circle of pointing fingers.

The people say "We're tired of bureaucrats telling us what to do!" The bureaucrats tell us "We're just doing what Congress has legislated," and Congress tells us "We're passing laws the American people want." Am I missing something?

enough with the surveys already

I recently got a survey from Kaiser Permanente with a cover letter: "Good is not good enough." Well, good IS good enough; most of life is OK, not everything can be excellent, so why drive ourselves nuts trying to get fives?

the pure good of sleep

One of the best things about not having a steady job is sleep. I get up at 9, read for an hour, take a half hour nap, and i'm ready for the day; meanwhile the rest of the East Coast has been well along fucking up the atmosphere.

buttbook?

I don't need a system that will burden me with new 'friends,' so how about something that will make me enemies, help me to have more time for my REAL friends?

conservatives have it easy

Liberal politicians have the difficult job of demonstrating that government can do certain things well; conservative politicians not only argue the other side but, given their insider status, can prevent government from functioning. An unfortunate asymmetry.

sour (and poisonous) grapes

The pundits go on about how the US is being overtaken by China, India, Brazil - and even Russia - on various indices. Yet many of us don't want to compete in more races that are destructive to an already dying planet.

marriage as innoculation

as a confirmed misanthrope, i'm convinced that a life partner inures one to others. tolerating the sounds, smells, habits of a spouse enables me to suffer the rest of humanity with more grace than if i were the hermit i'd otherwise be.

the risk society

i couldn't help hearing in the various testimonies of Coast Guard, USGS, EPA, NOAA, etc. officials an undercurrent of satisfaction that their agencies were again being called upon to prove their worth. so many people benefit from catastrophe. what would we do without them if the world weren't so perilous?

politics and whom you're willing to kill

If you're conservative you're willing to kill youngish people (soldiers and prisoners); if you're liberal you're willing to kill fetuses and old folks. Why the difference?