Monday, November 21, 2005
Happy Birthday, François-Marie Arouet
...a/k/a Voltaire, who would have been 311 years old if he'd lived till today. One of his most famous, widely quoted lines is, "People who believe in absurdities are in danger of committing [alternatively, tend to or will eventually commit] atrocities."
With a mindset like that, it's not hard to imagine what he'd make of present-day events. From Al Qaeda to PNAC, the movers and shakers of our world are all too often in thrall to absurd beliefs; the consequent atrocities, of course, seldom if ever directly affect the lives of the True Believers and their families. (I suppose that's a defining characteristic of an atrocity in the first place.)
Obviously, I haven't blogged much in recent weeks. Off-line events, commitments, and preoccupations have conspired to make blogging seem a self-indulgence. I expect to be getting back to something more like a daily schedule sometime in the next few weeks; in the meantime, I've got a bunch of draft posts in the vault.
With a mindset like that, it's not hard to imagine what he'd make of present-day events. From Al Qaeda to PNAC, the movers and shakers of our world are all too often in thrall to absurd beliefs; the consequent atrocities, of course, seldom if ever directly affect the lives of the True Believers and their families. (I suppose that's a defining characteristic of an atrocity in the first place.)
Obviously, I haven't blogged much in recent weeks. Off-line events, commitments, and preoccupations have conspired to make blogging seem a self-indulgence. I expect to be getting back to something more like a daily schedule sometime in the next few weeks; in the meantime, I've got a bunch of draft posts in the vault.
Comments:
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PNAC, we could spend an entire month on this topic and the really tragic thing is that the average person wouldn't have a clue what you were talking about if you were to ask him what it was. These thugs that run this (our) government are throw backs from another era and "Mission Accomplished" indeed. They set out to rule the world and got the ball rolling.
>>Established in the spring of 1997, the Project for the New American Century is a non-profit, educational organization whose goal is to promote American global leadership. The Project is an initiative of the New Citizenship Project (501c3); the New Citizenship Project's chairman is William Kristol and its president is Gary Schmitt.>>
Gag me.
---------------Elliott Abrams Gary Bauer William J. Bennett Jeb Bush
Dick Cheney Eliot A. Cohen Midge Decter Paula Dobriansky Steve Forbes
Aaron Friedberg Francis Fukuyama Frank Gaffney Fred C. Ikle
Donald Kagan Zalmay Khalilzad I. Lewis Libby Norman Podhoretz
Dan Quayle Peter W. Rodman Stephen P. Rosen Henry S. Rowen
Donald Rumsfeld Vin Weber George Weigel Paul Wolfowitz
-------------
Any of them sound FAMILIAR? dont get me started.
Thedingoateyobaby (Dingo)
>>Established in the spring of 1997, the Project for the New American Century is a non-profit, educational organization whose goal is to promote American global leadership. The Project is an initiative of the New Citizenship Project (501c3); the New Citizenship Project's chairman is William Kristol and its president is Gary Schmitt.>>
Gag me.
---------------Elliott Abrams Gary Bauer William J. Bennett Jeb Bush
Dick Cheney Eliot A. Cohen Midge Decter Paula Dobriansky Steve Forbes
Aaron Friedberg Francis Fukuyama Frank Gaffney Fred C. Ikle
Donald Kagan Zalmay Khalilzad I. Lewis Libby Norman Podhoretz
Dan Quayle Peter W. Rodman Stephen P. Rosen Henry S. Rowen
Donald Rumsfeld Vin Weber George Weigel Paul Wolfowitz
-------------
Any of them sound FAMILIAR? dont get me started.
Thedingoateyobaby (Dingo)
# posted by 
: 3:20 PM
: 3:20 PM
Dingo! How exciting to see a comment on my moribund blog... doubly so to see one from a favorite poster from elsewhere!
I tend to be an optimist on the whole, and am looking forward to a future with no one named (or connected to anyone named) Bush within a thousand miles of DC. The one remotely "good" thing about The Weasel's unrelenting incompetence and unbridled wickedness is that there ain't no way Jeb is gonna touch the Prez race in 2008. He's actually smart enough to recognize the mess W will bequeath to his successor, and wants no part of it.
I tend to be an optimist on the whole, and am looking forward to a future with no one named (or connected to anyone named) Bush within a thousand miles of DC. The one remotely "good" thing about The Weasel's unrelenting incompetence and unbridled wickedness is that there ain't no way Jeb is gonna touch the Prez race in 2008. He's actually smart enough to recognize the mess W will bequeath to his successor, and wants no part of it.
>>The one remotely "good" thing about The Weasel's unrelenting incompetence and unbridled wickedness is that there ain't no way Jeb is gonna touch the Prez race in 2008. He's actually smart enough to recognize the mess W will bequeath to his successor, and wants no part of it.>>
Oh man, your more optimistic than I am thats for sure. There was a time I was pretty sure of a lot of things but George has changed all of that. I dont think it matters to Bush Inc. or to TPTB known as PNAC. If they feel as if they have not finished their original agenda which was world dominance, then its going to be another hijacked election. I dont think anyone involved with PNAC really cares about the mess this president is leaving them. Its irrelevant to them. Im sick about what this administration is doing to my world. I remember Vietnam so well and all of those green military cars pulling up to people's houses. You knew it wasnt going to be good news with 2 army officers getting out and a chaplain. I saw it 3 times in my neighborhood, it was something that remains with me to this day. A war where no one knew who the enemy was and that jungle in Nam is very much like this desert in Iraq. I was all for the "war" with Afghanistan. I knew the terrorists were from that area and that the taliban and Al Qaeda were in fertile territory over there but when we had Bin Laden holed up at Tora Bora and we made a lame "effort" to get him but let him flee, I knew then and there that it was over. It had all been a sham to get into Iraq. A country that had nothing to do with 9/11. Oh I could go on and on about this. Anyways jerseyBoy, I like the blog. I see you have been neglecting it but I understand totally. You have to be in the mood and Im lucky enough to have about 10 people in my forum who take over when Im not there. Besides its much easier, IMHO, to handle a forum which is basically a chat room than it is to maintain a blog which is dependent on you almost exclusively. I'll stop by from time to time. I gotta lot to say. You may not agree and thats ok. Im so far left Im about ready to fall off the political map.
Oh man, your more optimistic than I am thats for sure. There was a time I was pretty sure of a lot of things but George has changed all of that. I dont think it matters to Bush Inc. or to TPTB known as PNAC. If they feel as if they have not finished their original agenda which was world dominance, then its going to be another hijacked election. I dont think anyone involved with PNAC really cares about the mess this president is leaving them. Its irrelevant to them. Im sick about what this administration is doing to my world. I remember Vietnam so well and all of those green military cars pulling up to people's houses. You knew it wasnt going to be good news with 2 army officers getting out and a chaplain. I saw it 3 times in my neighborhood, it was something that remains with me to this day. A war where no one knew who the enemy was and that jungle in Nam is very much like this desert in Iraq. I was all for the "war" with Afghanistan. I knew the terrorists were from that area and that the taliban and Al Qaeda were in fertile territory over there but when we had Bin Laden holed up at Tora Bora and we made a lame "effort" to get him but let him flee, I knew then and there that it was over. It had all been a sham to get into Iraq. A country that had nothing to do with 9/11. Oh I could go on and on about this. Anyways jerseyBoy, I like the blog. I see you have been neglecting it but I understand totally. You have to be in the mood and Im lucky enough to have about 10 people in my forum who take over when Im not there. Besides its much easier, IMHO, to handle a forum which is basically a chat room than it is to maintain a blog which is dependent on you almost exclusively. I'll stop by from time to time. I gotta lot to say. You may not agree and thats ok. Im so far left Im about ready to fall off the political map.
# posted by : 9:34 AM
: 9:34 AM
Ha ha, dingo -- who ELSE would it be but you?!? (Although I have to say, Thank God for Blogger's auto-email notification system; I haven't even visited the blog in months.)
Two things:
(1) PLEASE tell me where to find your blog, or the blog of your 10 substitute bloggers, or whatever you call it. Or heck just tell me the name and I'll find it.
(2) I fight minute by minute the impulse to throw things (especially of an explosive/incendiary nature) in this political environment. It's hard for me to imagine someone much further left than I am, although I'll take your word for it -- I just tend to be, well, politically radical but personally moderate. It's probably an unhealthy mix.
I've been kicking around the idea of restarting a blog -- not a politics-only one, like Walt Whitman I feel I contain multitudes and not all of them are political. If I do that I'll let you know.
It's been great getting to know you, dingo.
Two things:
(1) PLEASE tell me where to find your blog, or the blog of your 10 substitute bloggers, or whatever you call it. Or heck just tell me the name and I'll find it.
(2) I fight minute by minute the impulse to throw things (especially of an explosive/incendiary nature) in this political environment. It's hard for me to imagine someone much further left than I am, although I'll take your word for it -- I just tend to be, well, politically radical but personally moderate. It's probably an unhealthy mix.
I've been kicking around the idea of restarting a blog -- not a politics-only one, like Walt Whitman I feel I contain multitudes and not all of them are political. If I do that I'll let you know.
It's been great getting to know you, dingo.
Its been a delight to get to "know" you also JerseyBoy. Man you can write, you should get back into the blogging thing. You never know who is reading or lurking and saying to themselves, amn that dude can write. Besides, its cathartic. My place is called letters To the Editor and when my husband was alive, it was his baby and that joint was hopping (he was pretty left but not quite as left as I am) but since he died in November its lost a lot of its spark though people still post quite a bit, the regulars and there are about 20 of them. Very intelligent and very articulate. Four of them are Conservative, the rest are the loony left lol. here is the URL, I had to close it to posters so you will only be able to read cause the freepers invaded and they just dominated the board so I said F*ck this and I closed it so you can only read but I can easily allow you to post if you just register. Thats if you want to or you can just drop by and lurk. Whatever you feel more comfortable doing.
>>I fight minute by minute the impulse to throw things (especially of an explosive/incendiary nature) in this political environment.>>
I use to walk on eggs too but this administration has me so pissed off that I have become outspoken and I refuse to be silenced. Probably end up in Guantanamo one day too. Without representation of course lol.
Dingo
(they know me as lancelot14466 in the forum. Im a King Arthur buff. Knights of the roundtable and camelot and all that jazz)
http://pub123.ezboard.com/bletterstotheeditor
Just go to the general board discussion.
You have an unbelieveable talent for writing jersey, dont waste it.
>>I fight minute by minute the impulse to throw things (especially of an explosive/incendiary nature) in this political environment.>>
I use to walk on eggs too but this administration has me so pissed off that I have become outspoken and I refuse to be silenced. Probably end up in Guantanamo one day too. Without representation of course lol.
Dingo
(they know me as lancelot14466 in the forum. Im a King Arthur buff. Knights of the roundtable and camelot and all that jazz)
http://pub123.ezboard.com/bletterstotheeditor
Just go to the general board discussion.
You have an unbelieveable talent for writing jersey, dont waste it.
# posted by : 6:51 PM
: 6:51 PM
JerseyBoy, several people have tried to contact you. Im not sure you have received any messages cause they all said that their emails were bounced back and I have your site bookmarked so I thought Id take a stab. You know about GC's place cause I saw you post in the thread (heavy sigh but totally understandable). Ash has started a place and its very cool, lots and lots of old GC people are there already including the hillarious fAT. It will never be GC but its got a lot of potential. They're asking for ya, I havent told anyone that I have tried to contact you so if you dont show I understand and no one will be the wiser. Here is the link and I would die, absolutely die to see you post every now and then cause you have a gift and I love gifts.
Here is the URL..http://excoboard.com/exco/index.php?boardid=19754
Do with it what you will. I will give it a try cause there are some really fantastic people over there, dont know where it will lead. Im hoping that taylor gives Gray an interview soon. Its the least he can do for a man who gave so much to help him out.
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Here is the URL..http://excoboard.com/exco/index.php?boardid=19754
Do with it what you will. I will give it a try cause there are some really fantastic people over there, dont know where it will lead. Im hoping that taylor gives Gray an interview soon. Its the least he can do for a man who gave so much to help him out.
# posted by : 6:03 PM
: 6:03 PM << Home
