Friday, September 29, 2006
The Truth Revealed (and other myths)
So the recently declassified documents state that the war in Iraq has created a breeding ground for terrorists, given impetus to the al-Qaeda cause, and hurt our cause internationally. Okay. I can’t argue with that. But I would like to point out that, not very long ago at all, anyone suggesting that was simply branded a chicken s*** Liberal and dismissed out of hand by the established “conservative” movement wherever it is found, in “red” states or “blue.” So, for the record, just this once (I hope) I want to go on the record as saying, “I told you so, you stupid sheepish idiots who have so far elected an idiot not once but twice to be President of the United States!” Dammitall, just because somebody knows big words doesn’t mean that they’re wrong. Maybe it means they see more of what’s going on than you do, you ever consider that? Sheesh!
And the thing is, old W., nice guy idiot that he is, still doesn’t get it. I imagine that the situation could still be saved, although it will take much more subtlety and intelligence than anyone in the current administration had evidenced to date. Unfortunately, that would involve getting further involved in Iraq, not pulling out, so even if the (cough cough) good guys with the donkey win this fall, we’re likely to keep on doing stupid things, even if they may be different stupid things. As I’ve said, long term I’m hugely optimistic, but short term I’d say we’re screwed. Not to put to fine a point on it, as they say. But, before I continue, here is a guide to tell if someone running as a Republican is having us on:
If they say they’re for smaller government and ceding power to the States, that’s a sure sign that they’re trying to delude us, and maybe even deluding themselves. There’s no way in Hell that the party of Lincoln is for small government and States rights, just no way at all.
If they say they’re for the little guy at the expense of big business and big government, they’re just flat-out lying. No matter how good it is to hear, that ain’t the Republican way, and it never has been. Republicans have been, since 1854, in favor of big business and a strong central government; they took over from the Whigs, after all, and the Whigs were all about strong government, what with advocating central banking and other radical (often now painted as evil “liberal”) ideas. Well, the Whig’s spiritual descendants won the Civil War, so we’re a country of big business and strong central government. Personally I don’t think that’s all bad, but it’s hard to have a meaningful discussion when the chief advocates of those things are lying about what they’re about. Eisenhower didn’t lie about it; Lincoln didn’t lie about it; heck, even Nixon was up front about that sort of thing. Reagan lied about it, and so has every Republican trying to become the president ever since. Then people wonder why they act just like you’d expect a pro business and big government guy to act, and I wonder what the heck is wrong with people that they lose track of what’s been happening in this country since, let’s see, 1774 or so. This ain’t rocket science, but you’d think it was the way people’s memories shorten so wonderfully.
The whole situation is exacerbated when so few people bother to even vote. Heck, you can get 25 percent of eligible people voting for you and call it a landslide. It’s not, it’s more of a pathetic joke, but it can look like a landslide even if you don’t, like Bush, call 51 percent a mandate, when only 15 percent of eligible voters opt for your opponent.
I suppose my generation is largely to blame. Like I’ve said many times, beware the idealist at all costs. The idealist dictum: If you can’t completely agree with one of the candidates, just don’t vote. Even if, as in Nevada, you add “none of the above” to the ballot, people still stay away because none of the candidates represents “the people.” In my experience “the people” is both largely mythical and further a complete idiot (so maybe Bush does represent that constituency after all) but mostly mythical. That is, there’s no such thing as “the people” because “the people” is an idealist word trick designed to convince everyone that, as it were, “my version of reality is the only one that counts.” Yeh. Sure. My generation also likes to complain about the “political establishment” but then when a non-establishment guy like Clinton gets himself elected, we all love to hate him because, uh, because he’s a cracker from Arkansas who pulled himself by his own bootstraps and rose from trailer park to the White House, which is supposed to be a good thing, but never mind because we hate him for being trailer trash. Sheesh again.
The idealist attitude cuts every which way. Liberals seem to think that all Christians are right-wink wackos out to overthrow our separation of church and state. That hasn’t been my experience with Christians, but it’s a common perception. That’s easier to understand when you factor in the “nobody votes” factor, due to which some actual wackos have been able to exert undue influence on national politics for the last couple of decades. For my non wacko religious friends, I’d appreciate it if you started watching carefully who’s behind various movements, considering the effects of the government getting tangled up in religion, and thinking hard about who you vote for, and do this while you’re not tuned to cable news. And, for that matter, get out and vote. It won’t kill you. And if you’re not terribly religious, consider how you’d like it if the wacko party actually enacted the program they’ve been advocating. All that dull praying all the time, and you’re getting the hairy eyeball from some freak because you don’t shout “praise Jesus” at just the right time. Swell, huh?
(Jesus said to lock yourself in your room and pray, but you wouldn’t know it by what the really visible wacko crowd says and does.)
Mostly, I’d like to appeal to the great American middle, and I know you’re out there, even though a lot of you are from a generation that feels a bit disenfranchised (and you are if you don’t at least vote, so you’re right about that unless you change yourself), to get out and register to vote and then, if you have to, choose the best of the awful. It’s a start, after all, and next time the candidates will get a bit better, because you know those turkeys respond to what voters want, whether it’s popular to admit it or not. Come on, for the sake of a More Perfect Union, or whatever you want, don’t let the wacko fringe elect another doofus idiot. Please!
And the thing is, old W., nice guy idiot that he is, still doesn’t get it. I imagine that the situation could still be saved, although it will take much more subtlety and intelligence than anyone in the current administration had evidenced to date. Unfortunately, that would involve getting further involved in Iraq, not pulling out, so even if the (cough cough) good guys with the donkey win this fall, we’re likely to keep on doing stupid things, even if they may be different stupid things. As I’ve said, long term I’m hugely optimistic, but short term I’d say we’re screwed. Not to put to fine a point on it, as they say. But, before I continue, here is a guide to tell if someone running as a Republican is having us on:
If they say they’re for smaller government and ceding power to the States, that’s a sure sign that they’re trying to delude us, and maybe even deluding themselves. There’s no way in Hell that the party of Lincoln is for small government and States rights, just no way at all.
If they say they’re for the little guy at the expense of big business and big government, they’re just flat-out lying. No matter how good it is to hear, that ain’t the Republican way, and it never has been. Republicans have been, since 1854, in favor of big business and a strong central government; they took over from the Whigs, after all, and the Whigs were all about strong government, what with advocating central banking and other radical (often now painted as evil “liberal”) ideas. Well, the Whig’s spiritual descendants won the Civil War, so we’re a country of big business and strong central government. Personally I don’t think that’s all bad, but it’s hard to have a meaningful discussion when the chief advocates of those things are lying about what they’re about. Eisenhower didn’t lie about it; Lincoln didn’t lie about it; heck, even Nixon was up front about that sort of thing. Reagan lied about it, and so has every Republican trying to become the president ever since. Then people wonder why they act just like you’d expect a pro business and big government guy to act, and I wonder what the heck is wrong with people that they lose track of what’s been happening in this country since, let’s see, 1774 or so. This ain’t rocket science, but you’d think it was the way people’s memories shorten so wonderfully.
The whole situation is exacerbated when so few people bother to even vote. Heck, you can get 25 percent of eligible people voting for you and call it a landslide. It’s not, it’s more of a pathetic joke, but it can look like a landslide even if you don’t, like Bush, call 51 percent a mandate, when only 15 percent of eligible voters opt for your opponent.
I suppose my generation is largely to blame. Like I’ve said many times, beware the idealist at all costs. The idealist dictum: If you can’t completely agree with one of the candidates, just don’t vote. Even if, as in Nevada, you add “none of the above” to the ballot, people still stay away because none of the candidates represents “the people.” In my experience “the people” is both largely mythical and further a complete idiot (so maybe Bush does represent that constituency after all) but mostly mythical. That is, there’s no such thing as “the people” because “the people” is an idealist word trick designed to convince everyone that, as it were, “my version of reality is the only one that counts.” Yeh. Sure. My generation also likes to complain about the “political establishment” but then when a non-establishment guy like Clinton gets himself elected, we all love to hate him because, uh, because he’s a cracker from Arkansas who pulled himself by his own bootstraps and rose from trailer park to the White House, which is supposed to be a good thing, but never mind because we hate him for being trailer trash. Sheesh again.
The idealist attitude cuts every which way. Liberals seem to think that all Christians are right-wink wackos out to overthrow our separation of church and state. That hasn’t been my experience with Christians, but it’s a common perception. That’s easier to understand when you factor in the “nobody votes” factor, due to which some actual wackos have been able to exert undue influence on national politics for the last couple of decades. For my non wacko religious friends, I’d appreciate it if you started watching carefully who’s behind various movements, considering the effects of the government getting tangled up in religion, and thinking hard about who you vote for, and do this while you’re not tuned to cable news. And, for that matter, get out and vote. It won’t kill you. And if you’re not terribly religious, consider how you’d like it if the wacko party actually enacted the program they’ve been advocating. All that dull praying all the time, and you’re getting the hairy eyeball from some freak because you don’t shout “praise Jesus” at just the right time. Swell, huh?
(Jesus said to lock yourself in your room and pray, but you wouldn’t know it by what the really visible wacko crowd says and does.)
Mostly, I’d like to appeal to the great American middle, and I know you’re out there, even though a lot of you are from a generation that feels a bit disenfranchised (and you are if you don’t at least vote, so you’re right about that unless you change yourself), to get out and register to vote and then, if you have to, choose the best of the awful. It’s a start, after all, and next time the candidates will get a bit better, because you know those turkeys respond to what voters want, whether it’s popular to admit it or not. Come on, for the sake of a More Perfect Union, or whatever you want, don’t let the wacko fringe elect another doofus idiot. Please!
Labels: Politics
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
A Stupid Related Injury
When somebody runs thirty miles per week or more, you expect them to get some running related injuries. That’s a lot of slamming your feet down onto the ground, after all. Considering that it takes the average Hummer about five gallons of gas to go that distance, you have to admire someone who can do it on only sixteen cases of HoHos™ and twelve gallons of Gatorade™. A running related injury wouldn’t be anything special, just what you’d expect, as I said. Luckily for me, I can report a much more memorable incident from last Friday. Friday was the day when I received a stupid related injury in my hip.
Stupid related injuries, of course, are nothing new. Have you seen that TV ad for Cox Cable where people run into lamp posts and walls because they’re transfixed by a sign advertising high speed Internet access? Those are stupid related injuries. They’re funny because they don’t happen to you. You probably knew, or maybe you were, some kid who jumped off the garage roof trying to clear the family car and land in a wading pool. That was stupid, just so you’ll know.
What I did on Friday was go over to the car show called “Super Run 2006” that was being held a few blocks from where I live in Downtown Henderson. Yes, downtown, a real inner city sort of place where you might be shocked to find gambling going on in some establishments. Twenty years ago the area was a biker hangout, and even today you’ll see some guys pedaling their way around, so it can be dangerous to the unwary. Such as somebody who steps off of a wall as if it were a standard step, for example.
The car show was distracting due to all of the noise, and people, and really odd looking cars, one of which was ninety years old and probably looking better than it did when it was new. Amongst the distractions was a booth selling Hawaiian hot dogs, made from Kobe beef, which is apparently what makes them different from regular old hot dogs. In fact, other than the available teriyaki sauce, there didn’t seem to be anything unusual about the stuff they sold, making me wonder just what it is Hawaiians eat. Picnic food, apparently, but the hot dogs were actually pretty good. I got one and sat on the edge of a wall to eat it. Obviously there were some pretty strong Hawaiian drugs in it, because when I was done I stepped down like I was on a stairway and, well, nothing else happened. I was down. Three hours later I was having trouble walking. I had to skip my Sunday morning run, and use an exercise bike today. Tomorrow is another day, and we’ll see.
It’s not the injury, it’s that the injury is stupid related, that bugs me.
In the good news, my time is down to 12:34 per mile. That’s exactly 5:34 off of my former usual pace. And 5:34 is still slower than a world class athlete runs a marathon. Go figure.
A Stupid Related Injury
When somebody runs thirty miles per week or more, you expect them to get some running related injuries. That’s a lot of slamming your feet down onto the ground, after all. Considering that it takes the average Hummer about five gallons of gas to go that distance, you have to admire someone who can do it on only sixteen cases of HoHos™ and twelve gallons of Gatorade™. A running related injury wouldn’t be anything special, just what you’d expect, as I said. Luckily for me, I can report a much more memorable incident from last Friday. Friday was the day when I received a stupid related injury in my hip.
Stupid related injuries, of course, are nothing new. Have you seen that TV ad for Cox Cable where people run into lamp posts and walls because they’re transfixed by a sign advertising high speed Internet access? Those are stupid related injuries. They’re funny because they don’t happen to you. You probably knew, or maybe you were, some kid who jumped off the garage roof trying to clear the family car and land in a wading pool. That was stupid, just so you’ll know.
What I did on Friday was go over to the car show called “Super Run 2006” that was being held a few blocks from where I live in Downtown Henderson. Yes, downtown, a real inner city sort of place where you might be shocked to find gambling going on in some establishments. Twenty years ago the area was a biker hangout, and even today you’ll see some guys pedaling their way around, so it can be dangerous to the unwary. Such as somebody who steps off of a wall as if it were a standard step, for example.
The car show was distracting due to all of the noise, and people, and really odd looking cars, one of which was ninety years old and probably looking better than it did when it was new. Amongst the distractions was a booth selling Hawaiian hot dogs, made from Kobe beef, which is apparently what makes them different from regular old hot dogs. In fact, other than the available teriyaki sauce, there didn’t seem to be anything unusual about the stuff they sold, making me wonder just what it is Hawaiians eat. Picnic food, apparently, but the hot dogs were actually pretty good. I got one and sat on the edge of a wall to eat it. Obviously there were some pretty strong Hawaiian drugs in it, because when I was done I stepped down like I was on a stairway and, well, nothing else happened. I was down. Three hours later I was having trouble walking. I had to skip my Sunday morning run, and use an exercise bike today. Tomorrow is another day, and we’ll see.
It’s not the injury, it’s that the injury is stupid related, that bugs me.
In the good news, my time is down to 12:34 per mile. That’s exactly 5:34 off of my former usual pace. And 5:34 is still slower than a world class athlete runs a marathon. Go figure.
Labels: Marathon
A Stupid Related Injury
When somebody runs thirty miles per week or more, you expect them to get some running related injuries. That’s a lot of slamming your feet down onto the ground, after all. Considering that it takes the average Hummer about five gallons of gas to go that distance, you have to admire someone who can do it on only sixteen cases of HoHos™ and twelve gallons of Gatorade™. A running related injury wouldn’t be anything special, just what you’d expect, as I said. Luckily for me, I can report a much more memorable incident from last Friday. Friday was the day when I received a stupid related injury in my hip.
Stupid related injuries, of course, are nothing new. Have you seen that TV ad for Cox Cable where people run into lamp posts and walls because they’re transfixed by a sign advertising high speed Internet access? Those are stupid related injuries. They’re funny because they don’t happen to you. You probably knew, or maybe you were, some kid who jumped off the garage roof trying to clear the family car and land in a wading pool. That was stupid, just so you’ll know.
What I did on Friday was go over to the car show called “Super Run 2006” that was being held a few blocks from where I live in Downtown Henderson. Yes, downtown, a real inner city sort of place where you might be shocked to find gambling going on in some establishments. Twenty years ago the area was a biker hangout, and even today you’ll see some guys pedaling their way around, so it can be dangerous to the unwary. Such as somebody who steps off of a wall as if it were a standard step, for example.
The car show was distracting due to all of the noise, and people, and really odd looking cars, one of which was ninety years old and probably looking better than it did when it was new. Amongst the distractions was a booth selling Hawaiian hot dogs, made from Kobe beef, which is apparently what makes them different from regular old hot dogs. In fact, other than the available teriyaki sauce, there didn’t seem to be anything unusual about the stuff they sold, making me wonder just what it is Hawaiians eat. Picnic food, apparently, but the hot dogs were actually pretty good. I got one and sat on the edge of a wall to eat it. Obviously there were some pretty strong Hawaiian drugs in it, because when I was done I stepped down like I was on a stairway and, well, nothing else happened. I was down. Three hours later I was having trouble walking. I had to skip my Sunday morning run, and use an exercise bike today. Tomorrow is another day, and we’ll see.
It’s not the injury, it’s that the injury is stupid related, that bugs me.
In the good news, my time is down to 12:34 per mile. That’s exactly 5:34 off of my former usual pace. And 5:34 is still slower than a world class athlete runs a marathon. Go figure.
Stupid related injuries, of course, are nothing new. Have you seen that TV ad for Cox Cable where people run into lamp posts and walls because they’re transfixed by a sign advertising high speed Internet access? Those are stupid related injuries. They’re funny because they don’t happen to you. You probably knew, or maybe you were, some kid who jumped off the garage roof trying to clear the family car and land in a wading pool. That was stupid, just so you’ll know.
What I did on Friday was go over to the car show called “Super Run 2006” that was being held a few blocks from where I live in Downtown Henderson. Yes, downtown, a real inner city sort of place where you might be shocked to find gambling going on in some establishments. Twenty years ago the area was a biker hangout, and even today you’ll see some guys pedaling their way around, so it can be dangerous to the unwary. Such as somebody who steps off of a wall as if it were a standard step, for example.
The car show was distracting due to all of the noise, and people, and really odd looking cars, one of which was ninety years old and probably looking better than it did when it was new. Amongst the distractions was a booth selling Hawaiian hot dogs, made from Kobe beef, which is apparently what makes them different from regular old hot dogs. In fact, other than the available teriyaki sauce, there didn’t seem to be anything unusual about the stuff they sold, making me wonder just what it is Hawaiians eat. Picnic food, apparently, but the hot dogs were actually pretty good. I got one and sat on the edge of a wall to eat it. Obviously there were some pretty strong Hawaiian drugs in it, because when I was done I stepped down like I was on a stairway and, well, nothing else happened. I was down. Three hours later I was having trouble walking. I had to skip my Sunday morning run, and use an exercise bike today. Tomorrow is another day, and we’ll see.
It’s not the injury, it’s that the injury is stupid related, that bugs me.
In the good news, my time is down to 12:34 per mile. That’s exactly 5:34 off of my former usual pace. And 5:34 is still slower than a world class athlete runs a marathon. Go figure.
Sunday, September 17, 2006
Running With Gatorade
Just a quick report, nothing funny really. But I’m bragging since I managed to cover thirteen miles at an average pace of 12:34. I stopped only at water stations, and ran directly away from them. That ain’t too shabby for an old dude like me. Nothing at all, by the way, hurts.
Labels: Marathon
One Fine Preamble
First, a few words from some gentlemen who lived about two and a quarter centuries ago:
We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this constitution for the United States of America.
I don’t know about where you live, but there’s a perverse sort of libertarianism running more or less amok out in the Wild West these days. It seems to consist of people who think that “freedom” means being able to do whatever you want with whatever you’ve got without anybody being to say anything about it. That would be nice, and I’ve joked about anarchism before myself,* but that situation would conflict with most of the reasons those eighteenth-century gentlemen gave for their motivation in setting up our government. Securing the blessings of liberty is definitely in there, proudly in last but prominent place on the list. But, as my libertarian friends fail to notice, there are five other provisions that come first.
Among them was the formation of “a more perfect union.” This means a union of States, of course, because that is what they were creating. This also means, according to a slew of Supreme Court decisions, and one hell of a nasty war during the Lincoln administration, that the ideal of ‘states’ rights’ takes a back seat to the health of the union at large. Is that a bad thing? Well, you don’t have to like it, but it’s what the preamble says the people who wrote this thing wanted, so if you want to live in The United States of America, you’ll have to accept that premise. If it really bothers you, maybe you can try living in the Balkans; they’re really big on states’ rights over there.
Then there is the idea that these guys wanted to ‘establish justice.’ Notice that they’re not saying they are going to take any biblical view of what justice is, just that they are going to establish justice. This is why we have so many lawyers in this country, more per capita than anywhere else. The Queen of England, to use a quick example, is chartered by the Almighty. It says so right in the Royal Motto: Dieu et mon droit. It’s French for “God and My Right.” Since the monarch of Great Britain chartered Parliament, the entire government of Great Britain has a divine charter. So, for that matter, do nations such as Australia and Canada. Hey, God bless ‘em all, but we, and by “we” I mean to include a direct ancestor of mine, fought for years to ensure that we didn’t have to bow to any “divine rights” advocate at all. So, in establishing justice we find ourselves constantly having to argue over and redefine just what that means. Therefore, we use the courts a great deal in a never-ending quest to be as just as possible in our dealings with each other. Our “litigious society” is not a symptom of a social disease, it is a happy consequence of not accepting some joker’s word for it that God Likes Him Best.
Next, and related to the justice motivation, is insuring domestic tranquility. Domestic tranquility means a peaceful nation, and that is exactly what we have got. Do you think we are a violent society? You must, if you watch the news a lot, but the truth is we are very non-violent compared to most of our ancestors. In England half a millennia ago, they slowly lowered people into boiling oil as a public spectacle. Heck, in this country a hundred and twenty years ago we thought that slaughtering all the buffalo, and if we were lucky, all of the Indians into the bargain, was probably an okay way to behave. Heck, we now have serious debates over tiny fish that nobody would have noticed back in the “good old days” when the West was being settled. People nowadays bemoan the days when you could spank your kid without feeling guilty; when teachers could use a paddle without getting sued, etc. Violent? In Rome, which for hundreds of years was a Republic which served as a model for those folks at the Constitutional Convention, they started a day’s entertainment by killing animals, had a few crucifixions for lunch, then in the afternoon got really into watching people kill each other for the crowd’s amusement. That, my friends, was a violent society. Is American Football too violent? For what? And, did you know that the worst case of School killing in America happened in the nineteen-thirties, in Kentucky? That’s a true story. The news and the facts don’t always agree, but the facts don’t change, even when the news does. And the fact is that we are a remarkable non-violent society. The general tranquility is broken more by news networks selling upsetting information than by anything in reality. (I know, 9/11 was and is horribly real, but the fact that it is the humongous exception and not the rule is something to be glad about.)
Promoting the Common Defense is something even the current crop of Libertarians will grudgingly admit is a legitimate government function. We do it pretty well, so far as I can see, although we always like to argue over the means to accomplish the Common Defense. That’s been the downfall of more than one bad-ass foreigner who thought we’d be easy because we’re always arguing, but they’ve always learned better, to their great chagrin. If you don’t like our current means of defending ourselves, wait a bit, because the machinations of an open society appear to be setting up some sort of change possibly as early as this fall, and most definitely by the dawn of 2009. That’s due to some provisions in the Constitution itself, not the preamble, though, so I’ll move on.
The clause the Libertarians of today want to ignore the most is the “promote the general welfare” section of the preamble. The “general welfare” means the welfare of society in general, not the individual per se. This is why the government has the power of eminent domain, for example. The current furor over the taking of private land to give it to another private party is legitimate, but the idea, espoused by the Libertarian fringe, that government should never take anything from anybody, is entirely at odds with the general welfare clause of the preamble. For example, the general welfare demands a good transportation system, which is why we have spent, and continue to spend, untold piles of taxpayer provided government money on planes, trains, and automobiles. A freeway costs $8 million per mile in rural areas, and $38 million per mile in urban areas, according to the Michigan Department of Transportation. That’s a lot of money, and one of the major places our tax money goes after Defense. In 1987 we spent $3700 per capita on transportation according to a source at the time which I have unfortunately misplaced. It’s more today, at any rate. Clark County Nevada is building hundreds of miles of urban freeway as I write, at a cost of hundreds times 38 million dollars. They say the total bill could top a couple billion, and that doesn’t seem unreasonable. The alternative is choked city streets and stagnation. That’s promoting the general welfare, and it requires quite a bit of eminent domain use. So do a number of other things promoting the general welfare. And redistributing some wealth from the very rich to the very poor is a way that has been used to keep those poor people from staging a revolution that would degrade the quality of life for everyone. That’s not a popular thing to point out these days, but it’s true. The reason to tax the rich is because, to quote Willy Loman, that’s where the money is. Do you have $38 million to contribute to the Las Vegas Beltway? Me neither.
And finally we come to the one provision that the current “I won’t grow up” crowd of Libertarians likes to read: securing the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity. It seems to me that they put this one last for good reason: that without the things that they mentioned first, there would be no blessings of liberty to secure. You need a good union, justice, domestic peace, a good defense, and general welfare to have a free society. That takes a lot of courts, a lot of lawyers, a lot of political hot air, a lot of work in general. We educate our children because only literate people can appreciate and participate in a “res publica”, a public matter, which is what “republic” is a contraction of. Rome eventually fell victim to Imperialism due to a number of factors. The people who wrote the words I started with tried to build a number of safeguards into our new republic to prevent the same things that happened in Rome from happening here. So far, so good. But we will slip quickly toward the Romans’ fate if we don’t keep an eye on the entire intent of those gentlemen, as stated so well in that preamble reproduced above.
*I said I don’t like anarchism because look where it’s gotten us so far.
We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this constitution for the United States of America.
I don’t know about where you live, but there’s a perverse sort of libertarianism running more or less amok out in the Wild West these days. It seems to consist of people who think that “freedom” means being able to do whatever you want with whatever you’ve got without anybody being to say anything about it. That would be nice, and I’ve joked about anarchism before myself,* but that situation would conflict with most of the reasons those eighteenth-century gentlemen gave for their motivation in setting up our government. Securing the blessings of liberty is definitely in there, proudly in last but prominent place on the list. But, as my libertarian friends fail to notice, there are five other provisions that come first.
Among them was the formation of “a more perfect union.” This means a union of States, of course, because that is what they were creating. This also means, according to a slew of Supreme Court decisions, and one hell of a nasty war during the Lincoln administration, that the ideal of ‘states’ rights’ takes a back seat to the health of the union at large. Is that a bad thing? Well, you don’t have to like it, but it’s what the preamble says the people who wrote this thing wanted, so if you want to live in The United States of America, you’ll have to accept that premise. If it really bothers you, maybe you can try living in the Balkans; they’re really big on states’ rights over there.
Then there is the idea that these guys wanted to ‘establish justice.’ Notice that they’re not saying they are going to take any biblical view of what justice is, just that they are going to establish justice. This is why we have so many lawyers in this country, more per capita than anywhere else. The Queen of England, to use a quick example, is chartered by the Almighty. It says so right in the Royal Motto: Dieu et mon droit. It’s French for “God and My Right.” Since the monarch of Great Britain chartered Parliament, the entire government of Great Britain has a divine charter. So, for that matter, do nations such as Australia and Canada. Hey, God bless ‘em all, but we, and by “we” I mean to include a direct ancestor of mine, fought for years to ensure that we didn’t have to bow to any “divine rights” advocate at all. So, in establishing justice we find ourselves constantly having to argue over and redefine just what that means. Therefore, we use the courts a great deal in a never-ending quest to be as just as possible in our dealings with each other. Our “litigious society” is not a symptom of a social disease, it is a happy consequence of not accepting some joker’s word for it that God Likes Him Best.
Next, and related to the justice motivation, is insuring domestic tranquility. Domestic tranquility means a peaceful nation, and that is exactly what we have got. Do you think we are a violent society? You must, if you watch the news a lot, but the truth is we are very non-violent compared to most of our ancestors. In England half a millennia ago, they slowly lowered people into boiling oil as a public spectacle. Heck, in this country a hundred and twenty years ago we thought that slaughtering all the buffalo, and if we were lucky, all of the Indians into the bargain, was probably an okay way to behave. Heck, we now have serious debates over tiny fish that nobody would have noticed back in the “good old days” when the West was being settled. People nowadays bemoan the days when you could spank your kid without feeling guilty; when teachers could use a paddle without getting sued, etc. Violent? In Rome, which for hundreds of years was a Republic which served as a model for those folks at the Constitutional Convention, they started a day’s entertainment by killing animals, had a few crucifixions for lunch, then in the afternoon got really into watching people kill each other for the crowd’s amusement. That, my friends, was a violent society. Is American Football too violent? For what? And, did you know that the worst case of School killing in America happened in the nineteen-thirties, in Kentucky? That’s a true story. The news and the facts don’t always agree, but the facts don’t change, even when the news does. And the fact is that we are a remarkable non-violent society. The general tranquility is broken more by news networks selling upsetting information than by anything in reality. (I know, 9/11 was and is horribly real, but the fact that it is the humongous exception and not the rule is something to be glad about.)
Promoting the Common Defense is something even the current crop of Libertarians will grudgingly admit is a legitimate government function. We do it pretty well, so far as I can see, although we always like to argue over the means to accomplish the Common Defense. That’s been the downfall of more than one bad-ass foreigner who thought we’d be easy because we’re always arguing, but they’ve always learned better, to their great chagrin. If you don’t like our current means of defending ourselves, wait a bit, because the machinations of an open society appear to be setting up some sort of change possibly as early as this fall, and most definitely by the dawn of 2009. That’s due to some provisions in the Constitution itself, not the preamble, though, so I’ll move on.
The clause the Libertarians of today want to ignore the most is the “promote the general welfare” section of the preamble. The “general welfare” means the welfare of society in general, not the individual per se. This is why the government has the power of eminent domain, for example. The current furor over the taking of private land to give it to another private party is legitimate, but the idea, espoused by the Libertarian fringe, that government should never take anything from anybody, is entirely at odds with the general welfare clause of the preamble. For example, the general welfare demands a good transportation system, which is why we have spent, and continue to spend, untold piles of taxpayer provided government money on planes, trains, and automobiles. A freeway costs $8 million per mile in rural areas, and $38 million per mile in urban areas, according to the Michigan Department of Transportation. That’s a lot of money, and one of the major places our tax money goes after Defense. In 1987 we spent $3700 per capita on transportation according to a source at the time which I have unfortunately misplaced. It’s more today, at any rate. Clark County Nevada is building hundreds of miles of urban freeway as I write, at a cost of hundreds times 38 million dollars. They say the total bill could top a couple billion, and that doesn’t seem unreasonable. The alternative is choked city streets and stagnation. That’s promoting the general welfare, and it requires quite a bit of eminent domain use. So do a number of other things promoting the general welfare. And redistributing some wealth from the very rich to the very poor is a way that has been used to keep those poor people from staging a revolution that would degrade the quality of life for everyone. That’s not a popular thing to point out these days, but it’s true. The reason to tax the rich is because, to quote Willy Loman, that’s where the money is. Do you have $38 million to contribute to the Las Vegas Beltway? Me neither.
And finally we come to the one provision that the current “I won’t grow up” crowd of Libertarians likes to read: securing the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity. It seems to me that they put this one last for good reason: that without the things that they mentioned first, there would be no blessings of liberty to secure. You need a good union, justice, domestic peace, a good defense, and general welfare to have a free society. That takes a lot of courts, a lot of lawyers, a lot of political hot air, a lot of work in general. We educate our children because only literate people can appreciate and participate in a “res publica”, a public matter, which is what “republic” is a contraction of. Rome eventually fell victim to Imperialism due to a number of factors. The people who wrote the words I started with tried to build a number of safeguards into our new republic to prevent the same things that happened in Rome from happening here. So far, so good. But we will slip quickly toward the Romans’ fate if we don’t keep an eye on the entire intent of those gentlemen, as stated so well in that preamble reproduced above.
*I said I don’t like anarchism because look where it’s gotten us so far.
Labels: Politics
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Campaign Problems
In Southern Nevada, which can be described as the county that Las Vegas is in and the Southern part of the next county to the west, there is a race for US Congress going on. It involves an incumbent named John Porter, a Republican of reasonably good reputation, and his young upstart opponent, Tessa Hafen, former aide to Senator Reid. It is not a race of great national import, unless the count of party members in the house is exactly even save one, but it is illustrative of the problems faced by both parties in campaigning these days.
Tessa Hafen is calling her opponent a “yes-man” and repeating national DNC phrases such as “fire Donald Rumsfeld.” Heck, the way Rumsfeld looks he’s most likely already dead, but that’s not my point. She’s doing attack ads, negative campaigning, which I suppose is not untypical for the underdog party (and she’s from Nevada of all places.) The trouble for her is that I really don’t think they’re going to work all that well. I think people are really pretty tired of hearing other people insulted, even if it seems to be true, and in this case I really don’t know if it is or not; this is my first opportunity to judge Mr. Porter. Porter, for his part, has so far run only ads touting his dedication to the people of Nevada, his independence and strength, that sort of thing. Based on what I’ve just written, Porter looks like a shoe-in. If it weren’t for one little problem.
That problem is that the local Republican leadership is challenging Hafen’s credentials in court, saying that she’s not a legal Nevada resident. For the past ten years she’s been an aide to Senator Reid, living in Virginia. She’s always maintained a legal residence in Nevada, which is a typical thing for an aide to a Senator to do (legally reside in their home state, I mean.) Now, rather than make Porter look like the good guy who’s above the petty negative campaigning, the local division of the RNC is making Porter look like a guy who’s afraid of losing his job. They’re also raising memories of the gerrymandering they’ve done in Texas and attempted elsewhere in recent years. I doubt if they have a case against Hafen at all, but all of a sudden I wonder what’s wrong with Porter that they feel the need to use that sort of tactic. They’re not stupid, so they’ve got to know that they have about as much chance of getting her disqualified as they do of getting John Kerry to vote for their candidate in 2008. Still they persist, which makes me, and I’m sure other people in Southern Nevada as well, wonder what the heck their problem is.
It will be interesting to see which mistake proves the least fatal come November.
Labels: Politics
Sunday, September 10, 2006
Marathon Man Report (As Promised)
I promised to let you know how it went, so here’s how. At a blistering overall pace of 13:45 per mile, I made the entire fifteen miles. This in spite of not doing any significant amount of running for three weeks. However, all my body parts seem happy enough to go along with the program this week, so other than the fact that my legs are a tad tired (this was the longest run of my life to date, after all) nothing bad happened.
It did start out going quite a bit faster: my first five miles were at a 12:15 pace, which would have kept me ahead of the tortoise and the scorpions. As it was, I only managed to beat the one legged man with a bad ankle by a minute or so, and the tortoise looked impatient when I came in. Still, it was a lovely morning to be out, with a beautiful moon and a gorgeous dawn, so I’m happy with this week’s performance.
Next week there’s a race up on Mt. Charleston I might enter. Twelve miles at eight thousand feet. Sort of like old times, only higher. Until then . . .
Labels: Marathon
Saturday, September 09, 2006
Back on My Feet Again
Yes, I am back on my feet again, running that is. Tomorrow I’m going to try to run fifteen miles. That’s actual miles, not whatever distance that is reported by an exercise bike. Distance on a stationary object is really a silly concept. My total distance in the past couple of weeks of cranking on that thing is exactly zero millimeters, to at least twelve significant digits.
But yesterday I took the plunge, or maybe I mean the first step and ran for a whole forty-five minutes. It was a pleasant little run, and because summer has left early this year I got to do it in broad daylight. Previous runs have all begun, and often ended, while the sun was not yet in the sky. There are several advantages to running during the day. For one thing, it’s easier to see where you’re going. You ever wonder what’s down that next step? Ever wonder what’s down that next step when you can’t see the bottom? Ever wonder what’s down that next step when you can’t see the bottom and you’re going at a dead run? And you hope the ‘dead’ part is a figure of speech? Go ahead, try it some time.
So anyway, things are looking up for overall survival as the daytime temperatures are not getting out of the nineties. In fact, this being the Mojave Desert, I can run at noon and be cooler than I was a 5 AM in July. Of course, in July, at 5AM, the sun was coming up. It’s up now at noon, but it seems to have lost its will to fry, if you see what I mean. Maybe the sun suffers from S.A.D., you know, Seasonal Affective Disorder, because this time of year it seems to burn cooler every day. Poor sun. Maybe it goes to therapy during all those long winter nights. That would explain how it always comes back all bright and shiny in April, and starts frying the skin of the tourists somewhere in the middle of May. Which is an interesting thing about tourists: they’ll do what no resident of this desert would ever dream of, which is to sit out by a pool of warm water in the noon day sun and let themselves turn into Exhibit A in a Burn Trauma Treatment class. I guess the moral is that if you lose your shirt in Vegas, stay inside until you can afford a new one.
Anyway, I’m wondering where we’re going to run tomorrow, because the trail along the Pittman Wash is only three or four miles long, depending on if they’ve paved that next mile yet. So, to go fifteen miles we’d have to run back and forth, what, five times, which would be awkward because at the end you’d be three miles from your car. Hey, we run, we don’t walk home, know what I mean? So anyway, it’ll be fun to see where we end up, since somehow or other we need to get seven miles and then some away from where we start out so we can run back.
Interesting thing about running back: it’s all downhill. That means, of course, that running out is all uphill. And that means that the most difficult way to run, downhill (if you’re a runner you’ll know what I mean; if you’re not you think I’m joking so heck with you anyway for not knowing anything, nyah) is done after you’re all tired out from slogging miles and miles uphill. It’s the club’s little way of winnowing out the weak and unwillful. Unwillful? Is that a word? I really don’t know; you’ll have to look it up.
I’ll let you know how it all works out. Ciao!
But yesterday I took the plunge, or maybe I mean the first step and ran for a whole forty-five minutes. It was a pleasant little run, and because summer has left early this year I got to do it in broad daylight. Previous runs have all begun, and often ended, while the sun was not yet in the sky. There are several advantages to running during the day. For one thing, it’s easier to see where you’re going. You ever wonder what’s down that next step? Ever wonder what’s down that next step when you can’t see the bottom? Ever wonder what’s down that next step when you can’t see the bottom and you’re going at a dead run? And you hope the ‘dead’ part is a figure of speech? Go ahead, try it some time.
So anyway, things are looking up for overall survival as the daytime temperatures are not getting out of the nineties. In fact, this being the Mojave Desert, I can run at noon and be cooler than I was a 5 AM in July. Of course, in July, at 5AM, the sun was coming up. It’s up now at noon, but it seems to have lost its will to fry, if you see what I mean. Maybe the sun suffers from S.A.D., you know, Seasonal Affective Disorder, because this time of year it seems to burn cooler every day. Poor sun. Maybe it goes to therapy during all those long winter nights. That would explain how it always comes back all bright and shiny in April, and starts frying the skin of the tourists somewhere in the middle of May. Which is an interesting thing about tourists: they’ll do what no resident of this desert would ever dream of, which is to sit out by a pool of warm water in the noon day sun and let themselves turn into Exhibit A in a Burn Trauma Treatment class. I guess the moral is that if you lose your shirt in Vegas, stay inside until you can afford a new one.
Anyway, I’m wondering where we’re going to run tomorrow, because the trail along the Pittman Wash is only three or four miles long, depending on if they’ve paved that next mile yet. So, to go fifteen miles we’d have to run back and forth, what, five times, which would be awkward because at the end you’d be three miles from your car. Hey, we run, we don’t walk home, know what I mean? So anyway, it’ll be fun to see where we end up, since somehow or other we need to get seven miles and then some away from where we start out so we can run back.
Interesting thing about running back: it’s all downhill. That means, of course, that running out is all uphill. And that means that the most difficult way to run, downhill (if you’re a runner you’ll know what I mean; if you’re not you think I’m joking so heck with you anyway for not knowing anything, nyah) is done after you’re all tired out from slogging miles and miles uphill. It’s the club’s little way of winnowing out the weak and unwillful. Unwillful? Is that a word? I really don’t know; you’ll have to look it up.
I’ll let you know how it all works out. Ciao!
Labels: Marathon
Actual News
The news was in the news this past week, or at least the news on one network, that network being CBS, because some people thought it was a big deal that Katie Couric, the cherub-faced chipper gal from The Today Show was taking over as solo anchor of their Evening News. Well, that aspect really was no big deal. For one thing, there are other solo female anchors out there, and there’s nothing all that special about the original “big three” broadcast networks when you can get sixty channels for not much per month from cable. Still, having said that, I’ll also note that I did watch on Monday out of sheer curiosity.
I’m glad I did, because it let me know that I should watch the other four days as well. Amazingly, Ms. Couric is the first evening news anchor that I’ve actually liked since Cronkite retired. She is a whole lot better than her gig on Today would lead you to believe. In fact, she’s better than anyone else on national, or so far as Las Vegas is concerned, local television today. No kidding. Why, you ask, I’m sure.
She’s better because she delivers the news in a calm and easy to listen to voice, never shrill and never shouting. She never puts any false urgency into her reports, which is something every other newscast does at least some of the time. I think Fox started it on the national scene, but it was of course the local stations in Los Angeles that introduced the falsely urgent “high speed chase” and other distractions now imitated so widely. In fact, on cable news, Fox is probably the least sensationalistic these days, a fact I never thought I’d be reporting, but there it is. Generally, the broadcast networks are all better than cable, but only CBS, and only starting last week, seems to be putting out a product worth of the name “news program.”
Not only is her delivery good, but she really does strive to be fair. For example, on Monday she had a reporter from the New York Times on a segment called “free speech,” wherein people get to say whatever they want for a few minutes. On Thursday Rush Limbaugh was the speaker. He ranted less than on his own program, but there was nothing to suggest he modified a single bit of his point in order to gain his spot. Maybe that fairness is why she, of all people, got to interview the President during the week. Somehow he trusted her to just let him say what he was going to say, but not those other guys, even the supposed mindless White-House supporters (so called by some) at Fox. So, let me commend the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric to your attention. Assuming she keeps it up, you’ll get to see what a news program used to look like back before, well, before these last few years when “news” has devolved into “infotainment.” If you’re like me, you probably have noticed that “infotainment” is neither informative nor particularly entertaining. I’m happy to see that someone, at least, appears to be committed to actually imparting a few facts.
In a related but separate note, one item of news I saw last week is that the nation of China has a serious problem with childhood obesity. Before you say something like, ‘yeah, so who doesn’t?’, consider that China has never in the past several thousand years had a surplus of food before. China, of all places, has too much to eat. I can’t think of anything that will guarantee that they will not act as our enemy that is possibly better than fat Chinese kids. I wish them luck with that problem, I really do, because maybe whatever they use that works can be applied here. But I’m really, really glad to see that they’ve joined the flabby and prosperous. The whole planet should have that problem, really it should.
Labels: Politics
Saturday, September 02, 2006
Dancing With Snakes?
I just posted something on the funny page about an article I saw about Chinese funerals. It's based on a true story if I can believe what I read. Check it out, please.
(More tomorrow if possible.)
(More tomorrow if possible.)
Labels: Politics
