveal itself. He is insecure about his misuse of thumos, because it reminds him of his lack of Eros, be it intellectual or artistic, and this insecurity drives many of his actions. I can't do THAT well, but I can DO this, and screw the other--staking his self image on his misuse of thumos. Given a woman who is still acting according to nature (i.e. not screwed up herself by modernity), she will try to get him to reveal this side of himself--"I see good in him," "why don't you come to the musical," etc., all in her natural desire to tame the savage--but it will not be enough, as his problems are not just the natural one's that arise from being a young male. Since our society doesn't understand how the higher things are manly, and she is dealing with an unnatural element that stems from the evils of modernity, this will backfire--after all, one of the reasons he is in his state is because of a backlash against the effeminization of culture. And he will revert to using her for his own pleasure. He may have the spiritedness to get to certain ends, but he doesn't know what to do with them--in fact, he rejects these ends. If in this context you are of such a disposition as to abandon thumos, as it doesn't seem to be needful anymore and all you see is it being misdirected, you become a wimp. (This can also be a conscious decision, as you are young and close to nature, and rightly judge the bestial to be unmanly.) Thumos seems to have no end or purpose, and so it is dropped. Thumos pertains most to the good, and what is good or evil anymore? The life of man as it relates to others is hollow and without right and wrong, and so thumos and ethics and the striving forward they entail are pointless. The wimp acknowledges Eros, but directs it all to himself, much like the barbarian does with thumos. He is more often the pseudo-intellectual and poet (a poor one because he is relativistic--he does not see things in terms of good or evil), but as is revealed when women get involved, he just wants to wrap up everyone in his own self-indulgent misery. Since you are misdirecting a third of your soul (eros), and trying hard to ignore another third (thumos), you are, suprisingly enough, also a drag to be around and a real ass. At root, the kid is not as unhappy as he makes himself out to be ALL the time--this sham-sorrow is many times a show that manifests real, deep-rooted anger or general fustration. The wimp is still human, and secretly desires thumos. (Ultimately meaning Beauty, especially the Good that this entails). The wimp wears his misery on his sleeve 24 hours a day. He is secretly insecure about his attempt to deny thumos--to such an extent that this insecurity drives many of his actions. I can't do THAT well, but I can DO this, and screw the other--staking his self image on his denial of thumos. As regards women (again using our mythical, according to nature woman), she will many times try to get him to become more manly, or at least wish he was. As she is a woman, and has a completly different kind of thumos, she will not know what this entails (sometimes this entails nothing more than him getting his ass kicked, many times much more). By nature she should give confidence of a sort to man, but this guy is insecure and/or lacks thumos beyond the natural powers nature gives her to cure him. He may even want to get to certain natural ends, but he lacks the spiritedness to get there--in fact, he rejects this spiritedness. Especially when society develops to the point where the lower forms of thumos are not needed, problems arise unless higher things are understood. "Higher things" here meaning an ordered life--a virtous life--which means in turn and understanding of the intellectual life, which means in turn an understanding of the divine life. If this higher guidance is not there (and this comes from Eros), than naturally thumos will be ignored or misdirected, as there is no clear need for it. Ultimately this will be solved by explaining what the most fundamental natural desires and objects are and how through this we are led to the supreme and supernatural end and perfection of human life. This is to explain Eros, and once this is done one can place thumos in its proper position at each step along the way.

BRIEF NOTES

2004-01-29T18:23:00.000-08:00

I have fixed the link below, and will continue to retool "Sex and the city of man II" until I choose to stop. In regards to that post, read this.

Wimps and Barbarians

2004-01-29T13:55:00.000-08:00

This article from the Claremont Review of Books has sparked a buzz at NRonline and elsewhere. The thesis is that the modern young male is either a wimp or a barbarian. Worth a read. The article quotes C.S. Lewis precisely where this does.

Stop the War! The Modern Language Association has spoken!

2004-01-29T12:12:00.000-08:00

You don't like Politics? Don't see its importance? Just to show that one can't ALWAYS quote calypso singers laughing and fisherman holding flowers...and pass it off, even if all one wants to do is write: We are all familiar with the MLA handbook. Do you know what they do when THEY (MLA) get together? "Whereas in wartime, governments commonly shape language to legitimate aggression, misrepresent policies, conceal aims, stigmatize dissent, and block critical thought; and Whereas distortions of this sort proliferate now, as in the use of the phrase “war on terrorism,” to underwrite military action anywhere in the world, against whomever our government sees as opponents; and Whereas we are professionals committed to scrupulous inquiry into language and culture; Be it resolved that the Modern Language Association supports its members in conducting critical analysis of war talk, in public forums and, as appropriate, in classrooms." Hmmmm. And you wonder why language is getting worse by the year? By the way, this is from the New Criterion, a must-read sort of publication that is a: a monthly review of the arts and intellectual life. Written with great verve, clarity, and wit, The New Criterion has emerged as America's foremost voice of critical dissent in the culture wars now raging throughout the Western world. A staunch defender of the values of high culture, The New Criterion is also an articulate scourge of artistic mediocrity and intellectual mendacity wherever they are found: in the universities, the art galleries, the media, the concert halls, the theater, and elsewhere. The links it provides are also good, many of them go to sites related to good art and/or trying to fight modern schlock. Check it out.

Sex and the City of Man, part II

2004-01-29T02:47:00.000-08:00

Modernity. I mean by that now the City of Man. I mean by that those who willfully pronounce their autonomy, their will over what ought to be ruling it. Be they Nietzsche, or Heidegger, Hobbes or Decartes, Kant of Hume...or...us. To what glorious freedom has it led, to what sunlit lands does this they taken us? Distraction upon distraction that cannot just be blamed on forms of regime and governance. Video games and porn and sitcoms chemicals and pills and cures and Dead eyes before flickering images. A society with the face of a raped woman, lifeless, like an animal from whom all has been taken, to whom Joy is an alien thing, a word from an unknown tongue. And while sacrificing to pleasure's many altars we find that even this is sterile ritualism. We like glossy sins, embossed with advertisements. We do not like anything more than flesh, but even this--only when airbrushed. Growth is abhorrent, and generation we avoid with ever more cunning artifice. We have taken the flesh out of flesh, the animal out of animal, all the goods of the lower away because we neglect the soul, the form, the purpose. Love? Try meaningless and absurd motions. Flashing lights and monotonous music loud enough so that we cannot hear ourselves. We like, really none of it, but we proceed anyway. Mechanistic animals. And all the lofty, inviting eloquence has led to All the speeches about freedom, peace, and love have led to All the talk of sophisticated liberation and equality have led to All the sneering false-calm airs have led to... cold orgasm into the abyss. "Silence. This is silly. You go too far. Please, there are children present." A wise man, tonight, said after teaching class in the dark cold, Do you want to know who the Last Man really is? The much vaunted "Last Man" that Neitzsche spoke of first, about whom endless realms of paper have been filled with ink? Intellectuals and pundits and poets and philosophers and all who think their opinions should be heard, all talking about this last man of modernity, he towards which all modern times flow? Do you really want to know? He is not any intellectual abstract thing, neither smug nihilism nor indifference nor airs nor a boisterous prodigal son. He is not the superman, nor a god, whose will powerfully directs all thing. He is not even a futuristic creature, be it in a tribe or metropolis, beset by materialism or totalitarian governance. He is a man on a desert island, all alone, who cannot decide if he wants to look at pictures of naked boys or girls. Did you wish for something more substantial? Do you feel uncomfortable? Does this disturb you? Do you want to laugh it off?

One More Before Bed

2004-01-29T01:52:00.000-08:00

I have cheap wine here that I can't even stomach, but I just read this: Now the sun is full and sweat is long groans of childbirth replace morning song Sin deadens us all, and that post hammers the predicament of all. Life...flowing and sunlit...always weighed down by sins. Cutting ourselves off from God, and no, we would not want to see ourselves as He sees us. But back to it anyway, in season and out of season. Even with confession, this never changes. Even with substantial change in one's person, this battle is NEVER over. Even for lofty saints who in fact battle in the thick of the action, more so than all of us. Defending oneself and then hacking forward and back and forth, back and forth, the only constant the ceaselessness of the struggle. All humanity's righteousness is rags. And infinite goodness is offered to us. And once you give up, the battle is over and the flood overtakes you. Rage on.

Two Classes

2004-01-29T01:28:00.000-08:00

Both excellent, sweeping views of weighty matters. Class on Religion, the Courts and Public Policy taught by an exceedingly wise man. Broad overview of the history of church and state...since the 4th century political philosophy could be defined as wrestling with their relation, and here we are today, in the most powerful regime in the world, fighting over the First Amendment. As the dude would say, new shit has come to light. The Great Awakening and other religious elements are, of course, ignored by most scholarship on the matter and are also, of course, crucial to any understanding of our regime. During the last century, a jurisprudence has developed in our nation that tries to separate morality from law, and hence the new notion of the freedom of speech and the establishment clause. Apparently one of the best works on Religion in America is Philip Hamburger's The Separation of Church and State, which debunks conventional wisdom on the matter. Did you know the KKK was for the separation of church and state in the modern sense? Much more to come on this score. The new jurisprudence comes from Hegel and Darwin and Heidegger...although any modern would do. Once again, at the end of another class, it becomes clear that there are really only two philosophies. One that says man is God, and the other that says God is God. As for this, is more not written in the annals of Vomit the Lukewarm? The other class-the Federalist Papers and the many camps of opinion on the Founding. Interesting point was made here. In reaction to Heidegger, who wrote Being and Time, Strauss writes Natural Right and History. Voeglin writes Order and History. Both attempt to stave off modernity, here exemplified by Heidegger's politics, which Strauss and Voeglin see as wrong (Heidegger, in the end, being for the rule of will rather than reason--he supported Hitler wholeheartedly for a good long while). While reacting to Heidegger's screwed up politics they correctly perceive it is based on screwed up metaphysics. Strauss, at any rate, counters by going back in some way to ancient philosophy, but also by abandoning metaphysics or natural philosophy. This reduction is seen in the very title of his book--being becomes natural right, and time becomes history. Although this is done by upholding the ancients, it is also done by ignoring anything higher than man (hence, again, the difference in his title.) And so, even unto this day, there are good people trying to study the ancients in the schools, but ignore other branches of philosophy to their detriment. We know that natural law is important, but no one really knows what it is. In turn, you flip on CNN and the good guy can't quite argue without scripture or accidental arguments--can't argue through his reason apprehending the reason in nature. This is a nice way of summarizing a lot of 50,000 dollar word sort of stuff. Now for the Blog type thing. In this class, we had to do the icebreaker thing. Everyone goes 'round the table and all that. I hate that moment, and was glad when my friend from Portugal turned to me and said with distaste, "I hayte dees, it is soo American and stupid." So it comes to me and I state my name, program, and undergrad, and then shruggingly say..."and I like Islay Scotches." There was no response. I looked at the tumbleweeds blowing through the room instead of the people. It was as if I just announced I just got back from Tijuana and was worried about the rash. Distinguished Prof laughs in a nuanced manner to purposefully call attention to this, and says "you Aquinas guys..." Feeling the stupid urge to say something, I blurt out in a conciliatory tone, "well, you know, its just us and the great books alone in the mountains--you have to do something..." Nope. That was a mistake too. Damn. Distinguished Prof then asks, "did you read the Federalist Papers at Aquinas?" "Yes, actually." "Then why are you here in this class?" Maybe he didn't mean anything by that, but it sure seemed like he did. Sigh. Yeah, I came here and broke down in Utah and junked my car and hitchhiked to Vegas and walk to class and have loads of debt all to come here and be an arrogant ass. Yep. Thats why I'm here. Ironically, this is THE class for this program, and is exactly why I am here. And split second anger overtakes me and I blurt again: "Uhh, being humble!?" "Somehow I don't think thats the case." And then he moves on to the next guy. Soooo...yeah. Is this why graduates of my alma mater are thought to be arrogant? Sorry for sacrificing to be here and liking your class so much (both of which I do). But this is what you get used to. No matter of consequence, really. You go ahead and learn as much as you can. But its also symbolic of my whole grad school experience. Even when you are interested, love the subject matter, and seem to be on the same page, everything goes wrong. (Seems the topic of women could be brought up here, but lets spare ourselves of that whole thing.) One learns quickly that this is part of the largely unpleasant side issues of grad school, however, and it doesn't take long to realize you are here to get as much truth as you can and then bail the hell out. By the way, the Crockpot experiment worked. Slackers get by. Not bad overall. But, like most times when you say screw it and do things last minute, the rice came out a little mushy.

I lied.

2004-01-28T16:20:00.000-08:00

I'm not going anywhere. If I start walking to class now, I will be an hour late. Better to wait for a roommate to get back from work and then go. So here I am missing one of the top professors in the world give a brilliant lecture on his best topic/class. Why? Because I fell asleep late and everyone else left. Then there was the confusing attempt to use internet recipes and negotiate between them and what was in the fridge/cupboards. With no idea of right or wrong, in a relativistic world of perspectives...cook the rice seperate? Put it in with everything else? How? Contradictory recipes and premises...I thought this was supposed to save time...and then the invitable awwhhh "f&*% it" moment. Threw it all in and we'll see what happens. Just like with EVERYTHING else. I hear a vehicle. Off to class...its still "off to class," after all these years... Cheers.

Articles of Note

2004-01-28T15:22:00.000-08:00

Weekly Standard: Good summary/update of the shenanigans of pro-abort extremists and their international agenda. One of my roommates, the Oregonian, alerted me to this excellent piece on marriage in Scandinavia. If you have any romantic notions of Europe, prepare to lose them. If you've been bitching about how horrible our system is and how corrupt we are becoming, read the first article and then the second and take heart. The buck stops here. We are the only regime that desires (imperfectly, but still desires) or is able to uphold western civilization. If you don't agree with this or think it arrogant, kindly correct me. What is shocking is how fast civilization can dissipate into barbarism. And that is where Europe is going. And regardless of your thoughts on America, again, the buck stops here. You don't have any other options. As we go, so does the world. Its time many on the right side of things woke up to that and starting acting as if it were true. For example, although some of them may be, ahem, misguided, "Christian" colleges are booming. No matter how off these places may sometimes be, they show a growing mistrust of the academic status quo. There have been several stories about their growth all over the press in the last year. And if you still aren't convinced, go help these people who are trying to counter the harsher strains of modernity without the benefit of...you...on their side. Also, as far as commentary on Kerrey's New Hampshire victory, John Podhoretz has a good slap down on how the media completely blew it. Otherwise, it is still to early to talk about really, other than the obvious fact that these clowns have a long way to go towards beating Dubyah. But yeah....calypso singers laugh at them and fishermen hold flowers... One more thing, and now is the time on sprockets when I exercise my selfish blogging powers. I was not very pleased to learn that Gwyneth Paltrow is just another Hollywood dumbdumb...I was not surprised either, I suppose. But dammit...can't at least one of the beautiful, classy ones or beautiful, wild ones be with it? No, of course not. Gwyneth Paltrow...yeah...so now I'm going to go walk to class because even though I live in Southern California I do not have a vehicle. Before I do this I am going to check my first concoction in the crockpot. Rice and pork are involved...keep your fingers crossed. A late dinner is clinging to a thread, hanging in the balance, etc., etc.

Political Philosophy sites

2004-01-27T23:36:00.000-08:00

Hadley Arkes book on abortion is probably the best that has been written on the matter. He is a professor at Amherst college, and offers course syllabi online for his classes. These are instructive and helpful--best way to research a subject is to take what a trustworthy timeworn expert has already found. Many good sources are listed. As far as Catholic intellectuals go, Father James V. Schall is one of the best out there. The best and most substantial, I think, when one gets to actual political philosophy. I believe one of his influences was Charles McCoy, who studied under DeKoninck and Strauss. (McCoy's articles and book "The structure of political thought: A study in the history of political ideas" as well as "On the Intelligibility of Political Philosophy: Essays of Charles N.R. McCoy" are also a must.) I know Schall corresponds with the former dean of a certain great books college in Ventura county. His site is incredible, lots of his own articles and short lists of the best books on various topics. Also has class syllabi. One could probably email either of these guys and get a personal response to well thought out questions, comments.

Sex and the City of man

2004-01-27T12:40:00.000-08:00

The LA Times is not a newspaper. It is barely worthy to be used as kindling or...even for other, more visceral purposes. The LA Times is not even propoganda. Its more like a newsletter for the enemies of the revolution to keep up on each other. Sex and the City episodes are being played on weekends in NY and LA to celebrate the end of the show. Some quotes: "It's these universal truths of singledom that helped propel the show to heights of popularity, while sparking debate on what it means to be single and sexually active in modern America." Wow. Old whores...cougars, as we like to call them..."look at that cougar leering at you, stalking her prey"...I guess in a way they are a universal truth of singledom...but I don't think thats what these cats are trying to say here. I also didn't know the LA Times believed in universal truth, but apparently, every once in a while it comes in handy. "It's four women that actually talk the way woman friends talk" Well, I wouldn't know, but somehow I think that actually might be false. If it was true I'd have to seriously think about going gay. "I don't have a woman friend that I know of any age, young or old, who doesn't love this show and feel sad that it's coming to an end." Exactly. Thats because you live in a crazed fantasy world of debauchery, far above and out of reach of the rest of the population...and you all wish your sluttish lives could be as easy as they are on the show... "It speaks to me," said Wendy Krueger, a single 51-year-old from West Hollywood. "All the dilemmas, all the things you question in your mind every time you have a date or don't have a date. What am I doing wrong? What are they doing wrong?" Good question. Think about it Wendy, think about it.

Our God is a wealthy God

2004-01-27T00:01:00.000-08:00

or how to pass through the eye of the needle Sunny day. SoCal stoplight. Gleeming metals. A Mercedes Benz SUV prominently idling over lesser vehicles. Bleach streaks of blonde in the hair of a hip soccer mom. License plate outlined by black plastic square. White letters: GOD IS AWESOME Like, totally.

You know you and your roommates are gnarly more-than-undergrad bachelor dudes when

2004-01-26T23:16:00.000-08:00

You open the freezer door to get a nasty microwave frozen burrito (tastes like wet concrete wrapped in a piece of canvas) and wonder what the empty plastic tennis ball tube is doing in there. You take it off the shelf and look--and there is the largest Black Widow spider you have ever seen in its own huge cryogenic chamber. And then you remember that this was on top of the TV bookshelf, but everyone forgot where it went. Snicker. "Hey", towards the living room, "so this is where it went." Forgot about that. Put it back and go to the table to eat the unevenly unthawed burrito and a side dish of tunafish out of a can dumped onto the last crusty piece of bread on the long gone loaf. Forgot something...oh yeah...mustard...maybe that will help. Meanwhile, a black widow is in the freezer, waiting patiently for technology to develop.

Two Spirits

2004-01-26T03:49:00.000-08:00

The spirit of modern academia, artsy culture, elite intellectuals et al is smug. You can't argue with it. You can't explain or try to have a conversation. Because they KNOW. And you don't. You don't have a PhD or an exhibit in SoHo or wherever in whatever new "in" part of the city of man it might be. You just aren't as honest. You don't project the cool vibe of confidence. You don't understand what they have been through and how hardcore they are. You haven't and can't and won't ever see the beauty that they can, because you are either not professional or experienced enough or both. Make your case, and watch their lips curl in a condescending smile. Its as if they know everything you mean concerning what you say and all the things you're not saying as well. The things you're not saying they know better than you and more. They don't need to respond. So they don't. You haven't read the secondary literature or taken the poison chemicals they have. You haven't suffered and been through it. You haven't been smart enough to hack it through to where they are. You are an ass--a meek and emotional ass. They are together, with it, and in the know. Or they are SO none of the above, that you are still...just an ass. There is no arguing about whether what they think or do is right or wrong, because those words are meaningless and you don't understand their inherent difficulties on account of your stupidy and lack of experience. Yet often times they have more than only kernels of truth in their sayings and habits and attititudes. We all know this simple temptation, this pressure, this mode. And I thought tonight...driving back from a pricey bar in old town Pasadena while three friends sang old standards of rock in the dark, way off key without any instruments, that I am happy...with those who are content to let it go and reveal themselves and sing out loud. This is the difference--they are humble enough not to care about the other stuff. They know that bad things and good things happen to everyone, and there is no use in hiding or calmly positing or making issues of coolness or intelligence or experience over getting dealt a bad or a good hand. They could all play that game, better than many, and project that smug air of peudo-knowledge based on half-truths, half-talents, pride and insecurity that masquerade as mystic knowledge, genius, humility and confidence. As a general rule, most people I am blessed to know usually avoid this. The is so, I think, because the undergrad we went or go to avoids it better than any place I have seen or even heard of. We are people. And people are...well, people. Fallen and weak and stupid and contradictory and fleshy and sweaty. And until one gets this, and gets the difference between this and the other, it is impossible to transcend the bodily. Without this realization, its all only airbrushing (if only to make one look spent and ragged) in the pursuit of one's own false image. All things lead to evil till one gets this, to evil and to self-destruction. You can sit around and think you got it, you know, and those others are heart sleeve wearing neanderthals all you want, and take solace in your pride that you think is humility, but that is a lie. A shallow, glossy made-to-order lie. To break through the high but brittle walls like this is to lose much--no smooth lines and playboy-sexy pretend, no easy affected airs, no safe and unrevealing revelations. No false confidence in sin. No hiding. No protected avoidance of the messy material side of man. No James Bond. No Hollywood genius. Just humanity--and admitting that humanity teeters proverbially and precariously between less than animal and hellfire and more than angelic and divine, many times haphazardly falling on one side or the other in the same hour. Its not pretty or sexy-as-in-movies. Its neither polished nor "hardcore," neither raw nor processed...its neither body nor soul...its both and then one and the other in all kinds of variations, changes, and gradiations. And its reality and truth. Its honest and solid. Its the start of actually moving forward. Old Plato, always teaching what one doesn't know and what one is not and what one shouldn't know and what one should not be. A difficult place to get to, but the only place possible to start from. A kind of maturity and humility...not enough, but more than nothing...a pre-req., required for further motion towards anything good, true and beautiful. And I am glad of that. Blog away about last night and in between and out at the margins and deep inside. Go ahead and write that thing and play that tune. Say it, out with it and move forward. No dwelling, brooding, withholding, nurturing evil seeds. No dogged refusals to see, hear and receive. No pretenses. If this means awkwardness, rejection, and a sick feeling in your stomach, let that be. If its cheesy, trite, rough, imperfect, or in any other ways embarrassing, remember that everyone is in the same state. And those who act like this is not the case are ten times worse off than you are. A dirty bar bathroom tonight. Scrawlings in the stall in between the tiles on the grouting. The first guy (more worn than the other), who I am sure had a higher SAT score and listened to more obscure music and watched more obscure films than the second guy, wrote "Dissolution" with an arrow-line drawn in between the tiles through to "Me" and on around a corner down below to "You." Got your attention and seamed meaningful compared to the usual micro-graffiti of the one dirty but usable stall in a bar. The second guy moved away from this etching and the other perversities and wrote: *Honor* Whoever he was, I'll still throw all in with him any day, and to hell with wired and tight pretensions and their ilk. Let it flow messy rather than at all, and bring it all out and go from there. There is a difference between the cliche or the avante garde and the mean of plain old unflashy truth. And it is the Light that sets us free.

2004-01-25T06:56:00.000-08:00

I see the morning light I see the morning light Well it's not because I'm an early riser I didn't go to sleep last night

An Example-today's emails thus far

2004-01-25T06:14:00.000-08:00

Just another day in academia. Just another message in the clogged student email account. The School of Religion and the Council of Zoroastrian Studies, present Festival of Fire 3000th Zoroastrian anniversary celebration including lectures on the Zoroastrian religion, Persian food and fireworks! Events Include: ~ Cultural Dance ~ ~ Worshippers of Mind ~ Presented by Arthur Pearlstein ~ The First Savior, Then & Now ~ Presented by Timothy Smith ~ Sadeh Fire Ceremony ~ with Fireworks by Pyro Spectacular Choreographer for the 2004 Olympic Games Entertainment for children! FREE ADMISSION! This is a "learning experience" for all of us. Yawn. The diversity of us will teach us all about ourselves. Stretch. It is unfortunate that many people do not know of the pseodo-traditions of Zorastrianism. Flick alarmclock on. Oh look, a movie showing on campus: "Frida" chronicles the life Frida Kahlo (Salma Hayek) shared unflinchingly and openly with her Diego Rivera (Alfred Molina - Chocolat), as the young couple took the art world by storm. From her complex and enduring relationship with her mentor and husband to her illicit and controversial affair with Leon Trotsky, to her provocative and romantic entanglements with women, Frida Kahlo lived a bold and uncompromising life as a political, artistic, and sexual revolutionary. Also starring Antonio Banderas, Ashley Judd, Edward Norton, and Geoffrey Rush. :Triumph voice: Yessss, yessssss...a sexual revolutionary...how uncompromising...that was a tough stance to take, yes? What a martyr... "complex" relationship, yesss...this means you...had sex with men other than him, yes? "Enduring" relationship...yess...this means you both were disfunctional enough to go back to each other, yes? Oh not a "controversial affair!"...I like the ones that are conventional and accepted...not "illicit" ...yess, yess...Trotsky....hmmm..."provocative and romantic entanglements"...so she got around, yes? Thats toootaally cool man, tootally cool. But important thing is that she was happy her whole life yes? Well at least she suffered for the right causes, yes? :Triumph voice: Yawn. Never heard that plot before...So artistic...so "bold"...so boring... Oh great. A concert. That speaks to a generation: GET READY TO ROCK! THE VOLKSWAGEN MUSIC ED. TOUR ROLLS INTO THE COLLEGES ON THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 6th AT 12NOON AT MUDD QUAD Presented by VW and ASCMC in association with Bridges Auditorium At the Volkswagen Music Ed. Tour Village on Mudd Quad students will have the opportunity to listen to radiovw.com, race motorized toy-size New Beetles, get tattoo-ed, learn to DJ, and much, much more. Like Freebies? We've got lots. You can enter to win a two-year lease on a 2004 VOLKSWAGEN GTI while you test your VW IQ in the " Drivers Ed" tent. Get free stuff you can't live without like Snapple beverages, AT&T WebCents cards, and Mentos mints...and if you get " caught" by our roaming Polaroid Photographer, there'll be even more loot to take home! And that night students can head off to a cool concert at Bridges Auditorium starring THE ATARIS and VENDETTA RED - - Rolling Stone Magazine's picks for up-and coming bands to watch. Tickets for Students are only $8.00 and some good seats are still available! Stretch. Yawn. Grad school email. Better than NyQuil. Lights out.

What Peat Moss, Bill Bennett, small yuppie villages and the Revolution have in common

2004-01-25T05:44:00.000-08:00

Up to Ojai again for a planning session...which interestingly enough took a turn into several poker games and a bottle of Laphroaig...and Lagavulin...and other assorted liquids that kill brain cells. One step in the door and something was obviously awry. In many respects. It took till now to sort it all out. But after some confused awkward moments (and as for the cause of some of them, are they not written in the annals of Seldom Sober?), the night began to fly...and the poker began...why is gambling so damn exhilarating? For some, it is not. For me it is like injecting crack straight into the veins. I lost a twenty dollar bill, which, adjusted for graduate school, is probably the equivalent of 10,000 dollars--which for Bill Bennett is the equivalent of playing one hand of nickel video poker. But oh so fun...the prodigal son leaps with joy at the idea of starting another game at 4 in the morning...and then some late night alcohol enhanced conversation, and sleep on a floor as the birds start to chirp outside. Not a sin (necessarily), gambling...but where does the pleasure come from in flirting with losing money...and competing in the context of a strange chance-driven cocktail of numbers and risk taking. Partly the joy is from some not-so-bad desires/character traits, I think. And the other part I'm a little suspicious of. This suspicious part seems to be clearly opposed to reason, thus developing one strand of the weekend's (thankfully) many themes. Some plans were made, but yes, we are having fun, and we are acting before we think every so often. What is clear is that there will be a website in a few months, and this will have arguments on various social issues and intellectual disciplines, with ample linkage to a large quantity of selected ammo. It will be fairly substantial before it is revealed. Meanwhile, the blogs are going to grow exponentially in the next few weeks. Each one will develop over time...have fun watching this. You will not be let down. You will not be allowed to turn on and tune in and drop out. And we are going to play a lot more Texas Hold 'em. Then the morning after. I awoke on seldom sober's floor, an act to which I am now accustomed. The muscles in my face did not feel as if they were attached to anything for a while. It was then that I realized there was still alcohol in my bloodstream, I had not been sleeping for that long at all, and was actually moderately...hammered...the night before. Somewhere in the midst of smoke and chips and throwing it all in (YEAHHHH baaybee) radical changes in the balances and levels of the bloodstream had been woefully neglected. But Ojai is a forgiving, pleasant place for hangovers. Sunny and light breezes...very relaxed folks strolling among the absurd amount of coffee shops...and a pleasant morning chat with a former professor. Then more sleep...and then the long neglected waves of conscience began to start churning. Confession, a practice that some Catholics even today still ascribe to, was calling. A trip to the penalty box was in order. It was sometime after this that my mind became a little less dark, as is usually the case. Had a good block of time afterwards to ponder all the ways I had been a complete ass without even realizing it. C.S. Lewis says somewhere this sort of turning towards the good is like peeling a scab--hurts but good when its over. Never quite got that metaphor, but I think it somehow applies here. So, as is always the case for everyone, after a while you survey the scene, see how far back you've rolled down the hill and what kinds of damage you've done...and do what you can to shore some fragments against some ruins...pick up your cross again, mix some metaphors, and keep on keeping on. I thought about that at 4 in the morning in the backyard...one eye on the Coke can underneath the filthy table and the other keeping an eye out for the fat ugly-ass suburban possum shuffling around in the grass...real quiet night though...even the raging torrent of steel that is usually the 210 had dwindled to a few random trucks hurtling on down the road... And I think that the revolution will not be stained by pride, vanity, and arrogance. Nor will the revolution be advanced by bleeding into the "New Post" box. The revolution will not allow for tired complaints and accusations based on skewed visions of reality. The revolution will be honest and forthright. There is not time for dallying in pettiness and prideful follies and wasted passions channeled poorly into pseudo-intellectual or poetic drivel. We will not always be on the mark, and our talents will only allow for so much, but it will be with manly courage and righteous motives that we shall set forth. One loses some zest and sparkle when this is the case, but gains depth and clarity. It is the other side that confuses and confounds and makes awkward. It is the other side that promotes boring, plodding rubbish. Life is what we offer, and life is motion and light. Let them wallow in their stagnant pools of pride. They bask in their own glory as they manipulate and fight their pathetic little battles amongst themselves. They claim life and choice and oh-so-cool honesty as they make their sophistic case for sin. We know their siren song, and it means death. The revolution will be live.

Experimental Phase Officially Over.

2004-01-25T02:49:00.000-08:00

The First Shift in the shaping of the blog has begun. Much was learned in the experimental phase. Seldom Sober, God Bless him, is still leading the charge. Pushing the boundaries is good, and there may even be some complaint about the, ahem...revisions... just made here. But they were necessary for various reasons. (I failed to file my TPS reports on many levels.) After all, the revolution will not be televised or archived. The revolution will be live.

The Learning Curve

2004-01-25T02:15:00.000-08:00

Diaries, or anything like unto them, have a tendency to (big suprise) alternate between the nauseatingly narcissistic and the excrutiatingly boring.

Sometimes when I get drunk I turn into a 16 year old high school kid wearing black.

2004-01-25T02:09:00.000-08:00

-Seldom Sober Ditto. Don't we all, really. Funny, when one loses one's REASON...

Churchill's parrot

2004-01-24T18:29:00.000-08:00

This is nice.

Best description I heard today about why Bush is an alright President

2004-01-24T18:27:00.000-08:00

even for all his flaws... He doesn't trust experts.

ROUNDTRIP

2004-01-22T23:46:00.000-08:00

This showed up in my email box today. I like to get these deals sent to me. Its worth it just to know that its possible, and to gain a few minutes of pleasant fantasy. Also, its free. Playing the lottery and gambling costs money. ROUNDTRIP FROM: TO: FARE*: ------------------------------------------------------------- Los Angeles, CA Frankfurt, Germany $359 Los Angeles, CA Madrid, Spain $359 Los Angeles, CA Paris, France $349 Los Angeles, CA Rome, Italy $389

An even further Sign of the Times

2004-01-22T20:54:00.000-08:00

This is the Regent Beverly Wilshire, "an oasis of elegance, warmth and impeccable service at one of the world's most famous intersections - Rodeo Drive and Wilshire Boulevard." This mansion hotel for the absurdly wealthy contains all kinds of perks for those who wish to pass their camel through the eye of a needle (verse 23), including the "Pretty Woman Suite Getaway" which "celebrates girlfriends, pampering and world-renowned shopping." Set at two streets dedicated almost exlusively to mammon, I'm sure it is often used by good organizations to raise money as such hotels often are. Apparently last evening, ever inconstant and flighty elegance decided to be cold and peccable. What can be gathered at this point from Seldom Sober is that a manager of the oasis in the midst of the parched desert that is the sparkling debauchery of Beverly Hills, accosted a girl in her early twenties and almost immediately thereafter the cops directed her out into a car and off to jail. It took a few of Beverly Hills finest to escort the 110 pound girl into the vehicle and behind bars. She couldn't call collect as her friends all had cell phones which don't take collect calls, the pokey phone didn't do long distance, and all her friends were out of the area code. She stays there until someone drives in with her license, and is let go at 4:00 in the morning. Meanwhile, in Compton, between 1-3 people were probably murdered, and a young black man could easily have been watching his blood drain red onto a painted yellow line in the middle of a road, waiting for an ambulance. A small nervous crowd in the neighborhood probably watched from between the bars on their screen doors, having called the cops an hour before when the scuffle started. But order must be kept in Beverly Hills. You see, she and her friends had the nerve to distribute flyers in the midst of the city of mammon, even inside this temple for mammon worshiping wayfarers, a flier that in general mentioned the facts described in the post below. I could have some of this wrong (perhaps it was really her fault...right?!?!...maybe there is a law that prevents them from doing what they did...so what, etc.), and one could offer objections, but I think the major gist of it will still stand. This isn't time to get mad at the "man," or the government, although if possible action should be taken there. Its not a fascist regime thats the problem. One could say the girl may have gone on a whim, etc., but when it comes down to it thats why we all do anything...at some point you stop thinking and just do. And besides, its known to all that she believes in the cause she was there for, regardless of how serious all the "protesters" took the event. (If they took it too seriously they'd all be psychos.) What is at root here is that mammon and those comfortable in it and in their nice little charitable and well meaning events don't like to be bothered. They don't like to be reminded of those nasty serious issues that make one use REASON. They don't like to be pricked and poked by those who keep pointing them to the big animals they ignore when they walk quickly past the dark corners of their minds. Beyond all the people involved, there are other forces too...and they don't like their charges to be reminded that ripping apart the undeveloped bodies of babies is wrong even though we can't see it happen, and that honoring those who support such things is not what charitable Catholic orders ought to be doing, even if such "respected" politicians bring in money or have spent large portions of their life trying to do nice things in other countries. The Revolution will be live.

Sign of the Times

2004-01-22T19:19:00.000-08:00

This is the some of the mission of the Hospitaller Brothers, a Catholic order: "As Hospitaller Brothers of St. John of God, we strive to incarnate in ever greater depth the sentiments of Christ towards the sick and those in need and to manifest these sentiments with actions of mercy: we make ourselves weak with the weak and help them as the most favored ones of the Kingdom; we proclaim to them the Father’s love and the mystery of their complete salvation; we defend their rights; and we offer our lives for them. We dedicate ourselves with joy to helping those who suffer with those attitudes and actions which characterize the Brother of Saint John of God: humble, patient and responsible service; respect for, and faithfulness to, the person; understanding, loving-kindness and self-denial; sharing in the anxieties and hopes of those who suffer. For them our life is a sign and proclamation of the coming of the kingdom of God." This is a quote from NARAL , a rabid pro-abortion organization that advocates abortion on demand (i.e. without any restrictions whatsoever) about a well known liberal politician: "Former Senator George Mitchell's position on death of the unborn, like that of many lawmakers, evolved over the course of his career. And from 1986 on, Mitchell had a stellar NARAL rating and was an unwavering leader on this issue. That earns him an 'A.'" The Hospitallers recently made up and gave an award last night: "The Award will be presented to its namesake – the Honorable George J. Mitchell for his ongoing involvement and dedication to peace keeping and the prevention of crisis in international affairs." To say nothing of his record in international affairs and other matters, which could be questioned, this presents a bit of a problem. You see, the Catholic Church from which and in which the order lives, moves and has its being, has been around now for about 2000 years, and has always been against the "terminatinon" of innocent life. This means it is against procedures such as abortion, wherein the "weak" (developing humans in a mothers womb), have been known to "suffer"as they are torn to pieces inside of their mother, or perhaps are partially delivered and have the base of their neck pierced and their brains sucked out and then are thrown away. One would think that the brothers would want to share "in the anxieties and hopes of those who suffer" like the helpless innocent victims of abortion do. But apparently the way in which the brothers make their lives for the unborn "a sign and proclamation of the coming of the kingdom of God" is to honor and use for mammon a man who has consistently wielded his considerable power to allow their deaths to continue. To quote snoop doggy dog, "this kind of shit happens all the time." It ought to be noted that this fundraising award was done by the foundation that raises money for the brothers, not the brothers themselves, although the two are (and thats the real trick isnt it) obviously related. And so it goes. Willing to turn a blind eye to those dirty little issues that no one likes to DRAG out on the table, "Catholics" go on about their merry way contradicting themselves while innocent people suffer...and no one looked after the common good.

Random Thought

2004-01-22T14:58:00.000-08:00

Any email you get that ends like this: "So to sum up: We maybe able to leverage blog-power for the cause of the revolution, I dont know why I'm a pagan, we are the tainted, pray for [Kimmy], keep blogging." makes up for all the spam mail you get. I'm at computer labs (a room horribly depressing white-washed wall graduate school room with white everything and black computers all facing a blank pull down screed screen and an equally black neo-chalk board for dry markers) doing random work errands and email and scheduling and whatnot. Due to technically difficulties, I still haven't registered for class yet this semester. And...alcohol isn't even a factor... I forgot to mention the completely out of place artwork that looks like something from an advanced "landscapes" art class in community college...and doesn't fit in at all....paintings that just kind of labor on the walls and wish they could fall down and hide themselves... Back to scheduling profs to speak about church and state...and hoping my one of my friends is not in jail.

Chugging away...the State of the Union

2004-01-21T21:20:00.000-08:00

Just read Bush's state o' the union. Not bad, considering all the new blahblah domestic stuff thats obvious just for the masses (or least the wealthy masses who vote like uhmmm...oh yeah, old people!) ...even there though much of it is small feints in the right direction...although the proposed "reforms" in medicare, etc are obviously small potatoes stuff. And there is no excuse in my mind for the shameless pandering that gives seniors (an overall wealthy segment of the population) a few bucks off a month for their pills and, of course, will cost us dearly. But once the social security altar was erected there was no turning back. I'm not counting on any of that fat chunk of the paycheck ever coming back to me...may as well give 'em more. Boring but solid defense of the war, but thats as it has to be to counter the even more boring, predictable attacks on it. And this was good: "We also hear doubts that democracy is a realistic goal for the greater Middle East, where freedom is rare. Yet it is mistaken, and condescending, to assume that whole cultures and great religions are incompatible with liberty and self-government. I believe that God has planted in every heart the desire to live in freedom. And even when that desire is crushed by tyranny for decades, it will rise again." Thank God for that--an understanding that we really and truly ought to hold that the Declaration is self-evidently right, and all men are created equal, etc...and therefore a rational regime is possible over there, just as it was in post-war Germany and Japan. Do we know enough about ourselves, though, to teach the middle east? Overall a decent conservative speech introducing some new and defending some old solid policies, stretched thin by both the necessary and so-called necessary political concessions and slightly tainted by the willingness to placate. Mostly the same moderate but in the RIGHT direction sort of stuff. Pro-Family stuff was good too and hopefully more than symbolic...faith based program and abstinence program funding increases...fair enough... Of course, such speeches don't do a hell of a lot...its good enough that no mistakes are made...the real battle is in the courts and the pending nominations to them right now and the rest is really at the margins stuff... And meanwhile, as usual, calypso singers laugh at them and fishermen hold flowers...

Crap begun is at least more than nothing done

2004-01-21T19:00:00.000-08:00

So. right. The "Blog." This weekend...I went to a poetry reading in Ojai, California...a very yuppie weekend town in a stunningly beautiful valley that that closes down when most other places are just starting to buzz. Think pot rather than alchohol, new age mansions over cathedrals, ex-pseudo-almost famous-rockstars over bums, and more than enough cops for the population...who oddly enough don't seem to trust anyone under thirty...especially when they are driving vehicles worth under thirty--grand. Right. The odd thing is the poetry reading in this newage yuppie everything-that-refutes-the-60s-brought-to-you-by-those-who-said-it-was-great paradise. A bunch of kids in undergrad or recently graduated from a small Catholic great books college nearby, most of whom go to mass every week and take things like truth, the good, and the beautiful seriously...sans new age drivel, money, or even (for the most part) marijuana. And in contrast to mumbling impotent spells and ex60s aging boomer platitudes...they read solid and colorful poetry. In complete juxtaposition to the entire setting. You get it? It was IRONIC. Yeah. So anyway, the cops did show up. At the end of the night, with four guys in various states of intoxication (alchohol may be a factor) while bob dylan hummed away in the background, in response to a noise complaint. I don't think he (the cop, not dylan--bob would have got it right away, dammit) got the irony, especially as he said in all seriousness: "You guys must throw one hell of a poetry reading, because we got a complaint..." but there it was. Probably at one of the only residences in the area that didn't habitually smell like reefer and sex. This wasn't a good thing for my friends including seldomsober, who along with the others are trying not to get evicted. I figure that given the attempt to give the beautiful its due that he made, all will be well. But then again, this is Ojai we're talking about. Let me rephrase that. This is OJAI we're talking about. Solar power panels and hawks and owls and shallow pseudo philosophy good, flesh and blood younger people and real poetry bad. But as for many of these tales, are they not written in the annals of Seldom Sober? It was a good night...decent weekend. The drive back too...we took a scenic route down the PCH and then over to Mullhulland Drive...square acres of money as far as the eye could see set solidly on the hills overlooking what they had wrought...North Hollywood and Studio City...the Universal building close enough to take a RPG hit, we figured. It was quiet for a long while down all those windy roads of wealth...unnatural and disordered geometrical postmodern shapes they call houses on largely barren and brown brush-ladden hills...no "classist" comments made...until one of my roomates...call him "Peregrine"...as we all looked from the sweeping views of the smog filled valley below to the mindnumbing and stomach churning square acres of money in the hills before us..."I don't think a lot of the people here got up here by being nice to others..." So sunny ocean drive, the hills and money...down, down into Hollywood...brief beer stop at some girls' Apt. we know and then over to one of my favorite bars...the Dresden...(yess, yess it was in the movie Swingers) for some laidback 5 dollar gin and tonics in an LA faux classy style.