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Archive for November 4th, 2008

When Lileks Last In The Dooryard Bloom’d

Posted by scott on November 4th, 2008

Toward the end of the The Paper Chase, Timothy Bottoms, first introduced as an endearingly naive True Believer in the righteousness and majesty of the Law, has devolved into a jumpy, hollow-eyed, self-centered grade-grubber, causing Lindsay Wagner to sadly observe, “They sucked all that Midwestern charm right out of you.”  Well, it seems the same charm-removing Hoover has been applied to James Lileks, inhaling the stray crumbs of wit and likability, and the last remaining dust bunnies of his soul, because he’s started a desperate, down-to-the wire campaign blog that seems primarily intended to persuade independent and undecided voters that he’s a dick.  In it, he discards the cockeyed nostalgia and kitschy enthusiasms that have been his stock in trade, and grimly arms himself for battle, donning the Girdle of Snide Innuendo and the Golden Truss of Premature Crankiness.  In the latest post, he flays a centenarian nun for being senile enough to vote for Obama:

If you can’t trust a 106-year-old nun to be opposed pro-life, then all bets are off. Then again, it’s possible she doesn’t know which candidate takes a harder line on abortion, and which one would be inclined to vote “present” on a bill that allows doctors to perform third-trimester terminations “for the health, or mood, or overdue parking meter status, of the mother.”

You’ll note that Lileks, though driven into a state of Herculean Irk, is still canny enough to borrow McCain’s winning tactic of treating maternal health issues to an air quote-intensive bombardment of sarcasm.

Nuns! Explains this fellow, too: abortion is his main issue, but he can’t decide whether to vote for the guy who said life begins at conception, or the one who said the question is above his pay grade. You could blame the media for not making the distinction clear, but really, it’s not that hard to find out the deets. Some people just have a hard time figuring things out. There are people out there who have no problem with the whole Bill Ayers thing, because they heard from a friend that John McCain spent five years living with some Communists. Really! In a hotel and everything.

You can understand his frustration.  McCain’s sole hope depends upon “low information voters,” like the one Mary wrote about below.  So it’s got to be galling to find yourself dealing with people whose capacity for political information is so low, they can’t even manage to absorb the correct lies!

There aren’t a great many more posts in Lileks’ Screedblog, but what’s there is cherce, including dark rumblings about the crypto-Bolshevism of Disney, and a seething rant about tax policy, during which he works himself into such a tizzy that he actually turns into Eros of Plan 9 From Outer Space (“Your stupid minds!  Stupid!  Stupid!“)  So if you’re undecided about how to vote today, drop by and enjoy the reasoned discourse from Minnesota’s Unhappy Warrior.

Ignorance…

Posted by Maryc on November 4th, 2008

You find it in the strangest of places.

I teach first grade in a public school in Los Angeles.  One of my colleagues, one whom I respect and admire beyond all others, I found out she voted “yes” for Prop. 8.

I was flabbergasted.  I asked her, sincerely, how did same sex marriages affect her and her family–personally?

Her one answer:   “It already has!”  No specifics.  No details.  Instead, she offered a parroting of the “Yes On Prop 8″ ads.  She mentioned the “first grade class who went on a field trip to see a gay marriage!”  We (the progressive first grade teachers) countered with, “It wasn’t an official, educational field trip! They surprised their teacher who was marrying her longtime partner on the steps of city hall after the marriage was over!”  She shook her head at us; didn’t offer a rebuttal to that.  She said “it was a field trip the children had to go on!” We countered, “You know schools have to get permission slips for field trips! Any parent who felt that particular field trip was out of bounds (morally or religiously) for their child–OPTED OUT!” She simply shook her head.

I respect this woman.  She is a fantastic teacher and mentor.  She could not give one good counter argument to ours, other than  “It’s already happened in Massachusetts!”

I am not going to broach this subject with her again (She voted early, so her vote is cast), but for any of our readers in California, ask your neighbors (or yourself –and answer yourself truthfully):

How does same sex marriage affect you(me), personally?

And

If you are willing to limit rights of others, based on  religous convictions, are you willing to limit your own rights, based on other people’s religious convictions?  If a wealthy Muslim mosque started a proposition to amend the California constitution to state that women were not allowed to appear in public without a hijab, would you be okay with that?

If your neighbors support Prop 8–their answer would have to be “yes”!  Why? Because Prop. 8 is all about one religion amending a state constitution to fit its morals, regardless of the beliefs of the very people the amendment affects.
Talk to your friends, neighbors and co-workers. Do it now. Do it before they vote.  Believe me, I sure wish I had.