She arrives.

Sydney Grace came into her own at 1:35 PM on Friday, June 5, 2009. All are well--and home already. Love to you all.

Is Sotamayor a racist?

Lots of hatred being spewed on FoxNews and on right-wing radio about Sotomayor's supposed "reverse discrimination" (easiest, least thoughtful, most diabolical charge any white person could ever level against a minority...and sadly, a charge that many of us white folks are eager to buy into). Here's a link to a short article describing experiences of people who actually argued cases before her...for your review.

Conservative Radio Host Gets Waterboarded

Anybody else hear about this?

Honest question? What do people think about whether or not waterboarding is torture? Second question: whether it is or not, is it okay to use this technique to get information?

Enjoy the weekend, everyone!

What's Going On?

Anybody heard anything about the Cincy "Tea Party" rally? Here's a link to some WKRC video about media intimidation...by "a small pocket of protesters." 'Twas always thus...it's always the few that ruin it for the many.

Anybody in the area heard anything?

Tough News

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, everyone, but I wanted you all to know that my dad lost his job a couple Fridays ago. Please keep him in your thoughts and wish him well in his search for a new job. If you feel compelled, I'm sure he'd appreciate a phone call.

Nick Marino--Local Boy Makes Good

Hi, all...

Just an update about Nick Marino.  He seems to be the Managing Editor at Paste, this independent magazine rising in the world (http://www.pastemagazine.com/) AND he's got a Wikipedia entry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Marino).  I happened to have, um, appended a wee little bit there at the end of entry.  Thanks, Wikipedia!

Hope you're all well.  Oh, yeah--Ella's getting a sister in June.

Love,

Adam

Ode to a Grecian Lush

A nice reflection on life, booze, and old school Greeks. I especially like one the comments posted in response: "All things in moderation, including moderation."

This blew my f'ing mind...

"If we compacted the history of the Earth into a movie lasting one year, running 146 years per second, life would not appear until March, multicellular organism not until November, dinosaurs not until December 13 (lasting until December 26), mammals not until December 15, Homo Sapiens (our species) not until 11 minutes before midnight of December 31, and civilization not until one minute before the movie ended. Yet in a very short, say less than 200 years, a mere 0.000002% of Earth's life, humans have become capable of seriously altering the entire biosphere. In some respects we have already altered it more profoundly that it has changed in the past BILLION years. (from philosopher Louis Pojman, written in 2000)

I had a number of thoughts about this (ambivelence about human genius and destruction, the insanity of religions based on anthropomorphic gods, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientist's "Atomic Clock" approaching midnight, etc.)

What does it make you think about?

Good Cop Bad Cop

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZM5JB3N43c

Rhode Island it’s neither a road nor an island – discuss.

Let's talk about age. This came up over the holidays with the group of us that got together. Is it an issue for any of us? If so, why? What is the issue? Most of us have or are just about to hit 30 - is this a major milestone? Does it mean anything? Are we where we thought we’d be at 30?

I still think we’re babies in the big scheme of things (even those of us with babies). Every now and again I freak out, but for the most part I think I am okay with it all. Maybe because I still get carded and I “appear” to be in my early twenties. I knew looking like a 12 year old would come in handy some day. haha However, I do every now and again think oh boy time keeps going and there is a lot of life to get in …

Scared of Santa?

Bri found this awesome site, which had me in tears. I hope y'all enjoy it as much as I did.

Merry Xmas to you all, and to all merry Xmas!

(and, see a few of y'all SOON!!)

Sweet Vindication

Hey, everyone. Do you remember several months back when I was toying with the notion of starting a new blog where I posted the responses of my Senators and Congressperson to various petitions I sent them? Well, DailyKos, one of my daily read blogs has begun doing that very thing...not en masse, but pertaining specifically to the vote on whether Joe Lieberman should have retained his committee chairmanship.

Sweet...swt. Identifying information on whom the letters have been addressed to has been removed.

-Brad

Olbermann on Prop. 8

I don't normally watch Olbermann, but after seeing this, I might.  Beautiful speech about the idiots who voted for Prop. 8

Diarrhea of the Keyboard

Not to be confused with Diarrhea ON the Keyboard.

I have returned to Our Favored Blog to see that Rog has taken over...in true Shock and Awe style. Good stuff.

Anybody have any predictions about Joe Lieberman's fate in the democratic caucus? Will his chairmanship be removed? Will he be booted from the caucus?

Will Missouri ever give up its electoral votes?

If you didn't hear, we here in MA had a question on the ballot to change possession of less than an ounce of marijuana into a civil charge rather than a criminal charge. I support the concept and voted for it. I was pretty sure that it would pass, despite the fact that literally every police chief and district attorney in the state came out against it. As it happened, not only did it pass, but by a 2-1 margin! Shocking! Way to go, Marijuanachusetts!

I did see that the assisted suicide (with a bunch of conditions) question was passed in Washington. Hmmm.

O

Check it out....

He won. In the top three. Beat out three incumbents in terms of votes.

http://www.kypost.com/content/democracy2008/nkyelectionnews/story.aspx?content_id=4ba29cdc-ed12-4d8c-8c38-606affed02c6

Yes we can.

UPDATE....And so can Ella.  This morning, I had Ella push the button to select Obama/Biden and then to officially cast the ballot.  I teared up a bit.  Here's the proud voter just after:

Tomorrow's the Big Day...

And I know what you're all thinking...Will Matt Olliges pull this one out?!   Here's hoping...best of luck, Matt!  Matt for Bellevue City Council!

Halloween Harvest Moon

Happy Halloween

In honor of Halloween, I happily present a clip from Monster Squad, arguably the highest watermark of human achievement.  Watch to discover the answer to that oldest of questions: Does Wolf Man have nards?

Planned economies, freedom, and redistribution of social goods

I just read a cool quote by George Orwell, written in 1944:

"Such is our present predicament: Capitalism leads to dole queues [read: unemployment and state subsistence], the scramble for markets, and war. Collectivism leads to concentration camps, leader worship, and war. There is no way out of this unless a planned economy can be combined with freedom of the intellect."

With this, Orwell hints at one of the ironies or contradictions of capitalism: markets have the capacity to destroy social bonds, thus containing the inherent potential to destroy their own stability; yet, markets at both the domestic and international levels also have the great capacity to integrate people.

Ignoring the equal (maybe even greater?) potential for self-inflicted destruction, many Adam Smith-centered libertarians trumpet markets solely as self-regulating forces for good, focusing only on the potential of markets to create peaceful orders that encourage mutual reliance and thus discipline, probity and honesty. Smith, however, proved himself overly utopian in his conception that both the economy and society could be protected from state penetration, could be left to reproduce unfettered, or that they would maintain social solidarity. Never mind the fact that modern capitalist markets depended from the start on the shaping and protecting activities of states. Never mind the fact that, in The Wealth of Nations, Smith himself stakes out a role for the government in defense, public works, education, and especially in the establishment of a framework of law. (For without such a system of justice, a market system is not possible.) Only Marx seems to have called for a total "withering away" of the state with his far-fetched idea of an enlightened proletariat organically developing a stateless society.

As we have seen from capitalism's previous cycles of boom and bust and the state's role in helping put the system upright again, the establishment of an economic order based solely on self-regulating markets (Smith's "invisible hand") are necessarily followed by the sucidal demise of these markets' self-regulation. This has been seen, perhaps most clearly, in the past several months of economic turmoil. The untamed market commits the sin of gluttony and eventually eats itself to death.

Ever since modernity's division of the human experience into state, economy, and society, the sight of ceaseless contestation has not been whether the state should have a role in our economy and society, but how it should do so, with what checks, and with what degree of mass participation and consent. For, as the state shapes and mitigates markets, it redefines the autonomy and flexibility of that market. And, importantly, it also opens up possibilities for self-conscious social engineering.

Our democratic system of government provides we, the people, with quite an honor and challenge to choose how we will redefine our markets and help shape our social system. I respect the conservative inclination to maintain what they believe are traditional methods of virtue, despite my great disagreement in our conceptions of virtuousness. I see the Republican party's virtues being centered on individual gain, self-interest (especially for those already empowered), and a reluctance for the government to use its potentially vast resources for social betterment. The values I see espoused in the Democratic party revolve around the idea that we're all in this together, by working together we make our whole greater than its sum, and that government can work to help make a more equitable and just society while maintaining social and intellectual freedoms.

The challenge, as Orwell states above, is to orchestrate a planned economy with the greatest degree of freedom. The idealist in me hopes, and even believes, that we're currently on that very path now. If so, it'll be amazingly ironic that the greatest government interventions in the history of our country (as obviously occurred over the past 8 years), were brought on by a right-wing, self-described "conservative" administration. Likewise, won't it be great if (when!?!) those state policies are scaled back in some cases by a so-called liberal Democrat, who then plans to redirected that state involvement toward a more just distribution of resources? After all, the purpose of taxes in our nation's history has always been to redistribute wealth and facilitate democratic state intervention. Whether the burden of payment falls on the struggling and disintegrating middle class (as it would if Bush's tax cuts became permanent, which McCain desires), or if the burden falls upon the rich who have a greater ability to shoulder such national responsibilities, tax redistribution always occurs with each year's necessary payment to our government.

I, as you know, favor Obama's policies of each of us helping each other out. That's the mixture of freedom and state intervention that I think can make "Morning in America" all over again.