I swear I don't get all my information from Andrew Sullivan, but I thought it worth highlighting his irritation at John Derbyshire's invocation of the zeks, particularly in light of my earlier comments. It is pretty stupid (Derbyshire's invocation, not Sullivan's irritation (let alone my ealier comments!)), and Derb does himself no favors by linking to a Wikipedia entry on the matter, in which we learn that "the working conditions at the BBK Camp were brutal. The mortality was about 20%. Still more became sick and disabled." There are many solid, perfectly reasonable libertarian objections to Obama's "America Serves" program, but its embarrassing for Derbyshire to carry on as though he'd never heard of Robert Conquest.
Shame, too, since he was doing so well earlier this week. The very day after the election, he was able to keep his head when all about him were losing theirs:
Not that our president-elect is going to roar through the U.S. economy nationalizing the means of production, distribution, and exchange. (The current administration has that well in hand, in any case.) Nor, I am pretty sure, will he incite a violent class war, with the losers hustled off to labor camps or driven into exile with the family jewelry sewn into their petticoats. We are long past the point where classical Marxism has any application. Obama can’t incite the workers to seize control of the factories: the factories are all in China. He can’t consolidate peasant small-holdings into communal farms, because there aren’t any peasant small-holdings; and if he tried anyway, no one would notice, farming being the occupation of less than half of one percent of us.
Derbyshire is one of the very few* National Review-affiliated writers worth checking in with now and again; he at least seems to understand why communism and socialism are different from the garden-variety 'redistribution' schemes favored by President-elect Obama, Senator McCain, George W Bush, Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan and every other significant figure in American government from WWII to the present day. He has an interest in science, knows how to recite poetry and is often very funny, sometimes even intentionally. He even once admitted an affection for MAD magazine! So I can't help but overlook the odd rhetorical overzealousness; I'd hate for the next four years of Obama-directed mash notes to be too well-mannered.
*Well, we can't forget Florence King, can we? And, uh, lets' see...Andrew Stuttaford has occasionally made sense in the past (I think I'm thinking about Andrew Stuttaford; its someone named Andrew, and it sure isn't Andrew McCarthy). David Frum has his moments, I guess. They may be others, but I can't be bothered to check right now...
Friday, November 7, 2008
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Hard Times
I've never felt the effects of booms or busts, at least not directly. I still send my bills out one-at-a-time, just to make sure that all my checks don't come due all at once; this is what I've done for the last ten years, no matter how much money is being made or lost at any one time by assorted plutocrats, capitalists and masters of the universe. This state of affairs has everything to do with my own choices, priorities and disposition. Others, in the US and elsewhere, find themselves in much more dire straits and with far fewer options.
The only change I've noticed in my life as a result of the current economic 'crisis' has been a proliferation of news and feature stories detailing the sudden immiseration of the of those (formerly) employed in the banking and financial industries. I mean, how can we dare to call ourselves civilized when we read of indignities such as these (from the 11/3/08 issue of New York):
Shortly after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, Stan, an equities trader at a midsize Wall Street firm, realized that he was going to have to break some bad news to his wife: They'd need to put off remodeling the kitchen of their 100-year-old Westchester Colonial until the financial crisis passes. "Tell her before you leave the office," one of Stan's co-workers advised him. "That way she can get her crying done while you are on the train."
In the end, Stan ignoed his colleague's advice and told Amy the bad news about the kitchen face-to-face. "Well, I broke down in tears," she says....
"You get to the point where you almost don't want to go home," Stan says at a softball game at the New York Athletic Club in Westchester. "You're always bringing bad news. You start looking for things you need to cut back on. But you know that every cut is a cut into the life that your wife is used to living."
Amy agrees. "I'm always afraid of what I'm going to hear when he comes home," she says. "There are plenty of examples of scaling back that I can think of."
The only change I've noticed in my life as a result of the current economic 'crisis' has been a proliferation of news and feature stories detailing the sudden immiseration of the of those (formerly) employed in the banking and financial industries. I mean, how can we dare to call ourselves civilized when we read of indignities such as these (from the 11/3/08 issue of New York):
Shortly after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, Stan, an equities trader at a midsize Wall Street firm, realized that he was going to have to break some bad news to his wife: They'd need to put off remodeling the kitchen of their 100-year-old Westchester Colonial until the financial crisis passes. "Tell her before you leave the office," one of Stan's co-workers advised him. "That way she can get her crying done while you are on the train."
In the end, Stan ignoed his colleague's advice and told Amy the bad news about the kitchen face-to-face. "Well, I broke down in tears," she says....
"You get to the point where you almost don't want to go home," Stan says at a softball game at the New York Athletic Club in Westchester. "You're always bringing bad news. You start looking for things you need to cut back on. But you know that every cut is a cut into the life that your wife is used to living."
Amy agrees. "I'm always afraid of what I'm going to hear when he comes home," she says. "There are plenty of examples of scaling back that I can think of."
Night Of The Long Knives
I laughed - actually laughed - at my wife for believing in the early-September hearsay regarding young Trig Palin's parentage. Rumor had it that his mom wasn't the Governor of Alaska, but rather her eldest (unwed) daughter; Grandma was merely stepping in to protect the family honor. None of this was ever proven (but, as both Mrs. Choker and Andrew Sullivan are quick to point out, it hasn't been disproved either!), and it all immediately seemed to me to be far too good to be true.
So consider that a hedge; if the latest allegations of certain, ah, gaps in Gov. Palin's knowledge - among them the names of the countries in NAFTA and Africa's status as a continent, not a country - turn out to be overblown or even outright bullcrap, let it be known that I didn't fall for every rumor about this weird woman. As it stands, this one feels about right. Even before this news hit, I didn't think that it strained credibility to suggest that Sara-cuda was a bit of a knucklehead. I don't get the impression that she lacks ability to broaden her horizons, expand her mind or learn about the world - clearly, there's at least a light in the attic. But I do sense that she doesn't see any particular reason to do this, nor does she think its a particularly admirable habit for others to take up. That was always part of her appeal, anyway. A Michelle Malkin commentator makes my point very nicely:
I’ve heard it was Romney’s ex-aides who were doing this because they want him to run again in 2012, not Palin.
Anyway, I’ve decided I am not watching any news channels, including FOX for one year. I will get my news from reliable blogs, which are more accurate than any news channel anyway. Screw the MSM.
That'll show 'em! I was promised that my vote for Obama would buy me some internecine GOP strife, and it looks like I won't be disappointed. As you can see, Malkin and her bunch are very upset (best comment so far belongs not to the above-quoted dingbat, but to someone known (ironically) as 'Just a Thought', who not only stands up to be counted ("Let me just go on record here saying that Sarah Palin has my vote for ANY ELECTED POSITION SHE CHOOSES! If I can legally vote for her, she doesn’t need to ask, she has my vote"), but manfully offers to protect the Palin family from all enemies foreign and domestic ("Oh, Todd, if you feel like you need any help keeping your family safe, I’m there. Your wife is way too precious an asset to the world to chance anything bad happening to her.") Wotta guy!), and RedState has announced 'Operation Leper' ("We're tracking down all the people from the McCain campaign now whispering smears against Governor Palin to Carl Cameron and others...It is our expressed intention to make these few people political lepers." Get it?), which will likely have just as much impact as every other 'Operation' carried out by someone other than the military. In terms of value-for-your-vote, this beats a free cup of coffee with a bat.
For eight years I was a real spoilsport about Bush=Hitler rhetoric, primly informing anyone who, say, compared 9/11 to the Reichstag Fire that, not only were they an ignoramus, but they were more than a little disrespectful of the victims of a real authoritarian regime (you'd think conservatives - who usually had my back in that case - might remember that next time they think about calling Obama a 'communist', but I guess now's not the time to expect consistancy). But what better way to celebrate a new administration (not to mention a new AC/DC album!) than to indulge myself at last. It may be a new day for some, but a long night for others.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Stay Classy, San Diego
The goons over at NRO are trying to hold it together, but they just can't help themselves. What say you, Mark Levin?
John McCain just gave a classy concession speech. If McCain had won, we were told of possible riots.
John McCain just gave a classy concession speech. If McCain had won, we were told of possible riots.
In Which I Smile, Rub My Palms Together and Say "Exxxxxcellent!"
My local AM talk station is dominated by the likes of Hugh Hewitt, Michael Savage, and Michael Medved (The call letters? WIND, no lie). Much of my enthusiasm for an Obama victory tomorrow - okay, most of it; maybe all of it - has to do with the weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth that will no doubt take place in right-wing noise machine circles. What can I say? The misfortunes and sorrows of others are amusing to me.
I'm pretty equal opportunity about it, too. When I lived in Madison, WI I took great pleasure in the histrionics that greeted the second Bush term. Stumbling into my office the day after the election, sleep-deprived and hung over, I was snapped back into lucidity when I noticed despondent liberals actually crying and hugging each other in public. "Its okay," one nearby sad sack said to another. "You did everything you could." I chuckled to myself as I walked away, knowing full well I that I was in for a four-year treat.
This NYT report from the other day brought this scene back to life for me.
Certainly, national and swing state polls suggest that Democrats might allow themselves a deep breath or two. But liberals are not inclined to relax, given the circumstances of their last two defeats. Hanging chad, the Supreme Court decisions, and Florida and Ohio’s electoral problems: it is a lifetime of agita to staunch Democrats. The prospect of success now comes scented with dread.
But you haven't even lost the election yet! Are you guys so determined to provide me with sadistic glee that you won't even wait for the results?
To walk on Broadway, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, is to feel their pain. “Oh, God, I’m optimistic, but I can’t look at the polls,” said Patricia Kuhlman, 54, nervously tapping her Obama/Biden ’08 button. “I’m a PBS/NPR kind of person, and, O.K., I do look at some polls.”
Ms. Kuhlman shakes her head and says, “If he doesn’t get this, I’ll be crying so hard.”
I'd like to think that, somewhere, Hugh Hewitt is saying the same thing.
I'm pretty equal opportunity about it, too. When I lived in Madison, WI I took great pleasure in the histrionics that greeted the second Bush term. Stumbling into my office the day after the election, sleep-deprived and hung over, I was snapped back into lucidity when I noticed despondent liberals actually crying and hugging each other in public. "Its okay," one nearby sad sack said to another. "You did everything you could." I chuckled to myself as I walked away, knowing full well I that I was in for a four-year treat.
This NYT report from the other day brought this scene back to life for me.
Certainly, national and swing state polls suggest that Democrats might allow themselves a deep breath or two. But liberals are not inclined to relax, given the circumstances of their last two defeats. Hanging chad, the Supreme Court decisions, and Florida and Ohio’s electoral problems: it is a lifetime of agita to staunch Democrats. The prospect of success now comes scented with dread.
But you haven't even lost the election yet! Are you guys so determined to provide me with sadistic glee that you won't even wait for the results?
To walk on Broadway, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, is to feel their pain. “Oh, God, I’m optimistic, but I can’t look at the polls,” said Patricia Kuhlman, 54, nervously tapping her Obama/Biden ’08 button. “I’m a PBS/NPR kind of person, and, O.K., I do look at some polls.”
Ms. Kuhlman shakes her head and says, “If he doesn’t get this, I’ll be crying so hard.”
I'd like to think that, somewhere, Hugh Hewitt is saying the same thing.
R.I.P. My Martini Glass
I'd been using this particular glass since 2000. It had been a faithful companion and source of consolation over the years, particularly during election nights. I know it would've had a busy night had it hung on 'til tomorrow, but it was finally sent off to its reward tonight, thanks to my incredible clumsiness. Its successor, purchased hastily thereafter at Wal-Mart (hey, lay off, where else can you go to buy cocktail glasses at 11PM?), was inaugerated moments later. I poured a little bit out before I had my first sip.
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