I was home early browsing through my CVS extra bucks. Yes I am frugal fran. I buy what I need, never what I want. I guess when I really study it there is very little I want, which at times makes me wonder if I don’t have enough want in me.
I then turned on the telly in time to catch the most inept president ever give his swan speech. Considering the last 8 years I wonder at the degree and type of pathology which possesses someone who gives such a speech. It was in a tone of “well yeah I ran over the neighbors children, but at least that god forsaken noisy electric tot car is gone. The neighborhood has certainly gone through some bad times, but we did what we had to, our best, to make it a nice place to live”. Wow, talk about not taking responsibility. When you and your minions, with the help of a rather vapid constituency, have destroyed a perfectly good country (or two) and you give a farewell speech like that, some serious psychotherapy is in order.
My favorite things to quote this week.
From Harpers Mag, Notebook, Mark Slouka’s, “A Quibble” a small paragraph, though I’d prefer the whole three page essay I thought it might violate some serious copyright issues….
What we need to talk about, what
someone needs to talk about, particularly
now, is our ever-deepening ignorance
(of politics, of foreign languages,
of history, of science, of current affairs,
of pretty much everything) and not
just our ignorance but our complacency
in the face of it, our growing
fondness for it.
And in the skeptical prose section, from Waking Ambrose, Doug Pascover, “Extraordinary Times” ( Check it out)
I like those extra bucks, CVS is the nearest place to me for soft drinks, potato chip, toothpaste, razors and anything else so I go there a lot.
I didn’t watch the farewell speech. I couldn’t put myself through that.
Like your favorite things to quote. Who doesn’t love reading about skepticism and ignorance, ignorance especially because it’s so easy to find.
casey’s last blog post..Wedding Wishes
I never buy food at CVS. In Virginia CVS sells beer and wine though. I think.
Aww, I also read Harper’s, but I’m about a year behind.
The idiot thinks there’s something wrong with us. Like we don’t get him.
Four more days.
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I always carry a few in the car and in my bag for when I have that few minutes where it makes no sense to take out academic work. I’m catching up on the short articles. I’d say three issues behind.
It must be the babe for you.
3 more days.
You’re a good writer Cooper. And I feel you on the “lack of want” part. I find myself indifferent to many things that other people want.
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Thank you Mohammad. I really should get more personally developed though. ;0
he can’t go away soon enough, can he?
and of all the people i know, i KNOW you’re not amongst the complacent set. nobody arrests me into thinking about what really matters like you do.
Consequently , nobody arrests me into thinking about everything else more than you.
We can still hope there will be consequences for Bush and his criminals.
I want a book of Ring Lardner baseball stories and I’m trying to order it to Germany, but apparently the book is so heavy, that no one will send it to me. So I’m forced to save money.
I’m sure the consequences will in no way reflect the damage done.
You are looking for the hardback version new Inde??
Yes, it’s a hardcover edition – it must be a very heavy book. One place I ordered the book from cancelled the order and refunded the money. When I asked why, they wrote back the postage required would have been $25 instead of Amazon’s standard $12 for overseas, so I just tried again from a different seller – it seems to have gone through now.
Thanks also to Doug who offered to take US delivery of the book.
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The best thing about seeing the back of Bush is I can go back to cynicism, which I prefer to skepticism. Bring on the great and good so my objections can be once more unreasonable.
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So you can start writing on your cynics blog again?
Actually, I was just thinking about that.
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You, frugal Fran, you. Only you could say that. I’m two issues behind in Harpers–when I moved I knew I had to get many magazines to give myself the type of mental stimulation that was once found on any street corner in Manhattan. But you (the quote) are right; we are dumbing down and proud of it
I’m tired of hearing, except from people with two jobs and small children or aging parents “I’m too busy to know anything.” I guess I would excuse that if they weren’t so damn smug and proud of that
pia’s last blog post..Four more days
There are so many who know of others stupidity though it seems there would be more people out there with a curiosity about the world wanting to learn the languages and the histories of the countries who will own us due to our own lassitude.
Cooper writes: ““well yeah I ran over the neighbors children, ”
This caught my eye because as some of us know, gw was charged with DUI back during his childhood years. Mid-1970′s, I believe. Same DUI he tried to hide during the 2000 Presidential season until a Portland, ME, reporter called him out on it.
The DUI occurred in Kennebunk, ME, a town located next door to the similarly named Kennebunkport where the Bush family maintains a summer home. gw might have been able to get away with the DUI had he not gone up on the sidewalk and almost run over the neighborhood children. … true story.
Word up there was that one of the neighborhood children almost run over by gw dropped the dime on his nearly-hidden offense.
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I love those Maine people.
I didn’t catch it in real time but listened to some of it later on. I expected a little better, not sure why considering history, good review.
“I really study it there is very little I want, which at times makes me wonder if I don’t have enough want in me.”
This is great line, I think it comes down to the kind of wants. You have them they are just not of a material nature making you feel wantless.
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Tonight I want wool sheets lines with flannel – electric too.
We’re having a celebration that night, a lot of reservations all day long, our own “wear jeans, eat ribs and calamari, and drink yourself into the next administration” party. I’m hoping people will feel so good they will drop some c- note tippage.
It’s cheaper to want less, usually. I started wanting less when I figured out I couldn’t afford more. I’m working on my spiritual self now. ;)
I’ve been thinking of paying for Harpers to be able to read it online but until then it’s probably ok to send passwords to someone who is almost a brother.
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I hear she’s good about sending passwords, I could be wrong on this.
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I wish I could be there. I love calamari – is it fried? I prefer it not. ;)
i wish for you many c-notes G.
your quote on dumbing down is very apt.
indeed the propaganda wants to dumb down, not give any context, keep people cowed and fearful..
i watched the last press conference, this guy is so full of rationalizations,
interesting how he became quite agitated at times, when he found some talking point he really believed, but generally he voiced so many baldfaced lies he knew did not make sense.
the journalists were assured how he respected them..
they responded by giving him the most tepid response you can imagine, upon taking his leave, there was a lukewarm few hands clapping ever so slowly, and then only just a smattering of them in a small room, it was a telling tribute..
i posted the quote on my stumble blog!
http://dysviz.stumbleupon.com/
Maybe they knew they’d get nothing else at this point in time the anticipation of what is too come has overtaken the horror of things gone by – how quickly we forget.
People have stumble blogs? Woa, I guess I’m more out of it than I thought.
I didn’t see it. What you’ve WROTE doesn’t surprise me, it’s what I would have expected. The analogy was sweet though.
I go through phases of want, sometimes wanting more and sometimes wanting less.
JOHNM’s last blog post..How to Slant the News and Spin It To Make It Look Like It Wasn’t A Disgusting Lie
Pride cometh just before the fall. George Bush is as prideful as they come. Yet his fall came about four years ago. I wrote about this on my blog, but I’ll mention it here as well. Never has a president had negative approval ratings for an entire term but George Bush now has. Not only is he the most unpopular president in modern American history, he is also the only president to have one entire term completely full of negative ratings. Remember, though, everything has been great these last 8 years. It’s all a media-driven hysteria by Bush haters.
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Spot on commentary and I like the quote from the Harper’s essay. I
I missed it, the farewell speech, I’m too happy to want to spoil things right now, happy to be in the country for inauguration day.
An interesting excerpt from the speech
As the years passed, most Americans were able to return to life much as it had been before 9/11. But I never did. Every morning, I received a briefing on the threats to our nation. And I vowed to do everything in my power to keep us safe.
Indeed. Because clearly, he didn’t read the PDBs each morning or vow to keep the country safe before 9/11.
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