Cogitamus

Thanksgiving

As always, I've got much to be thankful for at this time of year.  My wife and I are healthy, we have good jobs that pay well and keep us challenged, and we've got family, friends, and a great kid who we love more than we can say.

But there's a reason it's called Thanksgiving.  My wife and I know we aren't solely responsible for our good fortune.  We didn't build this life all by ourselves.  We've had the usual mix of good and bad decisions, good and bad luck.  We've benefited from good public schools and subsidized higher education, not to mention fortuitous choices of parents.  The live we have didn't have to be anywhere near as good, or as prosperous, as it's turned out to be.  We know how lucky we are, and we're thankful.

And once you appreciate that your good fortune wasn't simply a natural result of your sterling character, wise choices, and responsible actions, the natural consequence is some compassion for those whose lives haven't turned out so well.  To me, that's the message of the words that Stephen Foster wrote, an even century before I was born.

So the near-complete absence of compassion on the part of the Republican Party these days - the "if you don't work, you don't eat" logic behind devastating cuts to food stamps, either oblivious to or uncaring that there simply aren't enough jobs out there, and that too many of those jobs don't pay enough to feed one's family, is morally incomprehensible - and appalling - to me.  The vast majority of these people consider themselves to be Christians.  I don't know how that works, because if there was one sin Jesus condemned repeatedly, it wasn't homosexuality or abortion or any of those.  It was hardness of heart.  And these people have that quality in abundance.

 I don't really think there's anything that can be done for people like that.  The only answer for our nation is to demonstrate that we're a better country than that by defeating them politically, by marginalizing these alleged human beings so that they can never again deny things like food and medical care to people on the basis of a morally and intellectually warped ideology.

Well, time for something a bit more cheerful for the day.  Like they say on the classic rock stations, there are lots of Christmas songs, but only one Thanksgiving song.  I'm not tired of it yet.

 

Sunday Night Open Thread

So on a wretchedly cold night here, I am sitting watching in dismay as the Patriots are getting destroyed in even more wretched weather up in Massachusetts.  They are supposed to thrive in this weather -- not fumble the ball five times in less than twenty minutes.  Ugly.

Update: Well thank God for having to play the full sixty minutes.  It's a nice looking comeback at this point.  Still a lot of time left, but at least it's not going to be a humiliating loss. 

- I was struck once again by the reflexively negative mainstream media reaction to the Democrats having the temerity to thwart the abuse of the filibuster by the Republicans.  It's become virtually a kind of self-parody -- they concede that the Republicans have engaged in unprecedented obdurate behavior, but any sort of tough response to that -- as during the debt ceiling fight -- is painted as equally, if not more, unreasonable.  Republican extemism must be tolerated and Republican threats of retaliation must be seen as both reasonable and potent.  Democrats, on the other hand, must be willing victims and never resort to punching the bully in the nose.  That's so uncivil.

- This is incredibly disappointing behavior by Chuck Shumer.  The idea that the standoff with Iran may be resolved peacefully and successfully should be a feather in the cap of both President Obama and Secretary Kerry.  You would think that they could count on the loyalty of one of the top Democrats in the Senate to support their efforts.  You'd also think loyalty to the U.S. would trump loyalty to another country.  Yeah, I said that and I mean it.  The misguided allegiance to Israel's right wing government by its dupes in the U.S. is really troubling. 

- Who's missed John Derbyshire?  He's back and better than ever.

Open thread.

  

50 Years Plus One Day: Time To Move On

Like a number of you, I was old enough to remember where I was and what I was doing when the news came that President Kennedy was assassinated.  I was in my fifth-grade class at Hollin Hills Elementary School, and they turned on the TV that they normally only used for educational TV and Mercury missions.  I remember that it was a grey Friday here in the DC area, very much like yesterday, actually.

The memory of JFK has taken on an outsized role in American current events during the half-century since.  Candidates are compared to him, especially those capable of inspiring rhetoric (not naming any names), conspiracy theorists won't ever let drop their theories about his death, and the anniversary of his death is noted in the media each year, not just on the round-number anniversaries.

But it's time to move on.  JFK, for all the inspiration he gave many Americans, was not a particularly consequential President, especially when compared to his successor.  And if he hadn't been shot, he'd probably be dead anyway: he'd be 96 if he lived. Most of the country doesn't know where they were when JFK was shot, because most Americans are younger than 52 or so, which is about the youngest you could be and still remember any of that.  Only those of us of a certain age remember, and maybe it's time for us to stop bothering everyone else with our recollections.

Rest in peace, JFK.  And so long.

Open thread.

He Emerges From Hiding

So, yes I'm still alive.  Sorry for being so inconstant.

I've been grappling with being incredibly uninspired by the political environment and bored with pretty much everyting I have to say. 

I started blogging six years ago and was filled with ideas, energy, and anger, potent fuels for writing.  I loved every minute of it -- the chance to vent, the satisfaction of expressing something aptly, and the solidarity and camaraderie of the community.  I was obsessive about writing, posting as much as I could, checking in all the time, reading every comment, responding to as many as I could, especially points I liked or with which I disagreed, trying to facilitate dialogue.  It completely captivated me for a good long while.

Since the 2012 election ended the state  of politics has been pretty obvious and not much likely to change in any fundamental way for a really long time.  At the same time, I've picked up a new client that has me traveling almost every week, I am assuming responsibility for another one (on top of my existing load), and undertaking more business and management tasks at my law firm.  It's required a ton of energy, a commodity I find to be a bit scarcer than I'd like it to be. I've also been trying to take care of myself a bit -- two hospitalizations for chest pains in three and a half years was a little scary -- so I finally decided in the spring to get back in the gym and shed a few pounds.  I've been very faithful for the last six months but that again too depletes the reserves of time and energy.  (Okay, that's a lot of excuses.)

I've been contemplating going on formal hiatus for a period of time, but I hate like hell to desert this community.  I kicked this around with a couple of you offline and decided that I am going to shoot to post at least once a week -- probably on Sunday.  I appreciate your patience and hope you hang in there with me.

Oh, and consider this, and all subsequent posts, an open thread.