November, 2010 archive
Gotterdarnerung 0
Shaun looks at the hangover and speaks some sense:
Indeed, the vast majority of incumbents were re-elected and it pretty much will be business as usual for the 112th Congress — fulfilling promises made not to voters, but to lobbyists for special interests, and continued fealty to Wall Street at the expense of Main Street. This is because people didn’t vote for or against a broken system on Tuesday, but rather for or against candidates, most of whom depend on that system’s perpetuation. Is American democracy a beautiful thing, or what?
The part that follows the excerpt is worth two minutes of your time.
Long Day 0
Never worked a polling place before.
Six hours at the polling place annoying persons as they arrived to vote.
Actually, I tried to be not annoying.
Most of the voters, I must say were quite polite. Many were pleasant. No one was actively rude, though a few were somewhat curt.
I had several interesting conversations and reached enthusiastic agreement with one conservative voter that broadcast and print coverage of local elections is deplorably deficient, making it difficult to learn about the candidates or the issues; with one Democratic voter that persons who are willing to vote Republican and expect them to be different from 2000-2008 think fantastickal thoughts.
I brought a camp chair with me, but didn’t get to use it for more than half an hour total. I haven’t been on my feet continuously for so long since I worked in a factory.
Afterwards, some of us gathered with Andrew to celebrate, if not a victory, at least the end of the campaign.
The battle is never won. It is always just one in the series.
An election is not an end. It is another beginning.
Afterthought:
I’ll read the returns in the morning. They won’t change from now till then. CSI: New York reruns are great for winding down.
Light Bloggery 0
Working a polling place for Andrew.
Vote, if you haven’t already.
The higher the turnout, the higher the chance that virtue will triumph not-virtue will fail.
Not voting ensures sullied virtue.
Normal insanity will resume late tonight or tomorrow.
Afterthought:
Jamie’s Top Ten Reasons Not To Vote:
9. It will make Sarah Palin proud.
8. Majority Leader Mitch has a real jazzy sound to it.
7. Insurance companies should have the right to deny coverage to anyone and jack up the prices whenever they want.
6. Who really cares about that pesky environment?
5. Wall Street needs more money!
4. The top 2% needs more money!
3. Shutting down Congress is a great idea right now. We don’t have any problems to fix.
2. Glenn Beck can shift all his focus straight to the White House instead of having to split it between the White House and the democratically controlled Congress.
1. Speaker Boehner!!!!!!
Andrew Jackson for Virginia Beach City Council 0
Listen now: He’s the only President on the Ballot (mp3).
Birchers Bark 0
On Radio Times, historian Sean Wilentz traces the lineage of Glenn Beck to the John Birch Society and analyzes his smoke-and-mirror trickery.
From the transcript:
It’s a version of history that demonizes the Progressive era, particularly Woodrow Wilson, sees it as the beginnings of America’s going down the road to totalitarianism, which ends, in Beck’s version, with Barack Obama.
It’s a version of history that is beyond skewed. One history professor said that, you know, it’s not worth a pitcher of warm spit. But of course, that’s what Beck expects us to say. He lives in a kind of, you know, Alice in Wonderland world, where if people who actually know the history say what he’s teaching is junk, he says that’s because you’re trying to hide the truth.
Follow the link above to read the transcript.
Follow this link to read the summary, listen to the show, or download the podcast.
Dick Destiny has more on the lunacy.
From Ghosties and Ghoulies and Things that Go Bump in the Night . . . 0
Ed Quillen, in the Denver Post, tells of the scariest Hallowe’en visit ever.
The Field nominates his own list.
Twits on Twitter 0
Daniel Klein and Patrick Bonavitacola, in the Boston Globe, consider the twitterfication of the language. A nugget:
Old: “And so my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.’’ — JFK, 1961
New: “Buck up or stay in the truck.’’ — Sarah Palin, 2010
Words We Need 0
Swunger, n., Someone who once participated in “The Lifestyle” but no longer does.