Author: marc (Page 58 of 60)

I do a lot of programming at work. It turns out that my employer’s policy does not allow me to put “unapproved software” on my computer. I write software. You can see where this might make life difficult. The solution proposed was that I get a second development computer off the main network, and use my laptop for correspondence and regular network activities. As a bonus, they upgraded the security on my laptop.

So I went to Phoenix on business. At the hotel, I found that the security upgrades rendered the laptop incapable of connecting to hotel internet. So I was not only unable to do work email, but I was also unable to goof off on the internet. On the up side, I had a ready-made excuse for being behind on my correspondence. As well, I was able to get in some reading and some running. On the down side, I have been unable to post anything blog wise. What only occurs to me now is that I never had the urge to turn on the TV.

Last night Willard “Mitt” Romney narrowly avoided being drowned in the Santorum fever that issued forth from over 30,000 Iowans.
The Rascal parking was doubtless backed up for blocks. This grand coup was accomplished at the bargain price of a mere $3,960,000 in Romney and Romney-friendly advertising in the month of December for a total of 30,015 votes. Extrapolating to he national election, Willard needs to spend about $8.8 billion to get as many votes as Obama got in 2008.

A common theme among authoritarians is that of “the enemy within.” This idea has been used to great effect for as long as recorded history. In the last millennium, we have seen this idea spread from the witches and heretics of the medieval church to the counterrevolutionaries of Mao’s Cultural Revolution.

We like to think of these paranoiac visions as belonging to foreigners. If you’ve read this far, though, you probably imagine a few scenarios I might recall from recent American history. Foremost among them will certainly be the Red Scare of the McCarthy era. Since then, few reasonable people would entertain the idea that dissent was tantamount to treason. Yet that is where we find ourselves now. From the patently absurd claim that the war in Vietnam was lost due to anti-war protesters to the controversy of not wearing a silly flag pin on the lapel, we are presented with old fashioned propaganda modernized only in the media used.

I find one seemingly obvious facet of the meme interesting. Anytime the meme is brought up, the proposed solution is a concentration of power in the hands of the already powerful.

This was at the tail end of a post from John Cole at Balloon Juice that I thought summed up well my thoughts on the end of the year:

… So, I guess my message to you in 2012 is the following- let your kids stay up late and spend time with you even if you hate the fucking Chipmunk movie, give your pets too many treats, drink that extra beer and eat that extra scoop of ice cream, always tell mom and your wife you love them, always pet your dog when you can, always give your neighbor the benefit of the doubt, try everything new you can and repeat everything you love as often as you can even when it is bad for you, and live hard, fast, and full throttle and don’t you fucking dare apologize for it.

Cheers, and Happy New Year!