Pax Nortona – A Blog by Joel Sax
From the Land of the Lost Blunderbuss
Insert a Trite Metaphor About a Corral
Posted on April 18, 2005 in Roundup
This roundup covers the period from 10 April to 16 April 2005
There was a lull between weeks as bloggers waited through the Papal funeral and new Survivor episodes to see What Would Happen Next. Which means that there wasn’t any real focus when it came to establishing Just What Were Bloggers Thinking About last week. For the most part, they concentrated on the personal — the pet peeve or the favorite cause.
Watch with me as the Papal election gets underway and we see what Rome hath wrought in the name of the Church.
Politics
- shari exposed the rhetoric of the Friends-Of-Arnold Clan here in California, most modest homeowners who aren’t seeing that Arnold is not their friend:
- Randy documented the shocking massacre of some thirty residents of Rio’s Baixada Fluminense suburb, including two transvestites by Brazillian police:
- Jane paid her biggest tax check ever:
- chari raged over a recent action by her representatives:
- Kris damned our public school system for failing to protect the children:
- Bill celebrated the discovery of three new slime-mold beetles: Agathidium bushi, Agathidium cheneyi, and Agathidium rumsfeldi
The genius of the conservative marketing tactic is that members of this Clan, ironically, feel genuinely victimized by ‘losers’, which they relieve by focusing their vast reservoir of vitriol and venom on ‘losers’. It’s brilliant. Here is a real-life example of how the working class is pitted against each other, by dint of sheer ignorance and mega-marketing tactics.
I have been saying for a while that the police in Brazil would be more effective if they were paid better and there were fewer of them. There is no question that they have a difficult job that they perform under difficult circumstances. Is there any more important reason to hire people with the best qualifications and train them well to do such an important job?
I wouldn’t care if I thought the money was going to the poor, the homeless, the mentally ill, foster children, etc., but the thought that most of it is going to Halliburton and their ilk really scalds me. I guess we’re giving up on that “enomics of inclusion” crap. Fearless Leader has neither limits nor heart
The Florida House passed a bill yesterday they say aims to tighten abortion-clinic rules. In actuality, it aims to close them down — with the end result being another way of controlling us slutty wimmins and our vile bodies.
I am appalled by the bullying that is allowed to go on in schools, with teachers and administrators dismissing parents’ concerns with such statements as “He’ll have to learn to deal with it” or “kids will be kids.” Bullied children suffer a daily gauntlet that makes their lives hell. How can children learn in a situation like this? Many schools have policies of not tolerating bullying, but how many of them enforce those policies? I do blame the schools here. I have seen schools justify bullying on the grounds that “it’s a cultural thing,” speaking of minority kids who are bullies. Sorry. That just doesn’t cut it. It’s racist and it’s unfair to both the bully and the bullied.
Culture
- shelli put her hands to her hips and chewed out the film and fashion industry:
- Jim scrutinizes Objectivism and finds it wanting and wanting and wanting more and more goodies for itself:
- Flemming discovered just how you can get people to pay more than $20 for a twenty dollar bill.
- Tracy posted 100 Gay Things.
- Elkit expressed her admiration of the film Kitchen Stories.
- etherealfire just couldn’t pass up a copy of Weekly World News.
- Robert chortled over Rupert Murdoch’s unease.
What happened to the Marilyn Monroe look?…Who made the brilliant thought a woman of a size 2 is the ideal sexiness. It’s unnatural. When I watch a movie I want to see a woman with curves dammit- no skinny ass bitches who need a samwich. If I wanted to see females looking like kids I would only watch movies with kids in it. I a grown woman I want to see grown woman figures.
I will admit that I was attracted to Rand’s work for about 5 seconds when I was 15….when a 15-year old reads “Atlas Shrugged” she/he FEELS SMART because Rand presents some ideas that are novel (excuse the pun) to the developing mind and to grasp those ideas gives said adolescent a sense of self-esteem.
Religion
- Joe broke his sabatical from blogging about Quakerism to reflect upon the obsessive self-scrutinization demanded by some Friends:
- Jeremy said it about optimism-based religions:
There always seems to be these struggles within Quakerism regarding just how much of our lives, how much of the details of our lives, is under the authority of God. Traditionally, at least based on my limited understanding of historic Quakerism, part of this submission was to the community: one’s leadings always came under the inspecting light of communal insight as well as Biblical understanding…Something about what folks have written reminds me of the time when I was a fundamentalist Christian. During this period of my life, I scrutinized everything I did to make sure that it was under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Everything = actions, thoughts, feelings, choices, motives, etc.
the only people who ever claim that some “All Good” Perfect Plan runs the universe based on some benevolent cosmic design, and that “everything happens for a positive reason,” are from wealthy, consumer-driven cultures that haven’t been subjected to massive disaster, wide-spread and severe poverty, or ongoing genocide.
Personal
- Brian found yet another way in which the world imitates Southern California:
- Lauren outlined her vision of the Ideal Man.
- Kathryn celebrated something less than her 99th birthday.
- maria is locally famous.
- Pam wondered if she should tell her students about her blogging.
- Andrea got a note from her alma mater asking for money.
I got home from Monday’s baking class and there was one message on our answering machine: the local police department was calling all residents in our part of town to alert us to an incident over the weekend where a man and his four-year-old daughter were attacked by what they believe was a coyote.
Visual Art
Poetry and Fine Prose
Web Links
For those who weren’t watching their datebooks, we celebrated our 17th anniversary on 16 April 2005.
