tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54270482009-10-13T04:19:15.097-07:00Tales of JonathanJonathan Laden's Blogjonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04713684107017786243noreply@blogger.comBlogger108125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5427048.post-37161640352510066922009-08-20T19:55:00.000-07:002009-08-20T20:10:03.023-07:00Bipartisanship is dead! Long live bipartisanship!Let's admit that there are not two parties in congress. There are three: Republicans, Democrats, and Blue Dogs.I believe the president, using all his political skills, can craft a bipartisan healthcare package that satisfies both the blue dogs and the democrats. There must be threats, of course. Not just carrots, but sticks. Fortunately, the jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04713684107017786243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5427048.post-5987325750102786802009-05-02T23:12:00.000-07:002009-05-02T23:16:39.630-07:00I know I don't have a lot of credibility when I say it's not a left-right thing, but violators of the constitution must be criminally prosecuted. Is it my fault that the Republican party - supposedly home to originalists who believe the constitution must comply exactly to the original intent of the founding fathers (back when the concept of a founding mother was anathema) - has not actually been jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04713684107017786243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5427048.post-9893288155401550812009-04-02T22:20:00.001-07:002009-04-02T22:49:35.771-07:00Hey, it's a whinge about the Republican party. All secondhand, derived information from other, more interesting folks. Yet I post it all here, because I feel frustrated. Enjoy - or don't read.After demonizing their opponents for so long, too much of the GOP leadership can't remember that there is a line of decency that can't be crossed even if it will win a few dozen votes.Thus, VP Cheney feels jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04713684107017786243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5427048.post-51312879184541524392009-01-20T05:12:00.000-08:002009-01-20T05:14:42.464-08:00Yes, we're all congratulating ourselves and each other for electing a black American president. Me too, I feel it, I'm part of it.But, wait a second. Stand back for a minute.How pathetic are we that electing a black man president of the United States is such a shock, such a dramatic sign of progress?Boy oh boy, do we have a lot of catching up to do.jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04713684107017786243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5427048.post-78931332304855118392008-12-08T21:25:00.001-08:002008-12-08T21:27:52.564-08:00It starts to feel like time is running out. That sounds morbid, but it isn't. As parents, we too often feel we can put ourselves aside for the good of the children. It's exactly the wrong thing to do, which doesn't make anything else make any more sense. But the office would be better served by more, better employee selfishness as well. There's a balance of course.There's a balance of course!jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04713684107017786243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5427048.post-17798466466694542872008-11-11T19:38:00.001-08:002008-11-11T19:52:13.703-08:00After all the hullaballoo - Is he against Israel? Does he have mean, crusty Carter-era anti-semites as advisors? Is he a secret Muslim? - it turned out that 77% of Jews voted for Obama.Wow, that's a lot you may say. The Jewish vote must have been rallying to the election of a minority to the presidency. No, you wouldn't say that. Hopefully you wouldn't say that, anyway.See. Here's the thing. jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04713684107017786243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5427048.post-73701330795794119162008-11-04T22:53:00.000-08:002008-11-04T22:54:32.725-08:00Obama won. Obama Won! Obama WonNope. It doesn't matter what tricks of typography I try, it still feels anticlimactic.Big tears. Life goes onjonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04713684107017786243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5427048.post-49790068177504105452008-10-07T19:49:00.000-07:002008-10-07T19:54:18.769-07:00McCain's ready to bailout homeowners? Now? Finally? Only 18-months too late? Perfect!If any voter is dumb enough to give him credit for coming so late to that obvious party... it would be sad indeed.If we'd only stepped in and taken steps to save private citizens ability to stay in their homes back then we'd have averted this entire catastrophe. (And if we had, the republican politicos would be jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04713684107017786243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5427048.post-28455791223979619152008-10-06T18:49:00.000-07:002008-10-06T18:54:39.645-07:00Do you remember when John McCain was an honorable politician, a man willing to work across the aisle for the good of the country? Do you remember when John McCain was a man of honor, a gentleman who jumped to John Kerry's defense when his party was tarring the war hero as a cad.Do you remember when John McCain was a viable candidate for president of the United States?Yeah, it's been awhile.It's jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04713684107017786243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5427048.post-38240102549798904562008-09-08T19:55:00.000-07:002008-09-08T20:00:49.591-07:00Joan Walsh is right. (And now I'll take her point to a greater extreme, as is my wont.) John McCain wasn't strong enough to choose his own running mate over Karl Rove's objections. How can he possibly take on the world's thugs and bad guys (who he's evidently too scared to sit across a table from, in any event).John McCain couldn't press forward with comprehensive immigration reform, which jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04713684107017786243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5427048.post-68378814935987516102008-09-07T19:58:00.000-07:002008-09-07T20:49:49.580-07:00I believe it was Isaac Asimov who wrote a science fiction story in which the grand computer finds the most average American to determine all national policies by answering a one-man survey. True democracy, in essence, and a great dystopian tale.This year, that American is Sarah Palin. Except for many of her social views, which are just slightly to the right of extreme, she is the everywoman, withjonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04713684107017786243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5427048.post-71478026680676185662008-08-31T17:59:00.001-07:002008-08-31T18:01:50.185-07:00We should teach creationism not evolution because, for goodness sakes, we're a country with mostly Christians.We should teach that the sun revolves around the Earth. People have been burned as heretics for saying otherwise.Gravity, like evolution, is only a theory. Let's all just fly.jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04713684107017786243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5427048.post-40904915371754916852008-08-04T19:15:00.000-07:002008-08-04T19:16:43.899-07:00I had no idea anyone could write so badly!!!Broke 3,000 words here on August 4th. About where I should have been at the end of the first, I'm afraid. I shouldn't be surprised to discover that I'm rusty.That last week is looking like it will be brutal for sheer quantity of words. Hopefully, I won't be reduced to typing "it it it it it it it" in order to make count. Though I could pass that off as jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04713684107017786243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5427048.post-40646946469697915682008-08-02T20:56:00.001-07:002008-08-02T20:56:05.246-07:00Nano Day Two
Day two: 678Total: 1358Average: 679It feels good to write again. I'm not sure why. The trick for me is to figure out how to make writing not optional. (And to accept that I was never all that and that being all that ain't all that or even any of what it's about.)A company we just terminated our relationship with has as its unofficial motto, "We suck less." Nevermind that it turned out they didn'tjonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04713684107017786243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5427048.post-10605606774175337922008-08-01T17:24:00.001-07:002008-08-01T17:24:05.263-07:00380... This is gonna take awhile!Exuberance was never my strong suitjonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04713684107017786243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5427048.post-66271519219194390552008-08-01T12:59:00.001-07:002008-08-01T13:13:47.543-07:00So, the wrimo hath begun!Wordcount August 1: 284. This is very tough for me as some one who has not written in many years. I thought then that I was good enough - or almost - to make professional sales. But, in truth, I made only one to Writers of the Future - which has its detractors who call it all amateur work (not to say that they're wrong, mind you).The important thing for me to remember is jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04713684107017786243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5427048.post-79779331621378106082008-07-13T15:50:00.000-07:002008-07-13T15:56:36.285-07:00So...I started this blog as an aspiring writer. Hey, I even have links to Zines where my stories appeared at one time. But, like, totally, haven't been writing for a long time, baby. I ain't no writer no more. I know I'll never be an emblazoned member of the storied class.But... ya know, writing was in itself a thrill worth the trip. Despite a friend stating that writing without the intent of jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04713684107017786243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5427048.post-59450511152796806472008-06-16T04:35:00.000-07:002008-06-16T04:50:29.934-07:00Like all good nerdy Americans, I've been reading fivethirtyeight.com for awhile now. And it depressed me. It depressed me because I was forced to revise my wild-ass guess evaluation of where the election really is likely to end up.So, for proper context here, we need a story. I was hanging out with a nonpartisan group in 2004, and though they truly were nonpartisan, they weren't actually jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04713684107017786243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5427048.post-7408063124245883232008-06-04T04:31:00.000-07:002008-06-04T04:32:13.333-07:00The pundit class has gone hog wild over the latest Clinton gambit. This one's her campaign to win one person's vote to be the vice-presidential nominee.I can see their point. It would be hard to engineer a ticket that's more fun to cover nor more fun to pillory.Hillary and the pundits make the case that Obama is weak among women and blue-collar white voters. Coincidentally, Hillary's great jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04713684107017786243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5427048.post-70403438572369058962008-05-17T20:08:00.001-07:002008-05-17T20:08:44.881-07:00I want to follow politics. But now, finally I've been forced to admit to myself that there's simply no story out there to follow. Not even Jon Stewart can excite my interest at this point in the meaningless wind down before the eventual coronation of Barak Obama as the democratic nominee.We're entering a true dryspell. McCain's VP? Who could possibly care? Anyone misguided enough to vote for jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04713684107017786243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5427048.post-26083452921767961482008-04-29T21:44:00.001-07:002008-04-29T21:44:11.105-07:00Falling off the bicycle
It isn't true that you never forget. Part of the reason I haven't written for four years is because I didn't write for one. Part of the reason I didn't write for one year is that I didn't write for three months, and so on. By which logic, I can't ever stop typing again for so much as a millisecond or all will be lost. But I digress.Anyhow, I tried to type a few words over the past few days. Let jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04713684107017786243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5427048.post-25141119604478014212008-04-28T22:38:00.000-07:002008-04-28T22:39:40.194-07:00I wrote a word! Yes, I did. It was me! Yeeha!It is of such simple victories that celebration must be built. Si?jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04713684107017786243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5427048.post-27713008381627002182008-04-13T20:34:00.000-07:002008-04-13T20:59:16.577-07:00Yes. yes, it's great that Democrats have finally decided to neutralize the religious advantage Republicans have been able to claim all these years. I admire the strategic genius of embracing the religion issue with full heart. I believe that Hilary and Barak are truly two religious people who see the admonitions for social justice, compassion, and mercy which lie at the heart of all religion.I jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04713684107017786243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5427048.post-10566844238274558072008-03-04T20:30:00.000-08:002008-03-04T20:34:47.771-08:00Senator Clinton just led her followers in a chant of "Yes, We Will!"I wouldn't normally mind someone appropriating such similar phraseology and sentiments as her competitors' "Yes, We Can!"But...But the good Senator has been accusing Obama of plagiarism (as we all know) for his speeches that borrow phrasing - often attributed - from Governor Deval, a participant in his campaign.Oh, the hypocrisy.jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04713684107017786243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5427048.post-71091669039431752492008-02-19T00:40:00.000-08:002008-02-19T01:06:43.052-08:00There's been a massive meat recall of 144 million pounds - the largest in history, we're told. Evidently, this was sparked by secret video taken of downer cows - cows too sickly to even stand - being prodded into the abattoir and thus into the nation's meat supply. Two slaughter house employees are being prosecuted for animal cruelty.I'm glad of the recall in that downer cows are prohibited from jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04713684107017786243noreply@blogger.com