Wednesday, July 02, 2008
The painted ponies go up and down...
And on and on on and...
So Christopher Hitchens, noted commentator and potential wet-brain, gave himself up for water-boarding. That may be the most humane thing he’s done in years. He has a piece on it in and up-coming Vogue. Go find it on the web: it’s quite sober and sobering. The man is a fire-breather: about as far to the right as Michelle Malkin, only with talent and a certain sense of irony. Water-boarding he admits, is torture—no way around it. It has to be bad if he’d cop to his feelings about it.
Now, if only Dubya and Cheney and McCain would submit to it, for educational purposes, of course. Maybe Limbaugh and O’Reilly will volunteer, just to show that anyone who thinks it’s torture is a secret pinko closet pansy commie-symp.
So, the world lurches on. Since I spent a couple of days watching trees and chipmonks, butterflies, wild roses, yarrow, firs—you know, nature—the ghastliness of the current American scene is ever clearer. Sure, it’s as bad or worse in a lot of other places, but so what? If you have a painfully broken leg, it doesn’t hurt less because there’s someone with two broken legs. There’s perspective and there’s perspective. Obviously, the government of Sweden or The Netherlands isn’t imprisoning such a high percentage of populations, nor are they engaged in enthusiastic squashing of dissent. Yeah, and fewer babies die there than here, and people live longer, too. Once upon a time, the U.S.A. was the last best hope. It doesn’t seem to be, anymore.
The Demicans are all a-twitter because Obama has made a series of right turns: guns are good, the war funding is good, the war on terror is OK, “faith-based” groups are good, and so on. I’m wondering when he’s going to come out against abortion and anti-gay rights. He will, if his handlers think McLame is starting to make a stronger showing. Sort of like what the Clintons did with “health care” and “welfare reform.” Sure: the Democratic Machine isn’t going to let anybody rock the boat too much. But...what are you going to do? Well, my friend Phil, another friend, Jim, and assorted others (me, too) will hold our noses and vote for Obama, because no matter how much he’s a political adventurer, he’s better than the other guy. This is the way it is. We don’t vote for the best man, we vote for the lesser of two evils....
Bob Luthmers, a guy I used to know in Canada, had a poem/song that went
Gee but it’s great
accepting your fate
in the fascist state.
Yup.
So Christopher Hitchens, noted commentator and potential wet-brain, gave himself up for water-boarding. That may be the most humane thing he’s done in years. He has a piece on it in and up-coming Vogue. Go find it on the web: it’s quite sober and sobering. The man is a fire-breather: about as far to the right as Michelle Malkin, only with talent and a certain sense of irony. Water-boarding he admits, is torture—no way around it. It has to be bad if he’d cop to his feelings about it.
Now, if only Dubya and Cheney and McCain would submit to it, for educational purposes, of course. Maybe Limbaugh and O’Reilly will volunteer, just to show that anyone who thinks it’s torture is a secret pinko closet pansy commie-symp.
So, the world lurches on. Since I spent a couple of days watching trees and chipmonks, butterflies, wild roses, yarrow, firs—you know, nature—the ghastliness of the current American scene is ever clearer. Sure, it’s as bad or worse in a lot of other places, but so what? If you have a painfully broken leg, it doesn’t hurt less because there’s someone with two broken legs. There’s perspective and there’s perspective. Obviously, the government of Sweden or The Netherlands isn’t imprisoning such a high percentage of populations, nor are they engaged in enthusiastic squashing of dissent. Yeah, and fewer babies die there than here, and people live longer, too. Once upon a time, the U.S.A. was the last best hope. It doesn’t seem to be, anymore.
The Demicans are all a-twitter because Obama has made a series of right turns: guns are good, the war funding is good, the war on terror is OK, “faith-based” groups are good, and so on. I’m wondering when he’s going to come out against abortion and anti-gay rights. He will, if his handlers think McLame is starting to make a stronger showing. Sort of like what the Clintons did with “health care” and “welfare reform.” Sure: the Democratic Machine isn’t going to let anybody rock the boat too much. But...what are you going to do? Well, my friend Phil, another friend, Jim, and assorted others (me, too) will hold our noses and vote for Obama, because no matter how much he’s a political adventurer, he’s better than the other guy. This is the way it is. We don’t vote for the best man, we vote for the lesser of two evils....
Bob Luthmers, a guy I used to know in Canada, had a poem/song that went
Gee but it’s great
accepting your fate
in the fascist state.
Yup.
