"Why, it's the SAME EXACT THING I WAS THINKING YESTERDAY."

I was having a conversation with someone on the nature of stasis vs. transiency as one navigates the space-time continuum.

It's the sort of difference between being a traveler or a tourist. One looks to the next destination, while the other pines to return to familiarity at the end of a short excursion into novelty -- courtesy a travel agent.

Glad to hear you're still traveling.

I don't know where the word "blurver" comes from, but I wonder why you think you're not good at it. Maybe "blurviator" would sound better.

Anyway, you deliver hope in small but daily doses. Please don't stop.

"[politics] doesn't have much more intellectual content than tic tac toe."

And yet people continue to treat the stuff like its a hard science--and love themselves for doing so. I think one of the reasons for TNRs almost uniformly negative and quite vicious reaction to the rise of blogging--I'm thinking of Chait in particular--is the blogosphere's exposure of this very fact--that political questions are by and large pretty simple. A tough pill to swallow for glorified rhetoricians.

Of course, it's not as though the blogs have actually ameliorated this tendency. Virtually all of them try at some point for the heights of intellectual achievement, taking on all manner of pseudo-questions: How much does America love democracy? Is democracy compatible with Islam? Can America actually implement the forms of democracy America loves so much? And so on...

I like blogs (such as yours) that deflate this posture.

I'll send you my aunt's hummus recipe, if you'd like.

Everyday seems the same, because for SIX YEARS----

"[politics] doesn't have much more intellectual content than tic tac toe."

I know Jon meant to write "than a New Republic editorial" but he hit
the wrong keys on this terminal and what came out looks a lot like "tic tac toe."

I hope my good friend, Jozsef Beck, from the Rutgers Math dept, does not read this.

I'll quote from the abstract of Prof. Beck's talk at Princeton last year, in the hope that Jon will feel very bad.

"I just finished a book titled “Tic-Tac-Toe Theory: the exact values of infinitely
many game numbers”. It is 630 pages long. In the talk I am going to answer the
following questions? (1) Why is it so long? (2) What are the “game numbers”? (3)
What are the “exact values”? If you have any other question, I am more than happy
to answer them (if I can)."

"[politics] doesn't have much more intellectual content than tic tac toe."

I know Jon meant to write "than a New Republic editorial" but he hit
the wrong keys on this terminal and what came out looks a lot like "tic tac toe."

I hope my good friend, Jozsef Beck, from the Rutgers Math dept, does not read this.

I'll quote from the abstract of Prof. Beck's talk at Princeton last year, in the hope that Jon will feel very bad.

"I just finished a book titled “Tic-Tac-Toe Theory: the exact values of infinitely
many game numbers”. It is 630 pages long. In the talk I am going to answer the
following questions? (1) Why is it so long? (2) What are the “game numbers”? (3)
What are the “exact values”? If you have any other question, I am more than happy
to answer them (if I can)."

Perhaps Jon should have said politics doesn't have much more intellectual content than watching someone play tictactoe against themself.

Damn, I was hoping that analogy was clearer.

Funny, I thought of "bloviate" as a potential cognate to "blurve" as well.

I'd be glad to help you with the more elementary aspects of calculus if you're seriously interested. They may let me inflict it on undergraduates next semester... I may as well practice.

Perhaps Jon should have said politics doesn't have much more intellectual content than watching Joshua play tic-tac-toe against itself at ever-increasing speeds, thus proving that the only way to win at thermonuclear war is not to play.

Evil is banal. Politics is mostly evil. It's like football, a lot of violent behavior mostly within preset rules, with occasional reasons to cheer or turn off the TV.

The problem with our current-day politics is that most of us don't know the actual rules of the game. Why don't the Dems actually fight back? Hey, if you're asking the question you don't know the rules.

Go here:

http://southofheaven.typepad.com/south_of_heaven/2007/06/18/index.html

Scroll past the article on panda evolution. It's about why Congress is a debating society while our country sinks further into fascist, totalitarian woe.

The gas station down the hill near me has a bright new sign to announce the day's prices.

If the grass is green
then the sky is blue
and give a call to Nancy
She will listen to you.
@ 1-202-225-0100
Discuss IMPEACHMENT.

it's a nice thought Mike, but i think if i pretend to be a crazy Texas millionaire and tell her I'm going to help Cindy Sheehan if she don't start actin' right that may have more effect.

Jonathan Versen: Tell her what you like, just call.

Bob in Pacifica/South of Heaven: fellow Slayer fan?

Read D. Neiwart's (orcinus) two essays on incipient fascism in America.
http://dneiwert.blogspot.com/The%20Rise%20Of%20Pseudo%20Fascism.pdf
http://dneiwert.blogspot.com/Rush%20Newspeak%20%20Fascism.pdf
That should at least clear up the definitional confusion.

Nancy Pelosi could fund the withdraw of our troops almost on her own. Grow up Mike. She's a fascist cunt just like the rest of em'. Maybe someday you'll see that. I am not holding my breath...

Yes, Yes, and I am a hopeless idiot. If YOU took as much time calling people in power with your concerns and insults perhaps SOMETHING would change. 1-202-225-0100--TRY IT.

For hummus with a touch of Mediterranean zest, add a little oregano (fresh if you got it) and couple of black olives (without the pits) ...