dagblog - Comments for "A Sense of Something Coming"

Okay thanks for the

synchronicity — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 01:58:13 +0000

Okay thanks for the clarification though I would not say you analogy fits entirely in my view. It still feels like trying to paint my perspective as 'unrealistic' even the word plausible seems to go there in my book. But we each have to see what we see and act accordingly.

I'm sorry you read me as

Elusive Trope — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 13:28:51 +0000

In reply to I don't suppose life is a

I'm sorry you read me as suggesting that your point of view is some how based in fantasy, or life is a Hollywood movie. What I was driving at was in response to "We need a base that is fighting for something, not against something." I would argue that in this place and time in America that for us to hold the line, and maybe scratch a little forward is fighting for something, and not just against something. My point is that holding the line isn't as inspiring as making the victorious charge to an overwhelming victory. More movies are made about that victorious charge, then ones that show the grunts in trenches scratching their way to the next trench, the battle still flaring around them.

So yes I agree we both are having different and legitimate takes on what is the best way forward. The charge to something grander is not fantasy, and there are many who want it, but I am just saying that hunkering down in our trench is in the long run the more plausible path to the goal we both want.

I would like you to

brewmn — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 03:19:15 +0000

In reply to People commenting here should

I would like you to acknowledge that Obama isn't really the problem, and that all this focus on whether or not to support him is a waste of time and energy. Simply put, progressives have to support him, or they have to admit that they are willing to set back the socioeconomic health of this country back decades simply to express their displeasure.

Another Trope, I like the way

moat — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 23:30:26 +0000

In reply to A Sense of Something Coming

Another Trope,

I like the way you used the Rilke verse. Whatever the right thing to do may be, there is that sense of something coming.

The problem is that trading

moat — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 22:39:12 +0000

In reply to So the stupider congressmen

The problem is that trading away the right to be stupid means you have to be extra smart not to be totally screwed by the transaction. What is being exchanged is a certain amount of conceptual space to carry out a plan. The smart side will always get the shorter end of the deal if it gives up freedom of movement in exchange for value-in-hand markers.

Your smartening up idea has awesome lobby possibilities: Pay me now to learn how to think freely tomorrow. The real bets would center around shorting certain legislators....

So the stupider congressmen

acanuck — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 21:58:15 +0000

In reply to They would only pass the

So the stupider congressmen (and women) would have to buy IQ points from their smarter colleagues? Would the smart ones then have to dumb down their own legislative votes accordingly?

Or would outside donations be allowed? (Bill Gates and Warren Buffett could probably smarten up half a dozen legislators each without busting a neuron.) Would the Supreme Court rule that such donations were not only free speech, but free thought?

So many questions. But the idea has potential, moat. Who could imagine it -- a Congress that literally trades on its own stupidity!

They would only pass the

moat — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 21:23:53 +0000

In reply to Would the Stupidity Limit Law

They would only pass the retroactive part of such law if a line of credit was extended that allowed them to defer the seppuki clause.

It would be like carbon credits where you are allowed to pollute more only if you buy someone else's right to pollute. In this scenario, paying for the right to be intellectually unaccountable.

Would the Stupidity Limit Law

acanuck — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 20:58:22 +0000

In reply to The game of chicken

Would the Stupidity Limit Law apply retroactively to the current Congress, and disqualify most members from office? More crucially, are they stupid enough to pass such a law? I'd bet they are, especially if we promised them big campaign contributions in exchange.

People commenting here should

acanuck — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 20:53:53 +0000

In reply to A Sense of Something Coming

People commenting here should follow the In the News link to the NYT article What Happened to Obama? It lays out succinctly why so many (not just us lefties) are profoundly disillusioned in the president.

The practical issue of a primary challenge isn't addressed. And ultimately, it won't matter, because there won't be a primary challenge. But would everyone stop pretending our concerns about Obama are illusory?

The game of chicken

moat — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 20:12:50 +0000

In reply to I too sense a rising tide. My

The game of chicken threatening to renege on our financial obligations has made both parties look stupid. The only way to get the tea-baggers to own the increased cost of interest you are describing is to simply refuse to play. The debt ceiling is bad law that moves the unresolved elements of one act of legislation into another one. The second act is a meta-discussion rife with the most toxic elements that made the first act of legislation a creature without eyes or ears.

So what next: a Stupidity Limit Law? I know it would help if I forced my myself to be smarter so I should Legislate it as something I am required to do so that people know that I am dead serious about getting smarter real soon.