___________________________________________
Mr. Petite has been an adviser to both the Bush and Obama administrations (neither of which ever asked for his advice - and they certainly never took it, so don't blame Tweet) and is a Senior Fellow at (and is supported entirely by) the ETHICS AND THEORY INSTITUTE OF TERMINOLOGY (EATIT), a foundation underwritten by the parents of a United States Senator in return for Mr. Petite's silence on certain important matters. Which explains why he doesn't do TV.
Mr. Petite is a native of virtual New Orleans, and therefore a legal immigrant to his actual residence, so he has never had to do migrant farm work or landscaping. (He did do some shrimping in the virtual bayous on some of the days he played hookey from school.) The use of the word "onions" is metaphoric, or something. His sole contact with actual onions is in some of the better gumbos.
____________________________________________
Saturday, November 07, 2009
Want Obama To Be Bolder? Take To The Streets!
So which came first - chicken or egg? Obama backing off his promises or his supporters backing off Obama? I think Froomkin made the wrong choice. Why are progressives not in the streets? Well, because they're out of the habit of course. But moreso because the last time they got in the streets - 2008 - they wound up betrayed. It may be a while before they get up the "hope" to do it again - and when they do, it will not be for Obama. If any politician has earned the allegiance of progressives, it's Nancy Pelosi. And maybe yet Harry Reid.
Right now Congress does not need to be reminded by progressives of what is expected from them - other than those Democrats who are moving against the wishes of their constituents. It's the president who needs a reminder, and frankly it's a waste of time. All plans and intentions should be diverted around the White House. Nothing can be expected from those yahoos.
Obama To Dems: GOP Will Attack Regardless Of How You Vote
We know he wants a bill passed, but after all this time we still don't know what he wants in it. Why even bother listening to him?
t r u t h o u t | President Obama's Timid Use of the "Reset Button"
The reason the cost of foreign and military activities has gone up so much is that so much of the work is outsourced under contracts which it is hard to break (and hard to break the relationships) over time. The more dependent on private contractors we become, the more expensive it gets and the longer the dependency will continue.
If you stop to think about it, outsourcing of government functions (combined with the costs of purchasing military equipment) amounts to nothing but a stimulus package far exceeding the one Obama passed. Were it not for government money, all these businesses would sink and leave a lot of people unemployed.
If stimulus is okay for functions like these, why is it not okay for functions which have a productive (as opposed to destructive) result?
The Goods May Be Virtual, but the Profit Is Real - NYTimes.com
Downloadable music is virtual, too. What you pay for is enjoyment of artistic creation. Before DVDs, you couldn't touch movies either. This is not new - but its potential is unlimited.
Friday, November 06, 2009
OBNOXIOUS?
It's not that he hasn't accomplished much. It's that he's shown no real interest in accomplishing what we think needs to be accomplished, has put little effort into what HE thinks needs to be accomplished, and has done a lot of things which utterly contradict what he promised he would do. It's not the lack of accomplishment that's the failure. It's the lack of effort and the embracing of people and theories progressives are naturally going to hate. It's the betrayal that hurts.
10 Years Ago Today, Congress Allowed For "Too Big To Fail"
"On the 10th anniversary of Congress voting to repeal the law that had long separated Main Street commercial banking from Wall Street investment banking, current members of the body are talking about ways to potentially bring it back. A return to the Depression-era law -- known as Glass-Steagall -- is now being seriously discussed. Some leading economists and financial thinkers point to its repeal as a precipitator of the current crisis, because it enabled banks to become 'too big to fail.'"
Not one word about Obama supporting this.
Allen West, GOP Candidate: Ft. Hood Shows "Terrorists Are Infiltrating Military"
"Lt. Col. Allen West (Ret), who is running for Congress in Florida's 22nd District, released a statement on Friday morning that heavily insinuated that Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan -- the soldier responsible for the Fort Hood killings -- was a Muslim extremist. 'This enemy preys on downtrodden soldiers and teaches them extremism will lift them up,' West said, in a statement titled 'Terrorists Are infiltrating Military'. 'Our soldiers are being brainwashed.'"
Let's take a look at this one. Aside from the fact that there is no evidence yet that Hasan was a Muslim extremist, is West saying that Hasan was preying on other soldiers, or that some group had preyed on him? What does West mean by "infiltrating"? Are there people in the military who are "brainwashing" soldiers, or are these people outside the military who are converting soldiers to their cause? If the former, where's the proof - and if the latter, how is it "infiltration?"
I will give you 100 to 1 that West is an evangelical - because these are the people who see everything in terms of conflict with evil. I'm sure before 9/11 West was looking for Communists in the military - there really is no difference between these two demonizations, and the use of the term "brainwashed" by West proves that he has simply replaced one devil with another.
The 22nd is my district, now represented by Ron Klein. I doubt West can get nominated, but if he does I promise I will do whatever I can to keep Congress safe from another infiltrating enemy.
Unemployment Rate Hits 10 Percent For The First Time Since 1983
But go ahead and do nothing about it.
NOW IT'S NEWS
"The base commander at Fort Hood says soldiers who witnessed a shooting rampage that left 13 people dead reported that the gunman shouted 'Allahu Akbar!' before opening fire at the Texas post."
I'm suspicious of this one. We'll see.
Thursday, November 05, 2009
WHY IS FORT HOOD NEWS?
News is information relevant to the receiver which will have some effect on what he does or needs to do. For example, if you live in California and your neighbor has threatened to kill you, that is definitely news as far as you're concerned. It may be news to other neighbors, if the conclusion is that the man who made the threat is generally unstable. But to me, in Florida, it is not news. It is simply irrelevant.
Now, if I happen to see a story about your news on TV and find myself engrossed in it, it is still not news to me. It's entertainment. With all that in mind, let's look at Fort Hood.
The story is definitely news to all those directly involved, including those with whom they have important relationships. Beyond that, though, death by itself is not news, except to those who pore through the obits. If death were news, you'd need to hear about all of them.
Some deaths are considered news. But are they? If your local news does a story on a fatal traffic accident involving people you never heard of, why is that news to you? Unless there is something relevant about the way they died - like, for example, some flaw in a highway or a car, or there's alcohol involvement and so a moral to be drawn - you learn nothing useful from the story. It's pure entertainment - a horrible concept, I know, but not much different from Roman times. And if you don't care about the story, it's not even that.
If somebody murders someone in a city near you, that could be news to you if the murderer was loose and targeting people he or she didn't know, or it was a gang killing and some of the gang live in your neighborhood, etc. Short of that, that story is not news to you. If you're fascinated by it, you're being entertained.
Now - do multiple deaths make a story news? Not unless the deaths are relevant to you, or there is a lesson for you to learn. Multiple deaths as news are no different than single deaths. As entertainment sources, they're far superior.
Does the fact that the dead were soldiers make the story news? If the deaths were in combat, yes - because the story impacts on the state of the country of which you are a part. If not, why is it news? Well, if, as many people do, you believe that soldiers are a better, more worthy species of human being - somehow akin to angels - then any soldier death is news. The deaths of angels are always news. I assume this standard would not be applied to the soldier who caused the deaths.
Which brings me to my point: so far, the only smell of news (as opposed to entertainment) in this story for people who do not know the dead or injured rises from the motive of the killer. So far we don't know what that is, but speculation has it that he - a psychiatrist or psychologist who had been treating soldiers returned from combat in Afghanistan and Iraq - heard so many horrifying stories in the course of that treatment that he would rather die than be sent to Iraq, as he was due to be within a month.
So, so far as we know, this story is news because the deaths were motivated by the horrors of war. And the horrors of war is not a story that either the MSM or the power elite want to tell. So, likely, we will never get the news out of this story. We'll have to settle for being entertained.
Fort Hood Shootings: 12 Dead, 31 Injured On Texas Military Base
Texas, insanity central, once again. I have my theory on why this happened, but I'm waiting for details.
Biden: People Have Been Stripped Of Their Dignity
"And, unlike so many of the president's other advisers, who have a slight taint of Wall Street to them, he seemed utterly at ease addressing the topic of middle-class struggle. If not for his penchant for verbal gaffes (which is, generally, overstated) Biden would seem to be the ideal spokesperson for an administration trying to rediscover its populist appeal. And it wouldn't be a complete shocker if his public appearances became more frequent going forward."
And then, if Obama is impeached, he gets to be president.
Federal Reserve Loses Expanded Powers Proposed By Obama Administration
Good. This proposal was just another sneak Obama move to help Wall Street.
Home / Headlines / No Partner for Peace: Our American Problem - Media Monitors Network (MMN)
"The degree to which American policy regarding Palestinian rights diverges so sharply from even that of its European allies, not to mention from the Muslim world with which it is attempting to achieve a modicum of stability and accommodation that will allow it to remove its troops, has implications far beyond that particular conflict itself."
Earl Ofari Hutchinson: Make No Mistake, Tuesday's GOP Surge Was About Obama
He's got this assbackwards. I doubt there is a progressive left who thinks Obama's charisma is worth a damn. It's just the White House which doesn't seem to get it. Any progressive who is counting on Obama for anything is hopelessly compromised, a victim of the usual media conviction that on the event-o-meter there is no balanced center and every event changes the game to the ultimate. The Republicans are finished? No one believed that but the media guys who, sadly, get to talk about stuff like that. And I guess the advantage to the media of doing that is that once you take the gas tank all the way over to "full", you can thrillingly report how it's going back to "empty." But it MUST go all the way to "empty", so that they get more stories about how it's shocking back toward "full". You can only accomplish that, in the real world, by exaggerating trends.
Gov. Corzine's N.J. re-election bid nearly abandoned as White House concerns grew | New Jersey Real-Time News - - NJ.com
Corzine should have returned the favor and told Obama he ought to resign, for the same reasons. Somebody's going to have to tell Obama not to run in 2012. And that needs to happen soon, so that another candidate can be built.
Democrats debate Obama agenda's impact on Democratic Party - washingtonpost.com
Note: the questioning is happening in Congress, not the White House. And thank God for that.
So-called conventional moderate wisdom will be that the public is afraid of deficit spending, and the White House may seize on that to stop doing the little it is in fact doing to help the middle class.
The public is not afraid of deficit spending. The public has not turned off health care reform. What the public wants is, in fact, progressive results. The public wants health care reform and it wants efforts made to create jobs and to buttress the economic health of others than the wealthy. There's no reason the Democrats can't do both at once. If Democrats focus on deficits nothing will be done.
On job creation, most of the weak ideas being put out there - and there aren't many - involve feeding money to businesses to create jobs. The fairly constant refrain that money should be directed toward infrastructure repair is a stopgap which creates nothing of long term use. The one workable idea of those that are out there now - tax credits for companies which create jobs - should be focused on and passed immediately. But the real accomplishment would be through a Federal jobs creation program, where the middleman is cut out and the money goes directly from the government to the workers. The beauty of this is that the money can be directed towards the creation of jobs which have a future and make sense for the economy as a whole. And the corollary will be that new companies will emerge to take these workers over and off the Federal payroll.
Okay, it's socialism - but it's temporary, and it will work.
The problem is: who's going to propose it and carry it through? Who's got the balls? This is a natural for the president, but Obama's cojones have shriveled into BBs. If health care reform passes, he'll take the credit - but it's Congress that deserves it, not him.
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth: White House official slams Democratic Cong. Anthony Weiner, saying he should have "manned-up" in
So the White House gets out to defend the New Jersey governor, a former executive of Goldman Sachs who New Jersey hates. And it lays off Michael Bloomberg. Is the picture clear enough yet? Do we have any remaining doubts as to who this administration works for? Meanwhile Goldman Sachs readies bonuses of $16 billion, four times what they were last year.
We were had. It's our own fault. But I want them to suffer for doing it.
By the way, I have it on inside info - not that anyone needs it - that this kind of attack language is a Rahm Emanuel specialty. To put it mildly, the source said, Rahm is not a nice guy.
The only kind way I can explain Obama is to assume that after the election Rahm gave him a lobotomy, and the only brain function he has left is reading teleprompters.
Mouth Of The Potomac - NY Daily News
"Mayor Bloomberg “is an ally,” said one Obama campaign operative who held a top position in the presidential campaign. “He’s an ally, so I’m not sure we would have spent the political capital” to campaign for Thompson, the insider tells The Mouth."
Uh huh. Yep. We know.
John Varley Defends Bonuses: Profits Are "Not Satanic" Barclays CEO Tells London Church Crowd
"'The injunction of Jesus to love others as ourselves is an endorsement of self-interest.'"
Unfuckingbelievable.
Goldstone Report "Irredeemably Biased," Says U.S. House
I notice AIPAC's influence on Congress has significantly declined of late.
Sources: Iran gave Hamas missile that can hit Tel Aviv - Haaretz - Israel News
Okay, dammit, let's just kill 'em all.
Hillary Clinton: US Wants Israel To Stop Building West Bank Settlements 'Forever'
You get the feeling she's just telling everybody what they want to hear? Sort of like her boss?
Italy Convicts 23 Americans In CIA Terrorist Kidnapping Case
Oh, jeez, these poor CIA guys - never to have another glass of wine in Portofino!
Depression and suicide rates state by state - USATODAY.com
This is absolutely fascinating. (These are 2007 figures, but what the hell.)
Let's start with suicide rates. They are the highest in (in this order) Alaska, Nevada, New Mexico, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, Arizona and West Virginia. See anything interesting here?
They're all red states (except for New Mexico, which must be severely depressed by who its neighbors are, and half of Colorado.) Either there's something fundamentally unsatisfying about living in a red state mindset, or the lone local liberals are killing themselves off.
Just about all of them are politically represented by people with weak connections to reality and a lot of misfocused rage. That in itself would be enough to drive me off a cliff.
Or - though conventional wisdom is that overcrowding leads to suicide, it looks like wide open spaces aren't good for you.
States with the highest rates of depression include:
Oklahoma (James Inhofe is depressing, no doubt about it); and Ohio (a state which has never figured itself out).
New Jersey is the third least depressed state. I don't understand that - after all, it is New Jersey.
South Dakota is the least depressed state, but has the 12th highest suicide rate. I guess when they feel bad in South Dakota, they don't let it fester. As opposed to Rhode Island, which has the fourth highest rate of depression but the fifth lowest suicide rate. If you've ever lived there, you know they glory in misery. They're also not too good at doing something definitive about a bad situation.
The lowest suicide rates are in DC, New York and Massachusetts. That, I assume, is because the folks in those places value themselves so highly they see their suicide as a waste of precious national treasures. Or maybe they just go back where they came from when they want to off themselves. Suicide is not good for your reputation.
Take a look - there's lots more fun stuff to think about.
Mixed Messages | The New Republic
"The center proves to be the most popular place in American politics."
NO NO NO NO NO! Why do these people not get it? I'll answer that, but first:
Polling nationwide shows significant support for a strong public option. Is that a centrist position?
People want the banks brought down to size and controlled. Is that centrist?
People want job creation. Is that centrist?
If any of those were centrist, they would have been accomplished already.
Obama is, being kind, at best centrist, and he's losing support by the bucketful.
And here's the reason these guys don't get it: to them, centrist doesn't mean a balanced political posture. Centrist means what the guys they want to play golf with think. Centrist means a reporter's ticket into the elite. In other words, centrist means squat. And that's what these guys are.
O'Donnell To Steele: "You Led Your Party To A Disastrous Loss... Congratulations" (VIDEO)
Michael Steele's status as the reigning Republican boob proves clearly that the powers that be on the right have no long term interest in the fate of the Republican party.
To be honest, and offensive again, I wouldn't be surprised if they saw Steele as some sort of Stepin Fetchit.
JON STEWART
Gubernatorial contests serve as warning to Democrats - washingtonpost.com
Maine Voters First To License Medical Pot Shops
Steele: Election Results Show "Transcendent" GOP
House Republican Whip Eric Cantor of Virginia said, 'I do think that the Virginia model shows that when we're united as a party, independents are attracted to our message of vision for the future, where we can empower folks to get their economic security back.'"
Maine Gay Marriage Vote: Voters Repeal Law Legalizing Gay Marriage
Election 2009: Virginia, New Jersey Exit Polls - From Obama to the Economy - ABC News
Michael Roston - Newsbroke – Will Scozzafava protest vote sink Hoffman in New York’s 23rd district? - True/Slant
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Club for Growth totes up what it did for Hoffman - Capitol Confidential - New York Politics - timesunion.com - Albany NY
New York Mayor Race: Bloomberg, Challenger In Close Contest
Trouble Ahead: Can the Right Seize the Banking Reform Issue in 2010? � New Deal 2.0
Wall Street Cries ‘Feed Me’ or World Will End: Susan Antilla - Bloomberg.com
ONE TERM
LET ME JUST THROW THIS OUTLANDISH STATEMENT OUT THERE
VA exit polls: Dems 94-6 Deeds. GOPers 95-5 McDonnell. Indies 60-39% McDonnell.
Club for Growth Is on Hunt for Republicans Who ‘Don’t Fit the Bill’ - Washington Wire - WSJ
NY-23: [UPDATE] Hoffman Accuses Democrats of ‘Stealing the Election’ � The Washington Independent
2theadvocate.com | Legislature & Politics | Lawyer: Jindal ‘crippled’ La. ethics — Baton Rouge, LA
Here's the nightmare scenario: One Democratic senator joins Republicans to filibuster and 2009 becomes just another year when health care reform failed.
But if thousands of us make it clear that we'd support a primary challenge to that senator, and Democratic senators know it, we might just be able to keep this nightmare scenario from ever coming to pass.
I just pledged to support a primary challenge if it comes to that, and it's critical that all of us who would, say it now. Will you join me?
http://pol.moveon.org/hc_fund/?r_by=17787-8429760-xARjL.x&rc=paste
Thanks!
IT'S ALL ABOUT POWER
It goes somewhat beyond that, I guess, in that it is also determined to slap down and grind under - and ultimately, perhaps, to kill - anyone who thinks or advocates otherwise. In other words, it is not just a pragmatic movement determined to hold and use power but also a movement which has devised an ideology to support that intent. It has convinced itself that it is correct - whether by God's standards or any other - and that a view contrary to anything it professes is not just dangerous but evil itself. This certainty immunizes it from any pangs of conscience or any rules of morality which it does not wish to apply. The full extent of its contemplations runs to the matter of how to keep and enhance its power, and to prevent any persons - such as unions - who by agglomeration of the non-powerful create power in themselves from standing in the way of the true elite. In the past this has been accomplished in part by coopting union leaders, who could be considered as having power in the same sense that industry leaders do. That is no longer the case - that kind of power is to be destroyed, because it's based on a dangerously democratic principle.
I have been characterizing this point of view as corporatist, but I think it is becoming more personal now, and that corporations are simply tools to be used by the elite to accomplish their own elevation. I'm not sure even they understand that yet, but if you consider that, for example, huge pay to executives is actually anti-corporatist since it unreasonably takes money away from shareholders, you begin to see that Neonism is not about corporations at all. It is about individual, dictatorial power - at a minimum, the reinstatement of nobility. And considering the religious overtones to all of this, it is not a stretch to predict the return of the divine right of kings.
We are seeing the re-feudalization of the world.
Lest it be argued that this can't be so because there is a track for the powerless to join the power elite - Sarah Palin being a perfect example - I would point out that in feudal days that track also existed: service to a noble often resulted in the conferring of nobility.
Neons spread this ideology down through the masses of people who have no power and whose interests the Neons oppose - without these masses being aware of that opposition. What that does is create sympathy for and agreement with the power elite's grabbing and holding as much cash as possible. Typical totalitarian use of propaganda. Very effective from what I see.
For so long as the Republican Party remains the protector of Neon interests - and I do not think that will continue much longer - Neon leaders have convinced party members to resist political action which stands in their way. Republican Congressmen oppose everything for the simple reason that Neons believe that those congresspeople who advocate for democratic interests have no business interfering with Neon power. I suspect all Republican politicians live in anticipation of being elevated into the Neon elite. Most of them won't be, but you can't blame them for trying. Some of them may actually understand that what is being attempted is the utter reversal of Runnymede.
It's important to understand that prospective Neons are not just those who have been active in Republican affairs. If the goal is to establish an unfettered nobility, there will be plenty of people who wield power in plenty of areas who will be looking for admission to the club. They include, particularly, members of the press and some Democratic politicians (and I don't mean just Blue Dogs, but people like Chuck Schumer), and that is perhaps the most dangerous aspect of all of this. Considering how Obama has been behaving, I wouldn't rule him out either.
I know it sounds simplistic, but it has to be true. It's entirely unAmerican when you consider democratic ideals, but entirely American when you consider history. I'm going to try to focus on proving this point.
Doug Hoffman Calls Glenn Beck His Mentor (VIDEO)
Since I have launched on the project of describing a totalitarian movement which is even now crawling out of the primordial ooze in an evolution towards consummate power, and since that story will be with us for years to come, I have to have a name for them. I think I'll call them Neons.
So - is Hoffman a Neon? That is, is he a party member? Probably, but at a very low level. He doesn't look like a very bright man (doesn't look like he's had sex for a long time, either). In Nazidom he would have been a very minor backbencher, maybe an SA Scharfuhrer, the kind who have a strong allegiance but little to contribute. Check this out to discover exactly the nonentity he is. He's the kind of guy who believes that the world was made for big money people, and no doubt sees himself as one of them. Does he fully understand what he's involved with? I don't know, but truthfully, who would bother to tell him? He'll just follow along behind his mentor Glenn Beck.
Here's the real question: Is Beck a Neon? That will take some thinking about. But I guarantee that within this list of Hoffman endorsers are some high-ranking Neons.
Catholic pastors directed to distribute anti-health reform materials at mass � Colorado Independent
I dunno. I can't quit the church, because I never was in it. I can't quit the Republicans, same reason. I never belonged to AIPAC or the ADL. There are a long list of mistakes I never made (along with the really bad ones I did.) But I am deprived of effective protest.
There's only one thing I joined that I can quit and make a statement. That's the Obama fan club, and I am OUT. And you know what they say, the worst critics are converts. I'm like an ex-smoker - I can't stand to be in the room with any Obama news.
"Sarah From Alaska" Book: McCain Turned Lights Out On Palin In "Civil War" (VIDEO)
"On CBS' 'Early Show,' authors Scott Conroy and Shushannah Walshe said there was a 'remarkable internal war' at the end of the campaign between Palin and McCain's teams when the VP candidate was told she could not deliver a concession speech. 'Governor Palin tried to create some confusion' so that she would be able to speak, but she ultimately failed. 'It really turned into an all-out civil war,' Walshe said. On election night, Palin went back out onstage to take pictures with her family and McCain's staff was so terrified that she would give a speech after all that they turned out the lights on her."
Put this with this. It's where it belongs.
WHERE'S THE HEART?

Here's the lyric to Tweet's new record. What he sings about is what he talks about on this site - understand that the lover is Obama, and it becomes clear:
When I met you
You looked in my eyes, and you said
"Trust me, baby,
I will never tell lies,
And I will always love you."
And I said: "How do you know?"
And you said: "I can feel it.
My heart tells me so."
So I gave my life to you,
Put you on top.
I know when you started lyin',
Tell me when are you gonna stop?
Where's the heart?
Where's the heart?
All the love's gone flat
Baby, you did that
Where's the heart?
Where's the heart?
I know where the head is at
Where's the heart?
We used to say "Love is what the world needs today"
And we believed that we could show them the way
We used to sing: "Come on, people, now,
Smile on your brother
Everybody get together
Try to love one another"
We said: "Do unto others
As you want them to do to you"
And now it's:
"What's in my bank account?"
And: "Who's doin' what to who?"
Where's the heart?
Where's the heart?
All the love's gone flat
Why did we do that?
Where's the heart?
Where's the heart?
I know where the head is at
Where's the heart?
We let the lovin' slip away
With no regret
Now it's too hard to remember
Too easy to forget
Copyright 2009 Aram Schefrin
WHY CALL THEM NAZIS?
SLIGHT CHANGE OF EMPHASIS
What this amounts to is a complete negation of the entire concept of governance, particularly democratic governance. It is a declaration of anomie, possibly tending toward anarchy. It is the ultimate statement that "no one matters but me and I'm damned if anyone else is going to benefit from my money." It is the end of the social contract.
But when the totalitarians take over, they'll get your money, folks. They just won't call it taxing. Of course, they could run their government - unnecessary as you think it is - off expropriating the assets of people you hate, for a while. That wouldn't cost you anything. But you know, you can't finance an army off hair and gold teeth. Sooner or later you'll have to recognize that you either hide away from everyone or pay your fair share.
Arianna Huffington: Obama One Year Later: The Audacity of Winning vs. The Timidity of Governing
"Then there was the senior staff meeting after their dismal showing in Pennsylvania, where Obama announced: "I want us to get our mojo back. We've got to remember who we are.""
TUESDAYS WITH DIOGENES (11/3/09)

7.
“So why are you obsessed with her?” he asked me, the following Tuesday.
“Because I can’t have her, of course.”
“You want her because you can’t have her. Do you know how stupid that sounds?”
“That’s the definition of obsession,” I pointed out.
“So because you can define it, it’s okay?”
I had to admit to myself that it was ridiculous.
“Would you want her if you could have her?”
“Sure. Once, anyway.”
“So you torture yourself over one impossible night in bed?”
“It’s not torture. And who knows, I might want more.”
“So you like the agony,” he said, “of not getting what you want?”
“Yeah,” I grinned. “Obsession is kind of fun.”
He sighed. “Okay, then you’re not obsessed. So we don’t have to deal with that.”
“No?”
“No. You’re not in the moment. But you probably never will be. You are masochistic – but I ain’t a shrink. Anyway, I’ve got a job for you.”
“What job?”
“Hang on there a moment, Bentley, huh?”
He went into his tube, and came back a moment later with a flashlight. He checked to see that it worked, and handed it to me.
“You want me to fix some plumbing?” I said. “Or do a B & E?”
“Here’s your mission, cowboy,” he said, without a hint of humor. “Go out tonight in
“Huh?”
“Not something that looks like a human being. Find an actual human.”
“I don’t get it,” I grumbled.
“By the end of the night, you will. And hey, if you lose my flashlight, I’m gonna be really pissed.”
Copyright 2009 Aram Schefrin
Monday, November 02, 2009
White House Quietly Working To Weaken Investor Protection
NY-23: 95 Percent of Hoffman Cash From Out of District � The Washington Independent
AMERICAblog Gay | A great people deserve their rights: OFA tells Mainers to get out and vote without mentioning anti-gay ballot measure
RJ Eskow: Time to Kill the Pseudo-Public Option -- and Other Things to Tell Your Representative
Drew Westen: Leadership, Obama Style
Senate climate bill faces challenges - washingtonpost.com
Palin, Tea-Partiers Focus On New Jersey's Gubernatorial Race
Not only is the speech Hitlerian in many many ways, but it is also - as Palin said it was - an honest declaration of her intent. In it she tells us exactly what she is going to do, and in fact has now done in upstate New York.

