At the End

It is my belief that Terri Schiavo, who she was, what distinguished her from the rest of us, died fifteen years ago. I'd like to state here, as many people have expressed in the last two weeks, that I would not want to be kept alive for fifteen years while my skull slowly filled with spinal fluid and I vegetated. Who am I apart from who I love? And if I cannot express that love, if I can't recognize who I love and the world I love, then isn't my purpose as I understand it over? Furthermore, though I may be of little faith much of the time, I do have faith that this is not all there is, and that if I'm in that situation, I want to jump into the mystery.

Mystical part of blog post over: here's the political part. When Jeb Bush threatened to have DCF take custody of her, I thought: this is it. This is the justification for seizing women who are pregnant in order to protect the "life" of the fetus. Then I thought that this was such a paternalistic move, to ride in on their 7 Horses of Hypocrisy and "save" this poor woman. So much for the sanctity of marriage! I wondered if we would have this same circus if it was a man who was lying in that bed for fifteen years, and I thought not. Men are active, first of all; their lives are defined by what they do, not by what they don't do. Secondly, the sight of men galloping in to save another man is an entirely different spectacle, kind of embarassing: men should protect themselves. It occurred to me that the "permanent vegetative state" is not very far, after all, from the vision the Cons have of women in general: passive, needing protection, unable to express opinion or direct their own lives. It's different in degree, but not in kind.

cable news gives up subtlety, becomes 24/7 deathwatch

Terri Schiavo. [insert platitudes here.] That being said, here's what I don't get. These people supposedly believe in God. So why not let her go to the Big Bearded Man in the Sky? Could heaven be WORSE than being fed glucose through an IV for 15 years while drooling on oneself? I don't fucking think so. Further, oh, ye of little faith, do you really think there is anything, anything at all in the universe that does not conform to God's will? Either he's on top of all of it, or he's on top of none of it: that's the deal with omnipotence. You get credit for pretty flowers and kittens, but you also allowed Hitler to happen. Yes, God may have some explaining to do, but true submission to the will of God should mean understanding that all things are Aligned With the Will of the Great Magnet. These people think they know better than God, and THAT is blasphemy.

Here's a lowculture take on things.

ANWR Open For Business

Well, the Senate kept the provision to allow drilling in ANWR. Two companies--BP and ConocoPhillips have already said that they are uninterested in drilling in ANWR (and they should be--there are hardly any proven reserves beneath ANWR; The Administration is just doing it because they can). These companies should be supported while the other oil companies who are drilling are boycotted. Kos, on the front as usual, has posted these handy numbers, so that you can call and tell them what you are doing and why:

Call these two corporations and tell them you refuse to buy their gas until they promise not to drill in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge.

ExxonMobil: (972) 444-1000

ChevronTexaco: (925) 842-1000

Call these two corporations and thank them for refusing to drill in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge. Inform them that they will benefit from your boycott of ExxonMobil and ChevronTexaco.

BP: (281) 366-5174 and (202) 457-6603

ConocoPhillips: (281) 293-1000

Let us wearily note that the amount of oil under the refuge is generously estimated at 7 billion barrels. This is about the amount we use in one year. If we closed the SUV-loophole that exempts SUVs from fuel efficiency standards, we would save one million barrels per day. Not that we'll do that. I say live it up, people! Eat red meat, smoke cigars, drive Hummers, get hummers, whatever, we've seen how this goes down. Coming soon: Caligula on CNN (actually, that's already happened: Bob Novak); Muslims fed to lions, etc.

brief return of the prodigal blogger

No killing of the fatted calf necessary, though.

For those of you who don't already know about Frank Rich, check out his most recent piece for the Times: "Gonzo Gone, Rather Going, Watergate Still Here." Most journalists greeted H.S.T.'s suicide with a yawn and some self-righteous commentary about drugs. Frankly, most journalists should do drugs, or at least, should do different drugs than COMPLICITY ("no one wants to hear about real news anyway! Let's talk about Michael Jackson and Martha Stewart"--side effect: relentless sucking up) COMPLACENCY ("this is still a democracy, because I can write what I want--right, Mr. Rove?" side effect: boring and/or inane questions) and EGORIFIC ("Hey, the President gave me a nickname! So what if it's Pooty-Poot Turd Blossom!" side effect: delusions of grandeur; may make people believe that they are actual journalists, rather than transcribers of White House press releases.) Rich treats H.S.T.'s death with gravitas, contrasting Thompson with JeffJim GannonGuckert and noting "today's White House press corps is less likely to be invaded by maverick talents like a drug-addled reporter from a renegade start-up magazine than by a paid propagandist like Jeff Gannon, a fake reporter for a fake news organization (Talon News) run by a bona fide Texas Republican operative who was a delegate to the 2000 Bush convention."

Also, and while it becomes tedious, I'm once again announcing THE DEATH OF SATIRE. I keep thinking it will be the last time, and then I find out that JeffJim GannonGuckert entitled his first blog post "Fear and Loathing in the Press Room." You have GOT to be FUCKING WITH MY HEAD, you bastards. I agree with Rich when he says that the title of said blog post would "send Thompson spinning in his grave had he not asked that his remains be shot out of a cannon."

So there, a little outrage for your consumption. By the way, the above post actually had seventeen or eighteen more sentences in all caps, but it seemed a bit much.

M.I.A.

Very little blogging for a while, everyone (all 5 of you, anyway). And all 5 of you know why, too. So listen to some good music, enjoy the sunshine, and I'll post another outraged missive about The Administration in a while...