Reason 1,001,291 why my life rules

"It eats piranhas. That is *badass*."

- the Owlvark

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"Quick! This will distract everyone from our unavoidable change of leaders which is barreling down on us whether we're prepared or not! I'm *sure* this will work- they won't remember that whole Cold War thing, where everybody was saying this to each other back and forth for forty freaking years..."

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[Edited to add a comment from Graphjam- an intelligent one, at that! Amazing.]

"Anytime you read anything, there’s an implied moral lesson.
So, for example, a large portion of romance novels portray a couple where the man is angry and abusive, and the woman does everything in her power to cater to that anger and abuse. It’s light reading, sure. But does it okay? The author is choosing to portray that type of couple, with the ending lesson being that these two characters are “soulmates” and therefore belong together.
Does that mean you shouldn’t read romance novels? No, but you shouldn’t pretend that it’s okay for them to glorify that sort of relationship.
As for the “emotional age” business, I’ve heard plenty of 70-year-olds admit that they still feel about 16. Does that mean they should try to date teenagers?"

- 142978

By way of repeated explanation...

I would like to point out once again that although I may choose to blog about politics occasionally, and indeed I do follow them, I still choose not to discuss them in my normal life- this is why I disallow comments on posts with political content. Frankly, I'm sick of the whining on all sides of every debate about how it's all someone else's fault. The two party system leads to far more divisions that necessary- it becomes a system where you have to be on one team or the other, never mind that we're all in the same bloody boat, and a boat with disunited rowers will get absolutely nowhere. I've been reading a lot of history lately, and I am amused to find that US politics are carried out exactly the same (minus a few fistfights on the floor of the Senate) as they have since the days of Jefferson et al. This is, incidentally, why I am still a staunch Independent. This means I'm not running around shouting "The sky is falling!" and I'm damned sure not going to waste my time in pointless discussions about it. I have my own opinions, and I'm sure you have yours, and I know that our time is far too important to waste arguing about issues but not actually doing anything about them. If you want change, shut up and go *do* something- don't just sit around endlessly bitching. Unless that's what you're into, in which case- hey, knock yourself out. Just don't expect me to sit around and listen.

To sum up: just because I blog about politics, don't get the idea that I want to discuss them in my normal life. I follow them, I even do things about them when I feel it necessary, but I don't waste time on pointless debate. Don't email me about it, don't try and have a conversation with me about it- I won't respond.

"If we do not hang together, we shall all assuredly hang separately."
- Benjamin Frankin

Someone really needs to write a good biography of Tory writer Henry Fairlie.

"The conservative can all too easily drift into a morally bankrupt and intellectually shallow defense of those who have it made and those who have it on the make."

"The fact that Obama has been cautious in his reaction [to the protests in Iran] makes it all the harder for Khamenei and Ahmadinejad to wrap themselves in a nationalist flag.
Neoconservatives are already denouncing Obama for his caution. Paul Wolfowitz, deputy defense secretary under Donald Rumsfeld, has compared the White House reaction to Ronald Reagan's reticence when Ferdinand Marcos's regime was challenged on the streets of the Philippines. But the analogy makes no sense. Marcos was an American client- he was in power courtesy of the United States. The protesters were asking Reagan to withdraw that support and let events take their course. Iran, on the other hand, is an independent, fiercely nationalistic country with a history of U.S. and British interference in its politics and economy. Britain essentially took over Iran's oil industry in 1901; the United States engineered a coup in 1953. The chief criticism of the Shah of Iran was that he was an American puppet. As in many countries- India is another example- this anti-imperial sentiment is quite powerful. Iranians know that this is their fight, and they want it to be.
The appropriate analogy is actually to George H.W. Bush's cautious response to the cracks that started to appear in the Soviet empire in 1989. Then, as now with Obama, many neoconservatives were livid with Bush for not loudly supporting those trying to topple the communist regimes in Eastern Europe. But Bush's concern was that the situation was fragile. The regimes could easily crack down on the protesters, and the Soviet Union could send in its own tanks. Handing the communists reasons to react forcefully would help no one, least of all the protesters. Bush's basic approach was correct and has been vindicated by history."

- Fareed Zakaria, "Theocracy and its Discontents" [excerpted]

The Prince of Pompadoodle
Lived behind a castle wall,
Behind a moat, behind a guard
Of twenty soldiers tall.

The Prince of Pompadoodle
Was the safest man alive.
Each day he wrote how long he lived
And multiplied by five.

The Prince of Pompadoodle
Would survive, he did decide,
Five times as long as he had been
Alive before he died.

The Prince of Pompadoodle
Called in the castle sage
For his advice in this pursuit
Of long and fulsome age.

The Prince of Pompadoodle
Heard in horror from this friend
That somewhere in the palace
Was a cur who'd seek his end!

The Prince of Pompadoodle
Scarce could credit a belief
His years might soon be sneaked away
By some ungrateful thief.

The Prince of Pompadoodle
Sent his every friend away
And sat alone, safe, locked alive,
To count another day.

The Prince of Pompadoodle
May hoard each empty hour,
But none can know; no word comes from
The silent stony tower.

- Walt Kelly, "The Prince of Pompadoodle"

So...I bet Hossa feels a right twit about now.

#parties#

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Yes, I collect icons. It's a cheap hobby. My horse game has a never-ending supply of them, thanks to all the teenagers who play and who have rudimentary html skills.