Category: Uncategorized (Page 25 of 53)

A couple of decades ago, a person who gained employment working with top secret documents with the intent of stealing and distributing those documents to America’s adversaries would have been called a spy.

Of course your modern Libertarian doesn’t see it that way. Since the government is now run by one of those people, if you know what I mean, espionage isn’t really that big a deal.

Google doesn’t help me narrow down the originator (that is, there are too many possible original sources), but I have read in many places something like, “Scratch the surface of a Libertarian, and you find an authoritarian.”

Here, libertarians bestow the title of “whistleblower” on a person whose actions certainly meet the definition of premeditated espionage. To many libertarians any damage done to the United States of America is worth it, so long there is harm done to the administration of that … person. Thus does a person that would otherwise be considered just another privileged asshole get to live out a fantasy in which foreign governments allow him to pretend to be some sort of hero while under complete control so long as he continues to provide damaging information.

All because that person didn’t mind his place…

So I was in Arabia for a while.

Sunrise over Arabian desert

Having traded in my dirham for dollars, I have returned to my familiar haunt, the Chihuahuan Desert of southern New Mexico. It’s probably a good thing, too, as my exercise regime suffered greatly. I did spend an hour or so swimming the Persian Gulf just a few hours prior to flying out of Abu Dhabi. The name is apparently a point of contention ‘twixt the Arabs and the Persians. In the media on the south side of the gulf, it is called the Arabian Gulf.

The jet lag was surprisingly mild.

I’m going to have to step away for a while. I currently have nothing more to add to the national dialogue. If a person’s default position on Obama or Trayvon Martin is “nigger, nigger, nigger,” then response is pointless. If a person uses the trappings of science (i.e. the internet, computers, analog broadcast media) to spread claims that actual science is wrong, as with global warming, then response is pointless.

I am burned out.

As a person who has actually had to use the data revealing the noticeable effects of CO2 on the propagation of radiation from the ultraviolet through visible and infrared wavelengths, I can say that the Ghomerts and DeMints of the world leave me empty. If I claimed to speak Hebrew and babbled some vaguely Semitic-sounding gibberish, it would be the linguistic equivalent. The fact is that 100.00% of actual scientists who espouse global warming denial know they are lying to support one of two things: ideology (they are right wing loons willing to sacrifice any shred of scientific integrity for what they perceive as “the ends justify the means”) or profit (since the science is so far beyond question to even the most basically trained of scientists, the wages available to those who would whore out what they know to be false “scientific” opinions are quite extravagant).

I cannot compete. When the “reality based community” plays by gentlemen’s rules and the opposition plays by WWE heel rules, is there really a competition? Even a staged one?

As they say in France, “Un plein de merde trou du cul peut dire ce qu’il veut sans conséquence,” which means “We have earned our current situation.” Because I know French like DeMint knows science.

Adieu.

[Update]: I should mention that I do know a number of the artisans of science that actually believe the ridiculous bullshit they see on Fox News and should be excused. They are mainly consumers of data, and may be hoodwinked by their sources, because they are nor responsible for actually doing science. That is why even basically honest meteorologists, engineers, and doctors may say jaw-droppingly stupid things about topics such as vaccination and global warming.

For the second time since I moved to New Mexico, my favorite writer has died. I have nothing to add, really, to what has been said about the man known to many as Doghouse Riley by such luminaries as Charles Pierce and Tbogg.

Steve Gilliard had been the first notable writer with whom I had actually had exchanges in the comments and/or email. It took me a while to find a new favorite. The next writer to take up the mantle (Larry Wallberg, also known as The Exterminator), eventually withdrew from blogging. I don’t think Doghouse Riley ever personally replied to any of the sparse comments I made on his blog. I nevertheless feel a sense of loss much like that of several years ago.

Today, Tbogg announced that he, too, will be retreating from the peculiar world of blogging.

I am very sad.

Please keep up the good work, Mr. Pierce.

Slogging through the swamps of our media, I am assailed by this question. Often, this is in the form of some poor TLC drivel note even worthy of ridicule. What brings it to mind today, however, is a number of recent conversations I have had. It bothers me to no end that items that would generally fit the description of local news end up becoming the topics of discussion dominating the proverbial water coolers around the country. Among these are the Zimmerman case. The basic facts of the case are that an armed man saw a black teenager, followed him, then killed him. These basic facts would seem to require an overwhelming amount of contextual mitigation to overcome. I can only assume that the context that would convince a jury of reasonable people included whatever weapons the boy carried (and here I don’t mean “boy” in terms of a male person not yet of voting age, I mean it like a fine gentleman like Mr. Zimmerman means it: one of those people), the verbal threats that no doubt lasted the duration of the stalking, and the completely unprovoked assault that must have occurred at the close of the undefined stalking period.

I only wish someone could present me with a non-absurd scenario in which the above could have happened.

I somehow doubt that will ever happen.

But if nothing else, this story has taught us a lesson. In conjunction with the story of the woman whose warning shot at an abusive husband cost her a 20 year sentence, this story has shown us two key facts about Florida justice:

1. If you pull a gun on someone, shoot to kill.
2. Don’t be black.

Words to live by.