March 12, 2009 archive

For most of my life I’ve parted my hair on the left but my sister was looking at me one day and said, “You know ek, I wish I had hair like yours, you should grow it long.”

I’m actually quite proud of my hair, especially since I still have some which I attribute to the fact that I am my dad’s son and not my cousin who’s father was bald in my remembrance at an age I have already achieved (and since I’m 120, there are few ages that don’t fall in that category).  Then again I’ve never been on the New York Times’ best seller list ever let alone twice.

So I did.

Grow my hair long though it seems odd to be circling back in a piece this short which is why I’ll never end up on any list, not just because my prose is convoluted but because it is also short, unlike my hair.

But not at the moment, I am thoroughly corporatized.  I have two hairdressers I trust, one of whom doesn’t like me very much I suspect because I’m such an intermittent customer and the other is eager for my business though it rarely occurs.

In any event I don’t wear hats unless I have to which is a shame really because I own lots of them and like them because they keep the sun and hair out of my eyes.

Vanity.

The Continuing Assault On Reason

by digby

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

When reality doesn’t fit their worldview, they simply create another reality. For example, when 9/11 happened, they didn’t know or care about terrorism. Their worldview was formed around the threat from totalitarian states. Therefore, they had to blame a totalitarian state for 9/11. Voila, Laurie Mylroie and Iraq. Today, the economy is melting down as the result of wild speculation and deregulation of the financial markets. The conservative worldview was formed around the idea that unfettered free markets cannot fail. Therefore, they have to blame interference in the unfettered free market for the failure. Voila, Amity Schlaes and New Deal Failure.

Obviously, the one thing we have going for us is the fact that they lost so much credibility on Iraq that they are not running things at this crucial moment. All you have to do is watch John McCain’s gibberish to know how important this really was. And they are still hugely influential, especially in the media, which sees these discredited thinkers as valid since they are so fully embraced by the Republican Party. Among the Republican base it’s as if we are back in 2002 listening to the 101st keyboarders insisting that Saddam has to be taken out or we will all be killed in our beds. (Read the comments to Chait’s piece for an excellent education on just how fully the hard core right believes this propaganda. It’s startling.)

Right now it seems to be a waste of time to even think about what these people are saying. Their movement has lost all discipline and they are fighting among themselves. But at this point we have no way of knowing how bad things are going to get and it would be unwise to ignore how successful these people were just in the recent past. Things can change quickly. As bizarre as they sound in light of the current crisis, it’s still important that they be challenged. Worse things can happen.