Epistemic Ingemination

Sen. Olympia Snowe:

“If you establish a public option at the forefront that goes head-to-head and competes with the private health insurance market … the public option will have significant price advantages”

This is the Republican argument against health care reform?

Elizabeth Gilbert (who wrote Eat, Pray, Love, a really wonderful book my sweetie loaned to me) gave a TED talk earlier this year.

She gives a very comforting and illuminating review of the creative process, and how we approach it. If you have a spare twenty minutes, it’s a thought-opener for sure. Here ’tis:

Here is a separate link to it: http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html

You should watch him in action.

Really.

Geoffrey Chaucer Hath a Blog.

Ahh. The first week of summer.

From Popcorn.

Roger Ebert does a fine public service.

Read it all, watch the videos, follow the links. Be better.

Not to go all Youtube on you this week; I’ll back off.

But Stevie changing the Grammys (and the world) in ‘75 is the real thing. Look at all of the White Peoples clapping, while they get the mirror held up to ‘em. In time. With the Colored Help. For perhaps the first time ever.

Introduced by Andy Williams, of all people.

Magnificent.

This is muy great, approaching genius.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you Laurel and Hardy. Backed up by the Gap Band.

On a mail list I belong to, we’ve been discussing a good article at the Atlantic entitled The Deficit Blame Game. It’s a scary one, and I recommend it. But I disagree strongly that it doesn’t matter who you blame. I think that it matters a great deal, and here is what I wrote in that vein.

I’m not bothered by the blame game, and feel no compulsion to appear to be even-handed in this argument. We are where we are because of Republican politics and policies. Period.

Pause and think big-picture for a moment. If the Democratic party had been in power for the last eight years, we would *not* be in this condition. Let’s put this another way: if the Republican party had not been in power for the last eight years, we would *not* be in this condition.

Two things to keep in mind: five trillion dollars of public money were effectively transferred into private hands over the last eight years. You’ve just witnessed the largest raid on a public treasury and the largest money laundering operation in history. I know that this sounds like wild-eyed conspiracy-theory hyperbole, but it’s a rationally and factually defensible statement. Follow the money and look at who benefited. Now compare that list to the donor list of the RNC.

The second point to keep in mind is that the current deficits are virtually mandated upon the current administration, due once again to the effects of previous policies of the Republican party. Virtually every credentialed economist on the planet has advised that immediate and massive deficit spending is the only way to avoid an unprecedented global economic catastrophe. There are, of course, policy questions of where and how to do this spending that are completely fair game for disagreement (and I personally disagree with much of what’s been done so far) but we really have no choice in doing it, according to the experts.

These massive deficits and accumulated debt, when combined, are truly dangerous. I think that the correct people understand this, and happily, much of the money is being pointed at infrastructure, health care, and energy efficiency upgrades that will have basic economic benefits to all, and will assist in enabling us to dig our way out in the future. One hopes. We have to start making things again, and we’ll have to live well within our means for a long, long time.

Unfortunately, if the rest of the world stops buying our bonds, then the grand experiment is over. Kaput. Gone. And that could happen this afternoon. (One trillion dollar banknotes to buy a loaf of bread? Don’t be so sure it can’t happen….) In the end, though, I am an optimist who believes that the good guys are usually the last ones standing.

I am all for even-handedness and balance in public discourse. On the other hand, we need to learn from our mistakes, and that necessitates identifying where and how those mistakes were made.

We are where we are right now because of Republican party politics. None of this would have happened if they had not been in power. Let’s remember that.

Hey! I’m 51 years old today. I’ve now lived to reach 17 three times over. Perhaps I’ll finally get out of my adolescence on the fourth round…

Kerrville was just wonderful. I have to recommend Blame Sally again to you; they are just extraordinary. One of those bands that keep growing. (My original review of their music was here… that one still gets hit regularly, and the reason is a google search for Blame Sally. It stands and applies as written, but it is also eclipsed by the same band three years later.) Visit their site; buy their music; support them. Artists like Blame Sally are the reason that I got into this business, and the reason that I am still in this business, and that is no hyperbole.

The whole Kerrville vibe is a tonic for the soul. It’s about music. Compared to, say, an NAB or NAMM, or the old New Music Seminar or the current SXSW, it’s striking. There aren’t any rock stars; there aren’t any poseurs; nobody is handing out glossy press packs and dropping names. It’s about music, and songwriting, and craftsmanship, and above all, Art. Eddie Wilson once said that the neatest thing about the old Armadillo was that “lifestyle was considered to be an art form.” That fits nicely. It was both a gift and a privilege to be a part of last weekend.

…

So… my birthday present to myself is going to consist of looking at the stars and pondering a completed half century. I’ll let you know if I find anything out.

Be excellent to each other.