Random Notes from a Crank

Dana Milbank has a really good opinion piece in The Washington Post: "McCarthy Won the 15th Vote to be Speaker--But Lost the House for All." 

Here are three ¶s of note that should make anyone shudder:

"This is insurrection by other means: Two years to the day since the Jan. 6 invasion of the Capitol, Republicans are still attacking the functioning of government. McCarthy opened the door to chaos by excusing Donald Trump's fomenting of the attack and welcoming a new class of election deniers to his caucus. Now he's trying to save his own political ambitions by agreeing to institutionalize the chaos--not just for the next two years but for future congresses as well. 

On Thursday, the day McCarthy failed on an 11th consecutive ballot to secure the speakership, he formally surrendered to the 21 GOP extremists denying him the job. He agree dot allow any member of the House to force a vote at will to 'vacate' his speakership--essentially agreeing to be in permanent jeopardy of losing his job. He agreed to put the rebels on the Rules Committee, giving them sway over what gets a vote on the House floor, and in key committee leadership posts. He agreed to unlimited amendments to spending bills, inviting two years of mayhem. He agreed to other changes that make future government shutdowns and a default on the national debt more likely, if not probable.

Perhaps worst of all, the McCarthy-alingned super PAC, the Conservative Leadership Fun, agreed that it would no longer work against fair-right extremists in the vast majority of Republican primaries--a move sure to increase the number of bomb throwers in Congress. Essentially, McCarthy placated the crazy in his caucus by giving up every tool he (or anybody) had to maintain order in the House." 

I'm not a betting man, but I'd guess that a shutdown of government is in our future over the next two years of the GOP's control of the House. 

Republicans' typical bromide is that "government doesn't work." When they get control, they usually show that government doesn't work - because of them being in control of government, not because of government itself. 

What is the deal with the price of eggs being so high lately? Are the corporate egg farms trying to screw us now too? 

Apparently, one of the reasons (see link above) is an avian flu along with higher feed prices and energy costs. 

I'm neither a vegetarian nor a vegan, but a darkly humorous joke I heard from a vegan comedian is how he described eggs as "chicken abortions." For all those pro-lifers out there, they better stop eating eggs. 

I'm thinking about creating a school of philosophical thought that combines hedonism, utilitarianism, and Taoist and Buddhist principles. In a sense, it might reflect a more wide-view version of Dudeism, which follows the example of Jeffrey Lebowski.

Random Notes from a Crank

This Thanksgiving was the first one for me without both my mom and dad. Back when they still lived in their house, they'd always have the same argument. My mom would want my father to cut the turkey right away, and my dad, being a man who knows many things about meat, would always blow her off and say, "The meat has to rest." My mom would stomp off angrily, and after a short while Virg would mosey into the kitchen to cut the bird. 

I've tried and tried, but I just can't seem to like green bean casserole. I like green beans, but the casserole is just so damn bland. There has to be a way to make this concoction better. 

Over the past couple of weeks, I've bought some turkeys cheap from our local grocery store. If one uses the market's "max card," the turkey is $ .39 a pound. I got a couple of turkeys for later use. 

Instead of eating them at the holidays, people need to eat turkey all year round. You read that turkey industry, I"m trying to promote your birds for the whole year? Why don't you throw some sponsorship money my way? Write the check to "cash." 

I read an article in Utne about philosophical therapy, but it originally appeared in the UC Observer. In "Move Over, Freud," the author talks about a trend in therapy in which folks with a strong background in philosophy help others work through important questions and quandaries in life. 

The practice makes a lot of sense to me because I have gotten much more out of reading philosophical works than studying psychology, especially Fred, who has now become an intellectual anachronism in psychology, a guy often used by scholars in the humanities to support lame-ass analyses of this or that. 

Here are some stats from the the November and December versions of "Harper's Index":

• Estimated number of voters purged from Georgia's voter rolls from 2008 to 2012: 750,000
• From 2012 to 2016:  1,500,000
• Percentage change from 2000 to 2017 in US consumer spending on music: +25
• Percentage of music-industry revenue that is received by musicians: 12
• Percentage of US teenagers who "often" find their parents distracted by their phones during conversations: 14
• Who "sometimes" do: 37
• Number of counties in which no local newspaper is available: 176
• In which only one is available: 1,449
• Estimated number of US newspaper jobs lost since the year 2000: 241,000
• Amount of FEMA funding that has been transferred to ICE this year: $9,800,000
• Minimum number of US cities that have announced plans to establish supervised drug consumption sites: 5
• Estimated minimum number of cities that have such sites worldwide: 100
• Number of people who have ever died of an overdose at one of those sites: 0
• Percentage of interviews with professional baseball players that feature a variation of the phrase "one game at a time": 7
• That feature a variation of "a heck of a game": 50

From the stats above, the one that disturbs me most is the purging of the voter rolls in Georgia, which stole the election for Kemp along with minor mismatches between signatures such as Quin Nasty and Quintilian Nasty. 

The lack of local newspapers is also a problem because the fifth estate even in those small towns keep on eye on what's going on locally whether it's the local city council or local sports. 

Bunny Colvin's idea of "Hamsterdam" in whatever season of The Wire that was was right. Supervised sites makes sense. 

I know Andrew Luck is having an outstanding, comeback season this year so far, but I'll offer him a bit of advice for the hirsute among us. He needs to shore up his beard game. I get that he wants to grow a beard. I've grown one since my dad's funeral. However, Luck needs to shave his neck to make his beard look more presentable, more kept. Step up your beard game, Luck.

Random Notes from a Crank

At the Friendly Atheist, there's a short article about how a group of humanists, agnostics, and atheists at the U of Wisconsin do an annual "Graveyard of the Gods." Check out "In Madison, 'Graveyard of the Gods' Asks Students when Their Theology Will Become Mythology." 

Also religiously related is The Atlantic's interesting article on Pastafarians: "The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster." I like the critique of organized religion they're doing, but in some cases, it's actually becoming like a religion. 

Over at the Daily Stoic, Stephen Hanselman gives out some good advice about Election Day: "A Stoic Remedy for Election 2016: Choices, Character, and the Common Good." 

My beloved Cubs won the World Series last night. My years of torment are finally over. 

And some people are likely to be gettin' it on: "Brace Yourself for a Chicago Cubs Baby Boom Next August."