Thursday, August 5, 2010

Permanent Vacation from the Imperials

It's August, the epicenter of the summer vacation season, and generally the slowest news month of the year, and, yet, despite being mired in the so called dog days, there is still a veritable smorgasbord of material one could comment on. From the Gulf of Mexico oil spill- which is now alleged to have been fully plugged- to the U.S. economy, which, despite massive and unprecedented infusions of money to reprobate banking interests, and the application of the best mainstream media spin money could buy, is well on its way to a return trip to the critical ward, to Michelle Obama's recent holiday activities, we are well and truly blessed.

Allow me a departure from my usual fare as I choose to focus on The President and First Lady. I didn't think it would be possible for the Obama coterie to equal the loathsomeness of The Bush junior contingent, and yet, lo and behold, at least for me, they have. From the incessant and preposterous mendacity exhibited by the sitting President, who has achieved little in his less than two years in office except to enact disastrous health care legislation and entrench the most ghastly policies followed by his predecessor, to The Commander in Chief's wife's fatuousness and phony posturing, it's become pretty much an unassailable fact that the nation is afflicted by leadership that would cause even The Sun King to blush.

The electorate, at least the part that enthusiastically voted for President Obama, has been well and truly conned. And while, as per the most recent polls, this clearly is not a surprise to most of the voting public, some of whom, by now, must be aware that every Presidential election is a sham, it is still sickening, because the stakes are, arguably, at least for a span of a few decades, a tad higher than they have been heretofore.

So, forgive me for cutting to the chase by suggesting that there's never been a better time for citizens across this great hulking ruin of a nation to take a permanent vacation from The Feds. For those who reside in such fiscal sinkholes as Illinois, California, New York, and a few other terminally sclerotic states that have been reduced to insolvency by local public serpents, an extended separation from local officialdom might also be advisable. Civil disobedience, after all, begins at home.

27 comments:

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Debra said...

Hi, Edwardo, just got back from my on a shoestring budget jaunt to WHERE IT ALL BEGAN for Anglo American culture in the U.K.
I opted out gently and softly for a day in the Globe theater reconstruction in that ruinously expensive capital where you could sell your mother, but can enter the British Museum for free STILL, for the time being. (Those paradoxes, they're all around.)
I discovered, among other little juicy tidbits that I will weave together in forthcoming pieces, that Will Shakespeare's company bought a cloak for the actors, to the tune of £20 back there in the late 1500's, and that that sum represents the equivalent of... £10,000 now.
Geez, the filthy lucre sure has come down in the world over time, hasn't it now ??
"As you like it" was wonderful ; I have yet to be disappointed by an RSC production, but admittedly, just two doesn't make me an authority.
Stratford is a tourist trap, but I spent a quarter of an hour of epiphany with an old volunteer in the church where the bard is buried, shooting the breeze with yet ANOTHER Shakespeare lover. Great moment. Memorable.
I have answered some of your comments on Toby's blog, if you're interested...
Keep cool.
Don't get your blood pressure up over Michelle (spelling ?).
She's not worth it.
Try to focus on... the Virgin Mary instead.
She IS worth it.
Come to think of it.. the Queen's not doing too bad either, is she ?? If she is posturing, at least it is not CHEAP, or TACKY posturing. The little differences can make all the difference, right ?
And that beautiful pageant is a feast for the ritual starved eyes.
Cheers.

Edwardo said...

I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the show. Here in the U.S. we happen to have a nice new act about to un-fold in the ongoing drama.

Old Blighty, which is, en masse, a bit of a theme park itself, is, indeed, ruinously expensive. Such paradoxes as you describe, if indeed they are (most paradoxes are, in my view, only ostensibly so) are now in the process of being unmistakably resolved, though it will take a bit more time to complete the task.

As for Michelle O, If I happen to sound a tad peeved, I assure you, my blood pressure isn't elevated by the execrable antics of our latest unofficially royal couple.

Debra said...

Old Blighty...
Is that the British museum ??
If so, why do you say it is a theme park ?
Last time I checked you really couldn't get an education in Disneyland, world, whatever.
Whereas... just reading all the TEXT at the British museum, and using your NEURONS could go quite a ways towards educating you.
Remember... the world's greatest thinkers have generally escaped organized education.
That's why they're the world's greatest thinkers, right ??

Edwardo said...

Old Blighty is a term that means England.

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Old_Blighty

Debra said...

LOL. England as a theme park.
That's a good one. I tend to agree.
Maybe you could write a little essay, along the lines of Montaigne's ruminations on the cannibals, taking the Brits as an example of THE OTHER, as we say in Lacanese jargon.
Maybe i should write it... (all those abscons essays that I COULD be writing if I weren't spending my time at the piano...)
When you talk about the paradoxes resolving themselves, that sounds rather ominous.
Do you feel like developing that gem a little bit more so I can get my mind around it better ?

Debra said...

By the way, it tickles the cockles of my heart to see that Joe seems to be bringing home meat and potatoes to HIS table (or is it Scotch, or some other type of spirit ?) thanks to his writing.
His engagement book seems to be full...
Mea culpa. Maybe my envy is showing. But I'm too lazy to make the tremendous effort that would be necessary in order to "vivre par la plume", as we say.

Edwardo said...

Joe is a fine writer, and he seems to have done reasonably well in a field that is notoriously difficult to make ends meet in. If I had some wine in front of me, I'd raise a toast to my homey, Joe B. I don't blame anyone for not trying to plow the writer's field. Those who do generally do so because they have no choice, if you catch my drift.

In the meantime, I'll ponder the essay suggestion. As for my ominous comment about the non paradox paradox, something has to, and will, give in Great Britain with respect to the welfare state that somehow manages to cost a (bloody) fortune to visit, let alone live and work in.

All those free museums have never really been free, except nominally. One may not pay for them as one enters their hallowed halls, but they are still extracting a hefty fee. No free lunches and all that.

And in due course even that quaint charade will end, along with "free doctoring" and "free higher education". That the nation hasn't yet instituted means testing for all the various "free" services is, well, impressive.

And, in my view, because of the, so called, austerity measures, as opposed to despite them, Britain is now on an even faster track to be the next major nation to see their financial system decimated. It has an appalling debt to GDP ratio-worse than Greece's that ultimately guarantees a harsh response from the not so invisible hand.

Debra said...

Well, Edwardo, excuse this punch, but let's hope that Old Blighty's largess holds out a LITTLE bit longer so that my 20 year old can get her trade school education there, as I am not sure ANYBODY could afford what education REALLY costs these days except for the really rich. (The results of all that insidioius inflation, you know...) And we are NOT really rich. And I would like for my child to get a LITTLE taste of what a fostering intellectual/educational environment can do for her self esteem after years of being subtely and NOT so subtley denigrated because she wasn't a maths wiz.
I have always found that it is easy for everybody, including me to wax philosophical about the evils of this and that, BUT WHEN YOU START LOOKING AT THE INDIVIDUAL SITUATIONS, and realize that there are flesh and blood people involved, well...
things get a hell of a lot more complicated.
I do NOT point a finger at the welfare state.
Because I think that what we attribute to the evils of the welfare state COULD be attributed to MORE, and OTHER complex factors.
Like the presence of the machines to get us unused to hard work. Everybody. Rich and poor and middle class.
Unlike you, seemingly, I am not looking forward to a return to 19th century exploitation.
Not after our grandfathers got themselves killed so that WE would not have to sweat through 19 hour work days.

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Debra said...

Hmm... some anonymouse out there doesn't feel like staying anonymouse for very long it would appear...

Edwardo said...

What you've surmised...

"Unlike you, seemingly, I am not looking forward to a return to 19th century exploitation"

doesn't follow from what I wrote.

Debra said...

Hmm... I reread your post carefully, and YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT there.
I don't know where I saw a reference to "the welfare state" that I jumped upon... Did I see it in another post ? Can't find it by scrolling down, that's for sure...
My apologies.
That said... I have noticed that blogging encourages (in others AND in me) a too hasty perusal of what is said, and a rapid reaction in consequence.
I wonder if.. something in the tone of your posts brings out the combative in me ? Is this possible ? Why not ? What's wrong with a little virtual roughhousing /tussling ?
After all, we ARE animals, right ? And I have already said that I am a rather agressive person. (if you check out what/how I say on Toby's blog, you will notice that I am a different person there, so... draw your own conclusions.)
I love sparring, anway. With you, shall we say. Not necessarily with others...Don't you ?

Debra said...

I just skimmed through Joe's latest.
I have decided that I like Henry Miller better.
He said it... elegantly in "The Air Conditioned Nightmare" before I was born, as I have probably already told you.
There is a problem about ranting about the fact that the "elites" talk down to the people.
It is hard to do it without sounding condescending, you know what I mean ?
Because you're sitting ELSEWHERE looking at the elites talking down to the people. You're not... "the people".
There are a lot of people running around out there who have decided that they are proud to be ignorant.
i think they are stupid. Period.
No matter how much money they make, incidentally.
Mindless, conformist behavior exists in all social classes.
And limiting the criticism to "capitalist" evil manages to sidestep the issue of what the "democratic" ideal has fostered in terms of mediocrity.
In my opinion...

Edwardo said...

"I have noticed that blogging encourages (in others AND in me) a too hasty perusal of what is said, and a rapid reaction in consequence."

-Where civility is concerned, blogging is somewhat like driving on the Santa Monica (or any other busy) freeway in that it is not conducive, for obvious reasons, to the best conduct.

"I wonder if.. something in the tone of your posts brings out the combative in me ? Is this possible ? Why not ? What's wrong with a little virtual roughhousing /tussling ? "

-Well, as someone with a background in the mental health field you no doubt know that, where psychodynamics are concerned,- how do I put this- it takes two to tango. So, I am sure I bear some responsibility for your combativeness. Having said that, I have noticed that, from time to time, on some other fora you have provoked some less than polite responses from some posters.

"We ARE animals right?

-Yes, but hopefully not animals, colloquially speaking.

"I love sparring, don't you?"

-Too much agreement lends to boredom.

"I just skimmed through Joe's latest.
I have decided that I like Henry Miller better."

-Does the fact that you prefer Henry Miller mean you've gone off JB altogether?

"It is hard to do it without sounding condescending, you know what I mean ? Because you're sitting ELSEWHERE looking at the elites talking down to the people. You're not... "the people".

-That's an interesting point you make, a sort of internal contradiction which, JB, being a Marxist, and a self described man of the people, might possibly appreciate.

I forget where it was in his essay that I felt the Marxist diatribe come up short, but I have read quite a few Marxist critiques over the years that always hit a snag somewhere along the argument even though I think Marx, as an analyst of capitalism's ills, was brilliant. Master discourses do die hard, since, in the end, they are secular religions.

And the crisis we presently find ourselves in does not, in my view, fit terribly snugly inside the box Marxist analysts proffers. Having said that I do find value in David Harvey's point of view.

Edwardo said...

"I have noticed that blogging encourages (in others AND in me) a too hasty perusal of what is said, and a rapid reaction in consequence."

-Where civility is concerned, blogging is somewhat like driving on the Santa Monica (or any other busy) freeway in that it is not conducive, for obvious reasons, to the best conduct.

"I wonder if.. something in the tone of your posts brings out the combative in me ? Is this possible ? Why not ? What's wrong with a little virtual roughhousing /tussling ? "

-Well, as someone with a background in the mental health field you no doubt know that, where psychodynamics are concerned,- how do I put this- it takes two to tango. So, I am sure I bear some responsibility for your combativeness. Having said that, I have noticed that, from time to time, on some other fora you have provoked some less than polite responses from some posters.

"We ARE animals right?

-Yes, but hopefully not animals, colloquially speaking.

"I love sparring, don't you?"

-Too much agreement lends to boredom.

"I just skimmed through Joe's latest.
I have decided that I like Henry Miller better."

-Does the fact that you prefer Henry Miller mean you've gone off JB altogether?

Edwardo said...

"It is hard to do it without sounding condescending, you know what I mean ? Because you're sitting ELSEWHERE looking at the elites talking down to the people. You're not... "the people".

-That's an interesting point you make, a sort of internal contradiction which, JB, being a Marxist, and a self described man of the people, might possibly appreciate.

I forget where it was in his essay that I felt the Marxist diatribe come up short, but I have read quite a few Marxist critiques over the years that always hit a snag somewhere along the argument even though I think Marx, as an analyst of capitalism's ills, was brilliant. Master discourses do die hard, since, in the end, they are secular religions.

And the crisis we presently find ourselves in does not, in my view, fit terribly snugly inside the box Marxist analysts proffers. Having said that I do find value in David Harvey's point of view.

Debra said...

Yes... it's true that I can elicit some, shall we say.. EPIDERMIC reactions from some people but... is that such a bad thing ?
You must give me credit that I do not insult people in my blogging.
At least, if I insult them (and this is open to debate...), I have more than a 200 word vocabulary to do it, and that EXPANDS the pleasure involved.
When you consider for a moment that our not too distant ancestors dropped hankies in the gore of executed people, and threw tomatoes during opera productions that displeased them, WE HAVE BECOME A VERY DISEMBODIED, CASPER MILKTOAST society, and SMUG about it, to boot.
There are SOME opera productions at the end of which I would have liked to throw tomatoes. (At the director, the director, not the singers.)
I will be doing a piece in the next few days on "being against" on Toby's blog. You may find it interesting.
I am not a Marxist. I do not like... SECULAR religion.
I prefer the real McCoy to a pale imitation.
Joe's pieces tend to be rather LONG, I've noticed.
Longer than mine, even...
While I don't favor sound bites, I DO get tired of scrolling down.
The computer is not my favorite medium for... SERIOUS reading, shall we say ?
As for serious writing... I shall let you be the judge.

Debra said...

Milquetoast, I think...

Debra said...

This summer I discovered all the pleasures of REPARTI, you know. CONVERSATION. (Is blogging conducive to conversation ? I must have said long ago that I feel that the current American idea of conversation is what goes on within a bunch of crew cut, deodorant wearing, EARNESTLY smiling YOUNG men (even when they are of the female sex) dedicated to... who knows ? Not stepping on anybody's toes, in any case. "You be polite", as Joni Mitchell said in one of her songs. RATIONAL at all costs. Don't step off the path for an instant, you might find yourself outside the invisible bars of the cage. IN THE WILDERNESS.)
Ah... I dream of heading my own SALON and not saloon and wandering among my guests, a champagne glass in my hand, stopping to pitch in an occasional "bon mot" at the most appropriate place. (Whatever happened to... WIT ? aka Alexander Pope) (Incidentally, I DID this for an evening, following an Amnesty presentation with the Parisian gratin that I organized. The problem is that... the gratin have an even bigger ego than I do, and that's saying something. We can't ALL be stars, now, can we ??)
Salon, I said.. NOT SALOON.
Although, wandering around the saloon with double barreled pistols has its joys and pleasures too.
YOU have wit, Edwardo, by the way...

Edwardo said...

"WE HAVE BECOME A VERY DISEMBODIED, CASPER MILKTOAST society, and SMUG about it, to boot."

Perhaps. I'm not so sure. I think that our conduct, on some levels, seems absolutely docile to the point of near catatonia. I have in mind the lack of any vigorous response from the populace regarding the consistently execrable and warped behavior of officialdom.

On the other hand my strong sense is that we, in the U.S., at least, are far less polite/ considerate/civil in our day to day interactions with our fellow citizens than we were at prior times when vehement large scale political dissent was a fixture of the cultural landscape.

More responses to your most recent comments to come.

Debra said...

Thinking about what you say, I think that our INDIVIDUAL rabidity ? rabidness ? relates to exacerbated INDIVIDUALISM in the first place.
Although one COULD argue that... the blogs are creating NEW types of collectivities, communities, right ?
Smaller ones (euh.. just remembered Facebook...), NOT national ones, for example.
Perhaps once individuals AND the social body have become disenchanted and disillusioned about a pie in the sky ideal, there is no way of reviving it, and we change channels ?
It takes determination, maturity, work, and discipline to stick to an ideal once it has disappointed.
It's when it has disappointed that one realizes that... it WAS NOT Santa Claus.. and that WE have to do the work to pull it off.
But i myself am not going to bat for the NATIONAL ideal these days, in France or in the U.S.
Something to do with an expat identity ?
I COULD be making a big mistake...
I CERTAINLY don't want to live under GLOBAL government.

Edwardo said...

The only folks who want global government are the globalists themselves. They are a pretty arrogant lot, but then outside of the certainty of death and taxes there is nothing so certain as the drive of powerful men to try and control there fellow men. Some do it for ostensibly altruistic reasons and some not. Generally the do goodniks are co-opted by those with base motives. The reduction of the U.S from an economic juggernaught to a kind of hulking near ruin may be, to date, "the globalists" most impressive achievement to date.

Edwardo said...

Ugh. This so called serious writer must be suffering from fatigue what with the errant use of there for their and the placement of plurals in place of apostrophes.

A Salon sounds like a very civilized, not to say, fun idea. They, Salon's that is, clearly must coalesce in an organic fashion, or so I choose to believe. I think the closest thing we may have ever had to a Salon in this country, at least in relatively recent days, was The Algonquin Round Table where the purveyors of wit were in abundance, "Why don't you slip out of those wet clothes into a dry martini."

-Robert Benchley.

And, of course, Dorothy Parker's (in)famous, retort to some door holder's unpleasant comment, "Age before beauty"

"Pearls before swine."

I have often wished I liked martinis, but, alas, I don't.

Blogs are wonderful for all sorts of purposes, but there is no substitute, and never will be, for a good conversation held the old fashioned way, face to face in convivial surroundings.

Debra said...

There, there, now, Edwardo, go easy on yourself...
You are under TREMENDOUS pressure to mix up your p's and q's, as EVERYBODY out there is currently doing it. (the language is changing under our eyes...)
Remember what Adolf said, if you repeat something often enough, people will come to believe it, and if you see constant misspellings, you will invariably be drawn to make the same mistakes.
Even i, a permanent expat for the last 30 years, am starting to make these mistakes...
That's life. Human life, at any rate.
I'll be out of town visiting family for the next couple days.
I am SERIOUSLY enjoying our little... long distance conversation.

Edwardo said...

Bon Voyage!