July 31, 2004

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, STOP TALKING ABOUT VIETNAM

I watched most of the Democratic Convention last night (at the urging of Isabel, who has made a recent and mysterious transition to political wonk), and, especially after hearing Walter Mondale (a man who I despise quite roundly) pontificate about how this was John Kerry's moment of glory, I expected considerably more than I got. I expected, I should say, considerably more substance than I got. (And a whole lot less bloated bleating about Vietnam, which ended 29 years ago. I get it. Kerry was a war hero. I don't think that fact is unimportant or unimpressive, but after hearing it mentioned for the 500th time in a single night, I was ready to chuck Kerry's medals over a fence myself...I would have happily owned up to it, too. Recall that George H.W. Bush was a war hero, too, and it didn't keep him from fucking up as President any more than it'd help Kerry.) I wanted more commentary about the stuff Kerry did as a senator, which covered the past 20 years...these 20 years were not only a significantly larger chunk of Kerry's life than his time in Vietnam (which lasted a little under a year and a half, if I remember correctly), but they are also more recent than Vietnam and have considerably more relevance to his ability to govern and be President than do his soldiering years. His time in Vietnam tells me: he is a) physically brave, b) clear-headed under life-threatening danger, and c) honorable enough to save a dying soldier's life. The third has some relevance, the first two don't really. None of these things have nearly as much relevance as what kind of attitude he takes as a representative of the people, what his specific policy stances are, if he's able to take a politically unpopular stance because he believes it to be right, what his governing style would be as President, etc. John Kerry is not a blank slate like many presidential candidates are, where the best we can glean about how they would serve as President is from their speeches and actions on the trail. Kerry was a Senator for 20 years. A lot -- I would say most -- of the way Kerry will behave as President, what kinds of things he would support as President, the way he will react to political pressure as President, can be predicted relatively accurately by examining his record in the Senate. This is of such overwhelming importance that I hoped it would cover a pretty good chunk of the discussion at the Convention. Certainly it merited more than about a two second mention, which it literally all it got, in between 20 minute rants about Kerry's war heroism and how big a cad Bush is. The lack of spotlight given to Kerry's time in the Senate worries me, because, like most people, I suspect, I really don't know much about Kerry's Senate record. And it's an important indicator -- so important that the Convention's curious silence is deafening. I'm deaf to Kerry's promises about what he'll do if he's elected, deaf to how Kerry feels about Bush's handling of the war or how he feels about economic protectionism, and quite certainly deaf to the ten thousandth pious declaration that John Kerry was a war hero. I haven't gone and dug up the information myself, but after the irrelevant bleatfest that was the Democratic Convention, I'm going to. Why would they be silent on this issue, unless his Senate record was something to hide? From the few details I've seen on Republican ads, he was an atrocious Senator and would make an even worse President. Of course these ads will present his record in the most negative light possible, but Kerry's utter lack of a rebuttal makes me wonder if maybe they have a point, after all. I was also singularly unimpressed by the lack of detail and specificity in Kerry's speech. For example, what I got from him on the Iraq issue was that he would a) not alienate traditional allies (read: France, Germany, Russia), with no particular mention of how he would avoid this, b) not send more U.S. soldiers to Iraq, and c) cut costs (again with no particular mention of how) and give the military more expensive equipment. Not exactly an impressive blueprint for post-war Iraq. Kerry complained at length about outsourcing, but offered no particular argument on a) why the alternative (protectionism) would produce good results or b) how exactly this is harming the economy (all quantitative articles I've ever read about outsourcing say that it's net effect on the economy is very positive...which makes sense, just given the standard arguments about comparative advantage). There was also something vaguely racist about it: those damn Indians are stealing your jobs away, Americans! Even if outsourcing actually was bad for Americans, the world net effect has to be positive, due to comparative advantage: is it moral to call on Americans to protect their own wealth, if America could lose a small bit of its tremendous wealth and impoverished India would receive the difference? (Which is not even the case, since outsourcing is helping America and India, so Kerry's anti-outsourcing rants are doubly ill-founded.) Bill Clinton understood this, and it was one of the main reasons I admired him. He was unabashedly pro-free trade, and he understood the reasons why it was important. Neither of the two blowhards this year do, given Kerry's protectionist rants and Bush's shameless steel tariffs, which is one of the reason I am reluctant to give my vote to either of them. The rest of Kerry's speech followed suit. Very little substance, heavy on Bush-bashing and boilerplate rhetoric. I was not impressed. If this was to be Kerry's moment of glory, I cringe to imagine what the rest of the campaign will be like. (Particularly given Bush's penchant for delivering vapid, inarticulate blather masquerading as an important speech, which means that in all likelihood, every single speech this fall, and probably the debates, too, just to cinch the deal, will be mind-fuckingly boring.) As Virginia Postrel, the libertarian-leaning author of The Future and Its Enemies, commented: Well, that speech certainly reminded me why I'm not voting for John Kerry. Contrary to much of the rest of the convention, it was a red-meat speech, complete with "Bush lied" rhetoric, pharmaceutical-company bashing, xenophobic talk about outsourcing, and a promise to make health care "a right." Aside from the much-remarked-upon flag-waving-veteran talk, the speech was mostly made up of (in Kerry's anti-GOP words) "narrow appeals masquerading as values." And to top it off, the LP candidate this year is extremely weak, and has possibly the worst foreign policy plan I've seen so far this year. And of course Ralph Nader is as offensive and unlikeable as ever. Sigh. Maybe I'll just stay home this November. thus ranteth Pericles v. 2.0 at 1:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 22, 2004

The only time that I have ever cried at a concert was when I saw the Rolling Stones play "You Can't Always get what you want." That song meant a lot to me then, and it means a lot to me now. thus ranteth spaga at 12:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 19, 2004

the soft spoken words I hear in my head tell me to dream and walk me to bed   trips to the beach nights full of stars the sound of the ocean cold beer at tiki bars   friends and good folly I can't foget those true the water in the summer is more clear than blue   Nights of contemplation peaceful and at ease a bowl packed full the cool summer breeze   good food for everyone smiles are all around the party goes all night sorrows have been drowned   this night is for the people who follow the light of the stars this is the night of realization that worrys can be left in bars thus ranteth spaga at 6:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 15, 2004

You catch just a glimpse of something: a flash of hair, the way she's walking, and before you can stop it, your mind races away at a million miles an hour. Maybe it's her. Maybe she'll see me and we'll talk. Maybe she's been thinking of me, or missing me, or even longing for me. Maybe when I ask her if she wants to hang out sometime, she'll smile and say "OK" and we'll laugh and have fun and fall in love and run away together, Happily Ever After. All these things fly through your mind in an instant, a split second, and before the moment is even over, you realize it's not her at all. You're left smiling at the bittersweet feeling inside; remembering everything that she was to you, painfully aware of what she will never be. thus ranteth "Stainless" Steele McKaye at 2:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 08, 2004

July poetry excerpts: "So that�s what happens when you get screwed out of a buzz You get a real taste of what life does" "Fact of life Is what gringo said I would rather be strong Than wind up dead" "Redundancy It�s here at last I was open to a change And now I�d rather pass" "out from my back and take me home bring me to a place not unknown You pulled the carpet from underneath my feet Kinda like a bowl around me will sooner or later be beat" hope you enjoy...DT's on Tuesday if you need a fix. peace, love, and light thus ranteth spaga at 12:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 04, 2004

So, I'm in Taiwan. This is my first time out of the States, so it's an interesting experience. My Mandarin, to put it generously, completely sucks. I'm pretty much limited to statements like, "Give me soup," and am unable to hold any kind of conversation at all. My aunt came to visit me the first day, and I couldn't really communicate with her, other than to, well, ask for soup. It was pretty pathetic. We're in Kaohsiung now, the big port of southern Taiwan (right near where my mom grew up, actually), which, I'm told, is one enormous ghetto and is thoroughly infested with gangsters. Travel in groups of at least three, the counselors here told us...and, I was further advised, don't really look at people or they might shoot you. (Whee.) Taichung, the last city we were in, was apparently not such a nice place, either. We went running last night, along the streets of Taichung. The roads around here are interesting: they're mobbed with small fleets of mopeds. I've never seen so many mopeds in my entire life. And the traffic laws here (if they exist at all) seem to be treated as suggestions, particularly for the mopeds, who happily drive up onto sidewalks and drive in between cars on the highways. The night market here in Kaohsiung is really cool...I got to eat shaved ice with mango, sweetened with condensed milk and some kind of sweet juice. It was really good... This program I'm in is too damn structured. There's no time to just chill, and being around 100 people constantly gets me really claustrophobic. I wish I had some time to just be by myself, go exploring or something. I really wish my Mandarin was better. Oh well... More later. thus ranteth Pericles v. 2.0 at 8:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Happy fourth of July! I guess first of all I want to encourage everyone who reads this site to vote in the upcoming election. Please vote no matter who you support. Only thirty nine percent of eighteen to twenty four year olds were registered to vote in the year 2000. Of that percent, only sixteen percent cast a vote. I'm gonna go ahead and put my .02 cents in...our economy is shit right now, our P.O.W.'s are being forced to butt fuck each other on camera, and a lot of other things are screwed up in our government. Even if Bush gets re-elected (I think he will)...we need a new attorney General. I associate John Ashcroft with a large pile of dog shit. He needs to spend less time busting up bong shops (Operation: pipe dreams) and more time doing things that make a positive difference in this world (that is of course, my opinion). Anyway, take care people...and remember to VOTE!!! thus ranteth spaga at 11:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)