Advice for Contrarians Young and Old

In the cogently presented advice offered in his esteemed collection of "Letters to a Young Contrarian" Christopher Hitchens has compiled a treasure trove of useful reminders to all thinking people that it's not simply what one thinks, but precisely how one thinks that's important for any and all developing humanists out there. Following, an example:

"If you want to stay in it for the long haul, and lead a life that is free from illusions either propagated by you or embraced by you, then I suggest you learn to recognise and avoid the symptoms of the zealot and the person who knows that he is right. For the dissenter, the skeptical mentality is at least as important as any armor of principle."

The 99% Don't Really Ask For That Much, And Yes We Have No Bananas!

"We need not be complicated about this question of human good. Aristotle has put it in terms of what is useful, and we will be on the right track if we think first of simple matters, such as food, housing, health, and education. We will have trouble getting beyond a concern for just these elements. These things, however, are in turn useful only insofar as they support lives which are fundamentally human and good, releasing heirs to the tradition of slavery and conquest from such indignities into a domain of human autonomy and freedom. The economics we will be looking for, our good housekeeping, is a rational art whose purpose is to pave the way for what we may speak of as authentic human freedom. We need hardly add that it is not on behalf of the few, but for those whom Aristotle calls the democratic "many," that we apply this criterion of implemented human freedom."

--Thomas K. Simpson, "Good Housekeeping: The Real Economics of the Caribbean"

Elephants Fumble in Final Quarter: Donkeys King

Whether it's the supreme Badger with the final budget solution to terminate the poor and middle-class in America, or any other rightwing hack, Obama just needs the oxymoronic GOP braintrust to keep doing what they're doing: keep on truckin' to the fiscal cliff while they continue to obstruct government, truth, justice and the American Way.

If the Republican traveling comedy roadshow primaries of 2012 proved anything at all, it's that DC should absolutely not have been Approved by the Comics Code.

Come November it's time to do some Good Housekeeping.

Just Beachy Keen, Thank You!

During the past 6 weeks my wife and I have visited beaches and beachside towns at Santa Monica and San Diego in California, Seaside Heights at the New Jersey Shore, Ocean Beach on Fire Island off the coast of New York, as well as Race Point Beach at the tip of Cape Cod, and Oak Bluffs on Martha's Vineyard, both in Massachusetts. What we have learned from these surfside jaunts is that, on the coasts at least, the economy of the United States appears to be floating and sailing along just fine.

Ring...ring...ring. Our kids just called to ask if we could feed their cats while they're at Ocean Beach, Maryland for a couple of days of fun in the sun.

Of course we can feed the cats (we won't be heading out for the shore at Atlantic City, New Jersey for another four days yet).

A lot of people, we've noticed, have some bucks to spend and are enjoying themselves this summer. That's disposable income being disposed of in a good way, because it stimulates local economies. Those who say that only the rich can create jobs are deluding themselves. The middle class, as always, is helping mightily to keep the ship of state from going under.

All 'Things' Considered

Peter Watts, hard SF writer, in his short story, "The Things", has his alien protagonist try its level best to annihilate the biped biomasses (human scientists) that have freed it from its icy grave.

The creature finally realizes that the answer to the age-old question "Who Goes There?" are beings that simply aren't worth killing. More to be pitied actually, as "The Thing" sadly concludes the following about Earth's beastly kings:

"A whole planet of worlds, and not one of them--not one--has a soul. They wander through their lives separate and alone, unable even to communicate except through grunts and tokens: as if the essence of a sunset or a supernova could ever be contained in some string of phonemes, a few linear scratches of black on white. They've never known communion, can aspire to nothing but dissolution. The paradox of their biology is astonishing, yes; but the scale of their loneliness, the futility of these lives, overwhelms me."

Of course, one would have to suspend belief in God and/or Apple to concur with this monstrous assertion.

The Buck Stops Here. There. Everywhere.

To be honest, haven't we been getting exactly the kind of leadership out of Washington's Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches that we deserve? We voters have a track record of not seeking our best people to represent us, and an even worse record of showing up to vote when the time comes to exercise that most important of our rights and privileges. We incessantly complain about our leaders' failures to cooperate with each other, solve our major problems, and plan for a better future for all of us, but what have we, as individuals, really done to rectify the abominable political situation?

In short, the biggest feeling of entitlement that we citizens have is not for Social Security, Medicare, or the other social contracts that both Democrats and Republicans have gifted us with, or, if you prefer, bribed us with, over the succeeding generations, but rather, the feeling of entitlement that we have come to expect for strong and competent leadership.

Here is a piece of late breaking news for us Americans: Before the next election, it is high time that all of us, whether in government, or not, stop playing in the mud, come inside, roll up our sleeves, and do some critical thinking about why things have gotten so mucked up and what we can, realistically, do to fix them.

A Clockwork Greenery?

Kevin Barry (the namesake of an Irish lad who was and is revered by many who have a sense of history) is the author of The City of Bohane, a novel which has been compared to the classic, A Clockwork Orange. While there are macrosimilarities: the futuristic language changes, the wanton violence, the overall dystopian feel to the books, the geographical proximity and nexus of the lands and cultures, I would prefer to compare Barry's writing more to Coleridge than Burgess. It is all that poetical, and about as meaningful as "Kubla Khan". That is, the writing is a work of art whose beauty and meaning will have to be found in and behind the eyes of the book's beholders. I, for one, was not disappointed.