Saturday, May 15, 2004

Entertaining, with a Modicum of Validity

”...At different times in our history,” Postman wrote, “different cities have been the focal point of a radiating American spirit.” In the era of the Revolutionary War, Boston embodied the ideals of freedom; in the mid-nineteenth century, “New York became the symbol of a melting-pot America.” In the early twentieth century, the brawn and inventiveness of American industry and culture were captured in the energy of Chicago. “Today,” Postman concluded, “we must look to the city of Las Vegas, Nevada, as a metaphor of our national character and aspiration, its symbol a thirty-foot-high cardboard picture of a slot machine and a chorus girl…”

The most enjoyable read I’ve had today.

“America’s Last Honest Place.”

Published in The Nation and written by Marc Cooper.

Via Arts & Letters Daily.

Posted by John Venlet on 05/15 at 05:52 PM
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Everything Old, is New Again, But Shouldn’t Be Seen, By the Children

“Children visiting the Middle Ages exhibit opening next week at the Public Museum of Grand Rapids will be able to dress up in medieval garb, train like a knight in shining armor and feast on authentic food of the era.

What they won’t be able to do is see a demonstration of a torture rack pulling a captive Stretch Armstrong doll to its limit or murals depicting other forms of torture.

With photos of prisoner abuse in Iraq at the hands of American soldiers appearing on the nightly news, museum officials this week decided to pull the rack and mural from the exhibit “Gratia Dei: A Journey Through the Middle Ages.” They also will retool a summer program designed to show the life of a medieval prisoner.”

We can’t have children understanding that adults have acted barbarically throughout history, can we, now.

“All of a sudden, medieval torture isn’t such old news.”

And the repurcussions roll on.

Posted by John Venlet on 05/15 at 09:08 AM
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Cutting Yourself Up

Back in January 2003, at my old Blogspot blog, I linked to the Megan Lindholm story titled “Cut,” which was up for a Nebula award.  My friend, Greg Swann, linked to my post, with some comments on the story of his own.

This morning, at Totalitarianism Today, Alina Stefanescu links to some related items on this issue, the issue of self mutiliation, in a post titled “In defense of self-mutilation,” wherein she concludes with the following statement.

“Being cut, or cutting, with an aesthetic end in mind is no more ethically laudable than being cut, or cutting, with an cognitive end in mind. The result is the same—a satisfied person.”

There is truth to Alina’s statement, especially in regards to the point of “a satisfied person,” but I still don’t quite understand plastic surgery for mere aesthetic ends, or self mutiliation, for that matter, but I respect the right of each individual to choose either course of action.  What do you think?

Posted by John Venlet on 05/15 at 07:13 AM
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Gear Head

In my last year of highschool, many of the guys in my graduating class drove souped up cars.  Novas, Camaros, Chevelles, an AMX or two.  Straight pipe running off of headers, and Cherry Bombs for that throaty sound, were the norm on these vehicles.  Bleach burnouts in the school parking lot and drag races on flat country roads were part of the package too.  Jay Leno seems to have a bit of the gear head in his makeup, it appears.

“This engine is an AV-1790-5B and it’s 1792 cu. in. It has overhead cams and Hemi heads. Since it was designed to move a tank, it puts out 810 hp and makes 1560 ft.-lb. of torque.”

Judas fricking priest, that’s an engine.  What a car.

Thanks to Billy Beck for the link.

Posted by John Venlet on 05/15 at 06:41 AM
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My Big Brother is Going to Kick Your A$$

I wasn’t a rumbler in my younger days, though I did, from time to time, tend to raise the ire of some neighborhood bullies when I would interrupt their accosting of some unfortunate individual, who was unable to defend themself adequately, against the bullies’ superior force.  If my words wouldn’t drive the bullies off, I wasn’t afraid of taking a few licks, and giving in return, to set matters right.  Though that wouldn’t happen often, I mean the giving and receiving of blows of violence.

One of the phrases I would hear hollered my way, if I was succesful in driving off bullies, is utilized as the title to this post, and it came to mind this morning when I read the following headline.

“Small gas stations say big companies undercut them on price.”

Classic business bullying lament.  Small company at the mercy of the big company.  Ordinarily, I would have a tendency to side with the small company, but the small companies mentioned in the article, are calling their big brother, the government, to kick the big companies a$$.

“Lawmakers are considering legislation that would effectively end discounts that drop the price of fuel below retailer cost. Small gas retailers call that predatory pricing and want the state to step in with new regulations.

The bill in the House Transportation Committee would also bar retailers like grocery stores from offering gas coupons to drum up sales.”

So effectively, what the government hopes to impose, is, higher gas prices.  “Gas too cheap? Bill would bar discounts, coupons.”

If you can’t play nice, dammit, you’ll play by our force backed rules, so everybody can lose.  Now get in line and quit your whining.

Posted by John Venlet on 05/15 at 06:01 AM
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