Motus Mentis

30 Comments

1. Alex Leibowitz says

   “If we had no faults, we should not take so much pleasure in noting those of others.”

   “Quarrels would not last long if the fault was only on one side.”

   La Rochefoucauld

   Posted October 9, 2013 at 2:35 am | Permalink
2. Malcolm says

   “I ceased in the year 1764 to believe that one can convince one’s opponents with arguments printed in books. It is not to do that, therefore, that I have taken up my pen, but merely so as to annoy them, and to bestow strength and courage on those on our own side, and to make it known to the others that they have not convinced us.”

   — Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

   Posted October 9, 2013 at 11:42 am | Permalink
3. Malcolm says

   I quote that too often, but it stays so doggone apt…

   Posted October 9, 2013 at 11:43 am | Permalink
4. the one eyed man says

   One of the more hilarious aspects of this whole mess is that after shutting down the government, conservatives are shocked — shocked! — that parks are closed, veterans are not receiving benefits, there’s nobody at work at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and so forth. In order to deflect blame for their recklessness, they went to their default position and blamed Obama for everything. As Jon Stewart noted: don’t fart and then blame the dog.

   Sadly for them, Gallup reports that public approval of the Republican party is at 28%, which is the lowest level since they started measuring it. Lower than the Clinton impeachment fiasco, lower than the fiasco in Iraq, and lower than the financial collapse of 2008. Even worse for them, the rate of change is astonishing: it was 38% less than a month ago. America is divided into two camps: a dwindling number of hard right citizens living in their own cocoon, and a growing majority of right-thinking citizens who recognize that extortion and blackmail is no way to run a government.

   Posted October 10, 2013 at 9:54 am | Permalink
5. Malcolm says

   Oh, stop it. Nobody’s “shocked”, not in the least. We’re just calling attention to how much the administration’s going out of its way to inflict as much arbitrary pain as possible — for example, evicting elderly people who own a home on leased Federal land (pretty over-the-top in terms of sheer ruthlessness, that one), and bringing in extra staff to erect completely unnecessary barricades around an open-air memorial (and only that open-air memorial that was about to have a planeload of visitors, while leaving others untouched). Stuff like that. (Meanwhile, the golf course at Andrews AFB stays open.)

   This whole farce is all about the optics.

   Posted October 10, 2013 at 11:36 am | Permalink
6. JK says

   One of the more hilarious aspects of this whole mess is that after shutting down the government, conservatives are shocked — shocked! – veterans are not receiving benefits …

   One Eye?

   Guess where I went yesterday. Guess what hit my credit union account at midnight afterward.

   Posted October 10, 2013 at 1:38 pm | Permalink
7. the one eyed man says

   The core competency of the right wing is self-victimization. (It certainly isn’t governance.) The notion that there is some well-oiled plan to embarrass Republicans following a shutdown they created is too absurd to be entertained outside the Foxiverse. Governments are designed to function, not to shut down. The consequences of a shutdown will necessarily be haphazard and dysfunctional. Not only are there a lot fewer federal workers around to make decisions, but it’s not the sort of thing you plan for in the first place.

   The Lincoln Monument was vandalized recently (before the shutdown). Had the WWII Memorial been left open and vandalized, conservatives would be howling about that. Maybe kvetching is their core competency. When you close down the government, you set in motion a train of events which will inevitably be harmful, and you are responsible for each of them.

   I imagine that the golf course at Andrews AFB is open because it’s on an air force base. It certainly isn’t so Obama could play golf there. He had planned to do the nation’s business in Asia, until he had to cancel his trip. The better question to ask is: why is the House gym open?

   Meanwhile, the shutdown is in its ninth day. It is unclear exactly why. The pipe dream of delaying or cancelling Obamacare — which the more lucid elements of the right wing, such as Krauthammer and the WSJ editors, knew all along was totally fucking crazy — has evaporated, so we now know (courtesy of Congressman Stutzman) that food isn’t being inspected and disability claims aren’t being processed because “we’re not going to be disrespected.” It ain’t the way I wanted it! I can handle things! I’m smart! Not like everybody says… like dumb… I’m smart and I want respect!

   In Washington’s other dick measuring contest regarding paying the nation’s bills, John Boehner is willing to kick the can down the road (or maybe nudge the can down the road) and delay Armageddon for six weeks to have a negotiation about the budget. This is something Democrats have been pushing for since April, only to be consistently rebuffed by Boehner. Since his definition of negotiation is “what concessions are you willing to give me,” hopefully this will differ from the past few years’ experience:

   Boehner: I want a negotiation to reduce the deficit.

   Obama: Fine, John, I will cut entitlement spending if you will close tax loopholes.

   Boehner: No can do. Taxes are not negotiable.

   As JFK said: you can’t negotiate with someone to whom what’s his is his, and what’s yours is negotiable.

   If there is to be a true negotiation — where both sides make concessions to achieve a result which both agree to — then Boehner will be flayed by the Tea Party (which is the reason they waited until the government was about to shut down before discussing the budget — had the Senate and House budgets called to conference, the House would have to compromise, which is an untenable principle to them). I feel sorry for him when he has to tell his caucus that having a slim control of the House does not entitle them to dictate terms of surrender to the Senate and the President. I’m guessing that whatever he says will echo Hirohito’s speech to the Japanese in 1945: “The war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan’s advantage.”

   Posted October 10, 2013 at 5:59 pm | Permalink
8. Malcolm says

   The core competency of the right wing is self-victimization.

   Beyond parody.

   Posted October 10, 2013 at 8:04 pm | Permalink
9. Oberlin Is Out says

   Wow! I would not pay $60k per year to go to Oberlin and be marginalized by a white male.

   http://new.oberlin.edu/parents/finances/tuition-and-fees.dot

   Posted October 10, 2013 at 9:50 pm | Permalink
10. TheBigHenry says

    When the Left is indignant, it means the Nation is on the right track. After almost five years of Obamination, it is refreshing to handcuff those bastards.

    I hope the shutdown lasts until 2016.

    Posted October 11, 2013 at 12:13 am | Permalink
11. Essential Eugenia says

    Henry, Big Henry.

    Do you hear the rumble from the tummies of hungry children? Listen. Due to this governmental shutdown, babies are crying in America for want of food. Do you not know?

    Or do you not care?

    The Ladies and I of the Ladies’ Sewing Circle and Terrorist Society are taking a moment from rolling bandages for those wounded in the culture wars, to making long slogs to the well. These buckets are heavy and suspended from yokes on our backs, but we march onward in the hope that by watering the already thin soup the children will be able to sleep tonight in some small degree of ease and comfort.

    Be kind, Henry.

    And, please. Think before you speak.

    Posted October 11, 2013 at 9:27 am | Permalink
12. the one eyed man says

    As is his custom, le petit Henri is grossly mistaken. It’s not just the Left which is indignant. The entire country is indignant.

    I saw a television report yesterday about Midwestern farmers – a big part of the Republican base – who were steaming mad because the Agriculture Department was shut down. They use their crop reports to set prices, and the whole commodities market is a mess. People love to criticize government in the abstract, until they realize that the services they rely on are provided by Uncle Sam.

    Yesterday’s NBC/WSJ poll shows the approval rating for Republicans (24%) even lower than the Gallup poll (28%), which was taken a few days earlier. Not only is approval of Republicans falling faster than Anthony Weiner’s pants, but both readings are the lowest recorded numbers since the polling began.

    The poll also measures the delta between favorable and unfavorable ratings. Their results:

    President Obama: plus six

    Democratic Party: down one

    John Boehner: down twenty five

    Republican party: down twenty nine

    Oh yeah: the approval ratings for Obama and Obamacare both ticked up since the shutdown began.

    You cannot have a national party with an approval rating in the mid-twenties.

    January 3, 2015: mark the date. John Boehner returns the gavel to Nancy Pelosi.

    Posted October 11, 2013 at 10:07 am | Permalink
13. JK says

    @Essential Eugenia,

    I’d guess in your gentle chidings of TheBigHenry, it’s unlikely you’ve read much of what he’s actually said – both here and on his site (click his name, admittedly you might need to dig in his archives).

    TBH, to my knowledge has never sought to inflict harm on the actual babies. Just the ones captained aboard the USS Leftward.

    Posted October 11, 2013 at 10:11 am | Permalink
14. TheBigHenry says

    “Do you hear the rumble from the tummies of hungry children?”

    No, I don’t. I do, however, see an awful lot of obesity.

    But, if there is hunger in America, one solution would be for the hungry to eat the obese.

    Posted October 11, 2013 at 10:13 am | Permalink
15. JK says

    As is his custom, le petit Henri is grossly mistaken. It’s not just the Left which is indignant. The entire country is indignant.

    The pollsters very apparently missed large swathes of capable survey takers.

    Posted October 11, 2013 at 10:15 am | Permalink
16. TheBigHenry says

    The one-eyed dickhead, as is his wont, reports polls and statistics to suit his perverted views. But as intelligent people know, there are lies, damn lies, and statistics.

    I am content to have this execrable administration shut down until its interminable term of stupidity is over.

    Posted October 11, 2013 at 10:26 am | Permalink
17. TheBigHenry says

    JK,

    Thank you for your support. You are truly a friend, a gentleman, a scholar, and, clearly, a man of refined taste and impeccable judgement.

    Posted October 11, 2013 at 10:42 am | Permalink
18. JK says

    Thank you TBH.

    But I’d just say (tho’ I do appreciate your inclusions) I simply study stuff over a period.

    No “snap judgements.”

    Posted October 11, 2013 at 2:26 pm | Permalink
19. the one eyed man says

    The reason why many poor people are obese, of course, is that the cheapest foods tend to be high in carbs and low in nutrients, which often leads to obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular problems.

    Fortunately, we have a First Lady who is deeply concerned about having people eat nutritious foods like broccoli. Perhaps that explains why she married Brocc’ Obama.

    Posted October 11, 2013 at 4:39 pm | Permalink
20. JK says

    One Eye?

    What do your polls show on Gubner Moonbeam?

    http://news.yahoo.com/california-governor-vetoes-several-tough-gun-control-bills-202721952.html

    Posted October 11, 2013 at 5:10 pm | Permalink
21. TheBigHenry says

    “No ‘snap judgements’.”

    So much the better.

    Posted October 11, 2013 at 5:53 pm | Permalink
22. Malcolm says

    The reason why many poor people are obese, of course, is that the cheapest foods tend to be high in carbs and low in nutrients, which often leads to obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular problems.

    Interesting. The cheapest food everywhere, throughout history, has always been starchy and nutrient-poor.

    If you go to, say, poor Asian neighborhoods, where people of no greater income live (especially considering that government food subsidies are readily available), you don’t see much obesity. You see women in the markets, selecting inexpensive but nourishing ingredients to take home to cook.

    Perhaps the difference is mostly that: taking eating seriously enough to make the effort to seek out nourishing food, and to cook it at home, rather than as just another passing appetite to satisfy with the least effort possible, and the no reflection upon the long-term consequences of one’s dietary choices.

    Posted October 11, 2013 at 5:57 pm | Permalink
23. TheBigHenry says

    “… we have a First Lady who is deeply concerned about having people eat nutritious foods …”

    That’s actually funny. Score one for one-eye. He does have a sense of humor, albeit one that’s based on the grotesque.

    Too bad Mooch ignores her own “concerns”.

    Compare and contrast these butts:

    [img]http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_8IcO1ehweFs/TOaaB2G6mnI/AAAAAAAAFXY/fpNu09BXq4Q/s1600/michelle+obama+and+other+first+lady%2527s.jpg[/img]

    Posted October 11, 2013 at 6:17 pm | Permalink
24. Malcolm says

    To be fair, Henry, I think the woman may not be steatopygic, but simply has a broad pelvis.

    Posted October 11, 2013 at 6:48 pm | Permalink
25. TheBigHenry says

    Yeah; I’m sure that explains it, Mal.

    Posted October 11, 2013 at 8:34 pm | Permalink
26. the one eyed man says

    JK: Jerry Brown goes his own way, and is not a doctrinaire liberal or a doctrinaire conservative. He pisses everyone off from time to time, but people here respect him for having deep convictions, being completely incorruptible, and for having schtupped Linda Ronstadt.

    Malcolm: your point about Asians is a good one. This probably has a lot to do with what is locally available. If you live in Flushing, you can get great food which is fresh and cheap. If you live in Harlem, your choices are mostly overpriced supermarkets, overpriced Korean markets, and fast food joints.

    There is a Chinese proverb: what is patriotism but remembering the good food we had as a child? This is an interesting concept, as it conflates love of country with the stuff you ate as a kid. When I lived in Hong Kong, there was a store which had a great business selling stuff like Cheeze Whiz and Pepperidge Farm Goldfish to homesick Americans. If you grew up eating cruciferous vegetables like gai lan and choi sam, you probably eat them a lot as an adult. If you grew up eating fish you picked out of the tank, you probably won’t eat Mrs. Paul’s fish sticks as an adult.

    Or it could be the tea. That bo lai will really keep you regular.

    Posted October 11, 2013 at 9:06 pm | Permalink
27. Malcolm says

    If you live in Harlem, your choices are mostly overpriced supermarkets, overpriced Korean markets, and fast food joints.

    People only sell what others will buy. That’s a proverb of my own.

    There is a Chinese proverb: what is patriotism but remembering the good food we had as a child? This is an interesting concept, as it conflates love of country with the stuff you ate as a kid.

    Of course, love of country is love of the food that you ate as a kid. It’s also love of the music you heard, and the jokes and stories you told, and the rituals you participated in, and the idioms of your language, and the games you played, and the clothes you wore, and the way the place looked and smelled, and the way the seasons changed. In short, it’s love of your culture, and your people, and the soil upon which your culture and your people have made their home.

    It’s fascinating, and broadening, to visit other places, and to immerse oneself in exotic cultures. Best of all is to be able to come home.

    Posted October 11, 2013 at 11:22 pm | Permalink
28. Malcolm says

    Here, by the way, is the story of that photo.

    Posted October 11, 2013 at 11:35 pm | Permalink
29. TheBigHenry says

    Re: The “Butt Seriously” Story

    “A photograph from the latter event has been manipulated (as shown above) to add a figure representing Michelle Obama, making her appear to come off a very distant third in fashion sense with her plain, rumpled skirt contrasting with the shapely and stylish backsides of the two European women.

    Read more at http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/photos/derrieres.asp#pXyHzbg1JQG0llkd.99“

    OK, the photo was “manipulated” to contrast the women’s fashion sense. Butt was Michelle’s ass manipulated too (by somebody other than Brocc’)?

    EWW …

    Posted October 12, 2013 at 2:23 am | Permalink
30. TheBigHenry says

    Apropos butt manipulation:

    http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UOpLV1R3-Y0/UlhngXQqlMI/AAAAAAAAYtQ/rBTgGxzJa5U/s1600/ass+look+big.jpg

    [img]http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UOpLV1R3-Y0/UlhngXQqlMI/AAAAAAAAYtQ/rBTgGxzJa5U/s1600/ass+look+big.jpg[/img]

    Posted October 12, 2013 at 10:58 am | Permalink