I watch the ripples change their size
But never leave the stream
Of warm impermanence
And so the days float through my eyes
But still the days seem the same
And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They're quite aware of what they're goin' through

Friday, July 23, 2010

I get pulled back in

Feeling the need to craw in a hole and not come out. Instead, at the end of work, I'm off to Pittsburg for Confluence. No rest for the wicked. And on top of it all, I'm behind in my reading for the class (that's not going to get done before Monday), and I have one and a half more stories to get through for the Hamster critique on Sunday. The plus is that Confluence isn't really a party Con. Considering that one of the pillars of the community passed away this year and much of the first night is devoted to a memorial, I'm guessing it'll be even less this year. And in the "it's good news, but bad news too" category, most of the people I hang out with won't be here this year. So I'll have some more time, but will miss them and will be feeling out new connections. And while at other cons the bar is the good place to hang, Confluence is also different in that context.

And, lastly, some others thoughts on Breitbart, from language log, some more thought's from John Scalzi, and finally an interesting twist to what this might have been about. As I've said in the comments, he isn't stupid. Although he's trying that as a defense. No, I'm pretty sure Breitbart did the full political calculation before releasing the edited video.

(the gods but I keep from trying to be political, and then I run across something like this) Dear Mr. Gingrinch, for your desire to bring Saudi Arabia style bigotry here to the US, please, sir, (expletive deleted) and die. As someone who is an elite (say, how many years did you teach college?) you have few stones to throw. Also, since you are a student of history, know full well the Christians also converted Mosques to Churches in the areas they conquered during various crusades. Such activity (the conversion and reconvertion of holy sites were very common in history). You've adopted the stance of "I must leave, there go my people and I must lead them." We, the USA, are not Saudi Arabia, and your desire to remake us into the Christian version of that land can not be tolerated. You political calculations, desire to run for national office again, and lateness to this issue show you to be the opportunist bottom-feeder you are. Please, sir, return to your private home and lecture your fourth wife on the virtues of Family Values and leave the rest of us humans alone. Your return to the vitriol farms you cultivated in the 1994 "Republican Revolution" is neither needed or warranted. You are a smart person, stop behaving like an idiot. And please take your admonishment of "No self deception" to heart. Because, frankly, you've refined it to an art form.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

OH! OH! OH! I've got one:

Brad Pitt won't marry Angelina Jolie until gays are allowed to marry in the US.

What? I think they're all stupid.

Anonymous Cassie

Steve Buchheit said...

Brad left Jennifer Anniston, that pretty much put him in the idiot category for me.

And I didn't remember asking a question. Although if you're comparing Branjolina not tying the knot as a political statement to Gingrich's doing a poor man's Winston Churchill, well, one only hurts themselves and the other is calling for open cultural warfare or death.

WendyB_09 said...

Welcome to my world...Newt's from Georgia. Ugh.

We had our primary on Tuesday. Republican candidates will be having a run-off. Palin endorsed Karen Handel, the only woman in the race, who went from 3rd to 1st in just a few days. Gingrich endorsed Nathan Deal.

Local pundits are calling the run-off the Palin-Gingrich battle and a test of their respective strengths as future presidential candidates.

AHHHHH!!! The HORROR!!! Run NOW!!

Anyhow, be glad you're not in Georgia right now, we're in a GOP nightmare.

Anonymous said...

Looks like my next post got lost.

No, it just falls under stupid things said by famous people that make you want to dope slap them.

AC

Steve Buchheit said...

Fair enough, Cassie. However, Brad and Angelina are just celebrities. Newt has already said he plans to run for the Presidency in 2012 (if he does or not, or is as successful as Fred Thompson is another question). So while the "celebrity" side of it is current to both, for Newt, he 1) was in a position to affect changes in law to mirror his paranoia and 2) desires to be in that position again. While both, as celebrities, have some pull with their respective audiences to sway opinion, Brad and Angelina can only affect laws through persuasion and gaining popular support. Newt would be in a position to alter the actual law through position with or without popular support. That, in my mind, makes his opinions slightly more worth caring about.

Steve Buchheit said...

WendyB, yes, Georgia and some states seem to be having the same fun you are. I'm glad I don't live in those states. I'm sure the forth coming advertising blitz will not be a fun one. I suggest turning off the phone and getting a TiVO.