Cycho Librarian

Passage of the health care reform bill in the House this past week and the ensuing reaction put me in mind yet again of how absurd our political rivalries have become. That such a watered-down excuse for a "reform" bill would cause this much vitriol back and forth across the aisle is utterly absurd to me. How is it that we've come to a point where something that should be a no-brainer-- figuring out a better way to provide health care to everyone-- leads to protests that our government is either socialist or fascist, or possibly both? The main thing that confuses me is how we ever got anything done before this. Certainly emancipation, the New Deal, civil rights, and even Johnson's Great Society weren't uncontroversial. But they still happened. You could make the claim that extraordinary circumstances or the force of character of their proponents were the only reason they succeeded, but that seems overly simple to me. What has shifted in our society that now ...

The other night while watching the History channel (yes, I am a nerd) when a trailer for one of the multiplicity of war programs came on, I was suddenly struck by the absurdity of it. Not the absurdity of the plethora of war programs on the History channel, but the absurdity of war. Think about it. What exactly is anyone hoping to gain in this time and place by putting an excessively large number of people into one place with the sole intent of blowing up people and/or things? I think that what really hit me about it was watching some footage of a sea battle from World War 2. Here are these large vessels in the ocean, pounding away at each other, but all that's going to be accomplished is enabling a force to land on a small island that normally no one would want? I suppose that there was a time when war made at least a little more sense. One group had something that was desired by another group, so the second group decides to take the something by force and the first group has...

November 4, 2008 . A day that will live in infamy. Oh, and some guy was elected president .

I arrived home this evening to find the Franklin County Democratic Party sample ballot waiting for me. Imagine my dismay when I found that the Democratic Party is urging me to vote yes on Issue 3! For those outside of Ohio, Issue 3 is a proposed constitutional amendment to build casinos in Columbus, Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Toledo. I can barely even begin to describe in this space what's wrong with this picture. First of all, a constitutional amendment? Really? We need to have it encoded in the very fabric of our state government that there should be 4 casinos in Ohio? How is this possibly a good idea? Next, the way that this has been promoted just rubs me the wrong way. The overall message is, "everyone else is doing it, so why don't we?" I'm pretty sure my parents taught me that's no argument for doing something. As the tired old response goes, "if everyone else jumped off a cliff, would you too?" But what makes it even worse in this co...

Lift every voice and sing, till earth and Heaven ring, Ring with the harmonies of liberty; Let our rejoicing rise, high as the listening skies, Let it resound loud as the rolling sea. Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us, Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us; Facing the rising sun of our new day begun, Let us march on till victory is won. Stony the road we trod, bitter the chastening rod, Felt in the days when hope unborn had died; Yet with a steady beat, have not our weary feet, Come to the place for which our fathers sighed? We have come over a way that with tears has been watered, We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered; Out from the gloomy past, till now we stand at last Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast. God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, Thou who hast brought us thus far on the way; Thou who hast by Thy might, led us into the light, Keep us forever in the path, we pray. L...

I always knew that by this time I'd be sick of the election. There was no way that the campaigning could go on for this long and still have me engaged and interested. What I wasn't counting on was how utterly disappointed-- and frankly upset and angry-- I'd be with the way things have fallen out. This election has gone far beyond normal negative campaigning. This election has gone so far beyond normal negative campaigning that as far as I'm concerned it's verged into outright libel and slander. Where the disappointment comes in is that it's come entirely from John McCain. There was a time when I thought he had a conscience. There was a time I thought he had the courage of his convictions. But what has become clear is that he is a petty, angry, vindictive, and at best Machiavellian bastard who clearly doesn't care if he drags the entire country down with him. My problems with the McCain campaign really fall into 4 groups: Muslim, Terrorist, Socialist, ...

Ever since Friday I've been alternating between mocking derision and panicked fear. What in God's name is McCain up to? Is it really as simple as looking to snatch up the Hillary voters? Or is there something more insidious going on? I sincerely hope that the only reason Sarah Palin was chosen as the Republican vice-presidential nominee was to snare Hillary voters. If that's the case, there's little question that it will backfire, and do so in a very dramatic way. But that makes me wonder, is that the only reason? Is there something more to this? Unfortunately, a couple things have led me to think that there may be. First, an offhand comment from a co-worker that this will energize the Republican base. At first I couldn't figure out what she meant, but then I got it: the Dems have their revolutionary candidate, now the GOP has their own! And short of nominating Ann Coulter, this is probably the only woman they could find that could seriously pull off the f...

I've seen a lot of the liberal bloggers wringing their hands over Obama's perceived lack of response to early Republican attacks. Lord knows they have reason to be concerned. There have been far too many instances in recent elections where an attempt to take the high road and not respond seems to have led directly to the Democratic loss. Maybe Kerry was completely unelectable, but surely a more direct and angry response to the foolishness of "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" would have been better than not saying anything and letting the mistatements and outright lies stand. I'm trying to remain positive, and I recognize that we still have a long way to go. But I recently noticed the convergence of several different items that seem to point to a larger strategy. Am I the only one who noticed that, at about the same time: Obama went on vacation to Hawaii, The Olympics started, and Edwards admitted an affair. The timing on this is way too convenient. The Olympic...

For those out there who for some inexplicable reason think that it will be better to switch their vote from Clinton in the primaries to McCain in the general, here's another reason not to: Note that while McCain may have a legitimate complaint in saying that he doesn't remember the vote and will have to look up the background on it (that is, maybe he had to oppose it for reasons other than this specific issue), that isn't what the reporter is asking. She asks if it's fair that some insurance companies cover Viagra and not birth control. How hard is it to say "No, it's not fair" unless you're in the pocket of the big insurance companies? Not to mention the fact that he obviously doesn't recognize the tacit misogyny of the difference; namely that it's okay for old men to fuck around all they want, but women can't unless they want to risk an unwanted pregnancy. If you were a supporter of Clinton, especially a female supporter, and are now su...

I know this is a little late, but I had to say something about the string of idiocy that came out of the mouths of our fearless leaders/ would-be-leaders a couple weeks ago. First, let's talk about gas tax holidays. I think by now we've all seen the commentaries that have been floating around about the idea. The thing that gets me is that a lot of the pundits seem to be suggesting that Obama is making a "complicated" argument against Clinton/McCain's "simple" argument. This I don't get. How much simpler can it be to say "You'd only save 18 cents on the gallon, and that will get eaten up by higher summer prices anyway"? Nevermind the 900 million it would cost the federal government in badly-needed infrastructure repairs. I just wish that the media and the politicians would stop assuming that we're idiots. Next, McCain's recently unveiled health care proposal. Once more we are being told that if everyone went out and bough...

So is John Edwards.

I've been really busy lately with all sorts of random family things, so I haven't had a chance to post anything substantial. So in lieu of substance, I give you clips. First, on the whole Bitter Barack Business. Y'know, I've lived in rural Pennsylvania, and frankly bitter people who cling to guns and God in response to miserable mess their lives have turned into as industry leaves and mass farms take over agriculture is a pretty good description. While the truth may hurt, at least Barack hasn't recanted. But as usual, Stewart has a great take on it: Favorite parts: How much more blatant can Hillary get in tailoring her message to be the polar opposite of Barack? And yes, if you don't think you're smarter than us, what the fuck are you doing running for president? Next, from the same show, yet another wonderful spotlight on the surreality of this administration's views of the war in Iraq: And finally, just for fun: I'll see you all with some more...

William F. Buckley Jr. passed away this past Wednesday, and we're all a little worse off for it. As much as I despised the man and his politics, he at least provided some intellectualism to the ancient conservative-liberal debate that has been sorely lacking in recent memory. Frankly, it has been lacking through most of my lifetime. So I, as one untimely born, have had to watch his repartee through the glass of time. Only Buckley could take the nastiest of debates and make it sound like a cricket match. Can you imagine how different the debate would sound today if, instead of having to deal with the blathering of the likes of Hannity, O'Reilly, Robertson, and the entire Fox News network we could instead be told how imbecilic we liberals are in the dulcet tones of his old world New York accent? So I leave you with one of his greatest hits. I'm almost as sorry to see him go as I am glad that he's gone.

Well, between getting badly sick and ending up with pneumonia for the first time since I was a kid, and the maelstrom that is January I haven't posted for a while. Of course, the world continues on without me, even if I'm stuck in my house for a week staring at the mess I just coughed up which I can only assume is my lungs. A couple things have come up recently that I think are worth note. First, the mad rush to put out an "economic stimulus" package. This sort of thing always drives me crazy. The last time the government tried this after 2001 I didn't make enough money to qualify for a rebate in the first round, and in the second round I got a check for $12. That's right, twelve dollars. It probably cost the government twice that to do the calculations, cut me the check, and mail it to me. This time around I stand to get a bit more, my economic prospects having improved significantly since then. But is it any more of a good idea now than then? There...

Every so often it's nice to see confirmation that you're not crazy. You may recall that almost exactly one year ago I was frothing at the mouth over why no one seemed to think that impeachment of the current administration was a good idea. It seemed to me that if there was ever a presidency that rose to the level of "high crimes and misdemeanors," it was this one. Well today I saw a Washington Post Op-ed from the weekend by someone who should know confirming what I've been saying all along. Not only does it support impeachment, it lists the same reasons I've been giving for well over a year. It seems to me that if the guy who lost to Nixon in 1972 thinks that this administration should be impeached, maybe it's about time we did something about it.

Welcome to the new year, dear reader. And thankfully our long national nightmare is finally over. The primaries have begun. Even though the results from Iowa seem to rarely be an indicator of the results overall, two candidates who just last summer seemed to be either dead in the water or unable to catch the leader have won. Naturally, I'm thrilled that Obama won. I'm also glad to see that Edwards made a good showing. We've got a horse race on our hands folks, and despite my doubts about Clinton I would be happy with any of the three. But on the other side I'm starting to get a bit worried. I haven't quite been sure what to do with Huckabee. Initially he seemed to be a genuine fiscal conservative with some interesting thoughts on our current state and the non-conservatism of the so called neo-conservatives. I was always worried about his social conservatism and the fact that he's a Baptist minister (I'm sorry, but most Baptists in politics that I...

Interestingly enough, both political parties seem to be in the odd position of being lukewarm about the candidate leading their respective fields. On the one hand, Rudy Giuliani is leading the polls among Republican candidates, but many conservatives have doubts as to just how conservative he is. Hillary Clinton is leading the polls among Democratic candidates, but many liberals have begun to question exactly what her stances are and her methods of deflecting criticism during this campaign. So the obvious question is, why are they leading the polls? Honestly, I couldn't care less about the Republican side. I don't like any of them (although I've been greatly disturbed to find myself occasionally agreeing with things I hear Ron Paul say). Clinton worries me though. She seems to be very hard to pin down on many issues and seems to be more devoted to not appearing to rock the boat than actually affecting significant change. NPR had very good discussion of the differences...

I've been dimly aware of the history of Pakistan, with most of my knowledge coming from a combination of Gandhi and The Jewel in the Crown . As excellent as both of those works are, Pakistan is treated as somewhat secondary to the story. A sort of, "Oh yeah, this country started too" sidebar in the story of India's independence. As always, there's more to it than that. Both of those films do a good job of indicating that there was a push for an independent Muslim nation in that area of the world long before the British left. My title today is taken from a seminal work by Choudhary Rahmat Ali written in 1933 describing such a state. A sort of Thomas Paine's "Common Sense" for the Indian subcontinent. What is the most remarkable to me is how much sense the essay makes. We have a picture of Gandhi as a sort of Abraham Lincoln figure, desperately trying to hold the nation together. But there really wasn't that much cohesiveness to begin wit...

You can be forgiven if you missed the blip in the news cycle late yesterday regarding the greatest debate that never happened in the Senate. Republicans very nearly forced the Senate to a debate on whether or not to impeach Vice-President Dick Cheney. Amazingly enough, the event that I mentally refer to as "Liberation" was foiled at the last minute by the party that I have been for some time assuming shares my interests, namely the Democrats. Here I was merrily voting along, thinking that the Democrats were a) liberal, b) opposed to the Bush White House, and c) not idiots, when suddenly they ran from the very debate I've been itching for. I suppose I could be charitable and think that since this wasn't on their terms maybe they didn't think they'd have enough time to put a case together. But in my heart of hearts I know that's not the case. I know that they just don't have the politcal cojones to force this administration to face its sins. Yet again t...

Election Day is Tuesday, and while the rest of the nation focuses on an election that will take place a year from now, we here in Cowtown actually have some stuff to vote on, namely City Council, the School Board, and the Mayor. Our School Board is run by a bunch of very well-meaning people, some of whom I've met and most of whom I like. My problems with the city's schools lie much more at the feet of the State than the District. Now, maybe they could be doing more, but I don't think anyone else is in a position to do more than those who currently hold the seats. So that's a no-brainer. Similarly, City Council by and large does a decent job. About the only thing they could do better would be to abolish themselves and go to Ward representation. But again, in the current state, the folks who are there are doing a good job so I'll keep them in place. As you can see, I'm not overly enthused about those races. My attitude is basically "eh." However M...