Strong Words

I hate—HATE—what McCain has become in the last two and a half years. Yes, I thought this before reading the article linked above. And no, I don't think 'hate' is too strong a word to describe the more-than-resentment I feel toward him. I hate him for having become the personification and, at times, the epitome and the sole agent of the obstructionism that has plagued our Congress since the last general elections. He went from being a true maverick and a bridge between the two parties, to campaigning on it, to soiling his campaign and reputation, to becoming an intractable old coot, and to abjuring his moderate past and even the title he campaigned on.

But most of all, I hate him for unleashing—again, I don't think I'm wording this too strongly—Sarah Palin on the national political scene, along with the bigotry, hate, ignorance, and opportunism she exemplifies. Her dreaded ubiquity, hate-mongering, fear-mongering, vitriolic language, and shallow example served to bring to the scene other ignorant, opportunistic pseudo-politicians who unscrupulously exploit hard times and people's legitimate frustrations for their own personal gain, while setting whatever civilized debate we had in this country back by decades.

Thanks a lot, McCain!

The North Star Empress

I finally got a chance to read Vanity Fair's report on Sarah Palin and there was nothing in it that shocked me. I am not claiming to be clairvoyant but she has shown her ugly and uglier sides time after time. I just wish those who follow her also knew how she really is. Unfortunately, they won't even bother to read this article because, why would they go on to question their belief in the 'North Star.'

Warm and effusive in public, indifferent or angry in private: this is the pattern of Palin’s behavior toward the people who make her life possible. A onetime gubernatorial aide to Palin says, “The people who have worked for her—they’re broken, used, stepped on, down in the dust.” On the 2008 campaign trail, one close aide recalls, it was practically impossible to persuade Palin to take a moment to thank the kitchen workers at fund-raising dinners. During the campaign, Palin lashed out at the slightest provocation, sometimes screaming at staff members and throwing objects. Witnessing such behavior, one aide asked Todd Palin if it was typical of his wife. He answered, “You just got to let her go through it… Half the stuff that comes out of her mouth she doesn’t even mean.” When a campaign aide gingerly asked Todd whether Sarah should consider taking psychiatric medication to control her moods, Todd responded that she “just needed to run and work out more.” Her anger kept boiling over, however, and eventually the fits of rage came every day. Then, just as suddenly, her temper would be gone. Palin would apologize and promise to be nicer. Within hours, she would be screaming again. At the end of one long day, when Palin was mid-tirade, a campaign aide remembers thinking, “You were an angel all night. Now you’re a devil. Where did this come from?”

The whole report is seven and a half pages, but take your time and go through it. I did. And I know quite well I wouldn't want someone like the person described above controlling our nuclear arsenal.

Addendum: More on the empress's new clothes.

Ruminations of a Sick Anti-Theist

Christopher Hitchens, an outspoken public intellectual and a relentless critic of religion, has been diagnosed with esophageal cancer and is undergoing treatment. He continues to write for Vanity Fair and his latest article in the magazine—about a week old, but I just got to read it—expresses his view on getting sick as well as on the fact that people of different faiths are praying for him.

He has very interesting things to say. Definitely worth a read if you have the time.

There are numerous passages in holy scripture and religious tradition that for centuries made this kind of gloating into a mainstream belief. Long before it concerned me particularly I had understood the obvious objections. First, which mere primate is so damn sure that he can know the mind of god? Second, would this anonymous author want his views to be read by my unoffending children, who are also being given a hard time in their way, and by the same god? Third, why not a thunderbolt for yours truly, or something similarly awe-inspiring? The vengeful deity has a sadly depleted arsenal if all he can think of is exactly the cancer that my age and former “lifestyle” would suggest that I got. Fourth, why cancer at all? Almost all men get cancer of the prostate if they live long enough: it’s an undignified thing but quite evenly distributed among saints and sinners, believers and unbelievers. If you maintain that god awards the appropriate cancers, you must also account for the numbers of infants who contract leukemia. Devout persons have died young and in pain. Bertrand Russell and Voltaire, by contrast, remained spry until the end, as many psychopathic criminals and tyrants have also done. These visitations, then, seem awfully random. While my so far uncancerous throat, let me rush to assure my Christian correspondent above, is not at all the only organ with which I have blasphemed …And even if my voice goes before I do, I shall continue to write polemics against religious delusions, at least until it’s hello darkness my old friend. In which case, why not cancer of the brain? As a terrified, half-aware imbecile, I might even scream for a priest at the close of business, though I hereby state while I am still lucid that the entity thus humiliating itself would not in fact be “me.” (Bear this in mind, in case of any later rumors or fabrications.)

'Monk Business'

Vanity Fair takes an exhaustive look at Greece's financial woes and how a handful of monks on Mount Athos helped to create it and/or benefited from it.

On a related note, I have a short-term solution for Greece: have your church bail you out. Technically, the church and state are one and the same. One hand washes the other, I say.