If I did graffiti…

…it would probably look like this.

In other news, I’ve been pretty remiss in updating this, mostly because I haven’t felt like I’ve had anything interesting to say in a while (…as though that dwarf/gnome post a little while ago were exemplary of  my standards for “anything interesting”…but I digress).  But I’ll mark out for myself two points to follow up on before I go off abroad again:

1) A reasoned explanation of why I support John McCain and will vote for him.

2) A few comments on the supremely tragic historical similarities between the Muslim conquest of Spain and the Spanish conquest of Mexico.

Freespeak & Newspeak

This post was brought on in part by some of the recent political debates about certain statements being “over the line” etc.

To piggyback on a point I once read regarding the contemporary loss of distinction between Patriotism and Nationalism and/Jingoism, I’ve been thinking on and off about what ever happened to the social category of “Taste”.  I suppose it’s kind of a pre-90’s mentality–you know, back when The Simpsons was considered edgy–but it seems to me that the realm of social meaning and valuation that “Taste” used to occupy has been carved up between radical Free Speech advocacy and PC Speech Restrictions, and that conceptually we’re a far poorer society as a result.

Briefly, as a working definition I understand the “Taste” to encompass the degree to which an actor frames his actions/utterances in accordance with the accepted social norms of the particular context of the action/utterance.  Radical Free Speech attacks this by claiming that social context should never impinge upon one’s right to express oneself however one wants wherever and whenever one wants, and PC Speech declares certain expressions and opinions as off-limits in any context.

Look, but don’t touch…

While reading this article on bordom (thanks to Works and Days!), my eyes wandered over to the sidebar leading to further pieces on the site.  Much to my bemusement, the advertisement had stacked the story “Eliot Spitzer not alone in high profile apologies” right on top of the story “Images from the Patriots’ cheerleader tryouts”.  Interesting…

The Conservative Interest

This is a fascinating article on the trade-offs involved for conservatives assuming a November Obama-McCain match-up.

On the whole, it reconfirms a number of my positive inclinations towards Obama. But given several other issues on which there are distinct differences between him and McCain (e.g., prosecution of the Iraq war, Supreme court judicial appointments, Ethanol subsidies, legislative experience, et al.), I’m still supporting McCain.

UPDATE: On the other hand, here’s a slight wrench thrown in the works.  Everyone that I’ve read up to this point, Pro or Con across the political spectrum, seems to be working on the assumption that an Obama presidency obviously would be a good thing for race relations in the country.  Derbyshire, on the other hand, quite sensibly points out 1) that Obama might not be a very good president, and 2) that a failed Obama presidency could undermine the race relations benefits initially gained by his election.

Tolerance

An interesting argument from Iranian ambassador to Spain:

“Our laws allow for the amputation of the hand that steals. This is not accepted by the West, but the field of human rights should take into account the customs, traditions, religion and economic development,” he said in comments reported by the newspaper El Mundo.

So…human rights should acknowledge exceptions to human rights. Right….

It reminds me of a quote by one Sir Charles Napier regarding the Indian practice of Suttee:

“You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours.”

Quite.

“momentary case of stumbly fingers”

Isn’t there a vote confirmation screen or something like that? I know this is Illinois and we have our own “peculiar” brand of politics…but seriously:

The rules allow state lawmakers to clear up a mishap if they suffered from a momentary case of stumbly fingers or a lapse in attention. Correcting the record is common practice in the Illinois Legislature, where lawmakers routinely cast numerous votes in a hurry.

But some lawmakers say the practice also offers a relatively painless way to placate both sides of a difficult issue. Even if a lawmaker admits an error, the actual vote stands and the official record merely shows the senator’s “intent.”

And so as not to pick on Obama prematurely, as the link does, I’d like to find out the actual statistics of how often this kind of thing happens, etc.

Overdetermination

This is one point that’s always bothered me when attempting to have a reasonable discussion about Iraq…or about any other complex contentious issue in life, come to think of it.  Multiple motives can and frequently do exist!

November?

Archilochos:

Οὐ φιλέω μέγαν στρατηγὸν οὐδὲ διαπεπλιγμένον
οὐδὲ βοστρύχοισι γαῦρον οὐδ᾽ ὑπεξυρημένον·
ἀλλά μοι σμικρός τις εἴη καὶ περὶ κνήμας ἰδεῖν
ῥοικός, ἀσφαλεώς βεβηκὼς ποσσί, καρδίης πλέως.

Salvation

And people claim Republicans are the religious crazies…

Manipulating the Public

Fascinating!

 On a different level, in the 1930s members of CPUSA (the Communist Party of the USA) got instructions from Moscow to promote non-representational art so that the US’s public spaces would become arid and ugly.