Letter from Ed

[Tax Man]

I've read at best 10% of those books, and my own opinion is that any list like that with no Hunter S Thompson or at least PJ O'Rourke is missing something.

Oh, and I have 2 PhDs.....does that mean I have to read the rest to get fully educated or go back to school?

P.J. is cool. Met him when he came to my school to speak. Chatted briefly with him after the lecture and he signed my copy of Parliament of Whores.

Didn't meet Thompson. My brother did, when he worked for Rolling Stone, at a company party. Said he smelled of whiskey. No surprise there.

Ever go to Wilmington to watch them practice years ago?

[LPC]

If there is going to be a standard for competent book-based instruction, the "leader" should look around for a list of tried and true books like these: http://home.comcast.net/~dwtaylor1/adler.html If the political leader/TV personality doesn't even have the most rudimentary knowledge of such classics, he/she should be regarded in the class of demogogues.

Coincidentally, the most recent newsletter of the Pennsylvania Lawyer Disciplinary Board included the following requirements for bar admission from 1902:

No person shall be registered as a student at law for the purpose of becoming entitled to admission to the Bar of the Supreme Court until he shall have satisfied the State Board of Law Examiners that he is of good moral character, and shall have passed a preliminary examination upon the following subjects: (1) English language and literature; (2) Outlines of universal history; (3) History of England and of the United States; (4) Arithmetic, algebra through quadratics, and plane geometry; (5) Modern geography; (6) The first four books of Caesar's Commentaries, the first six books of the Aeneid, and the first four orations of Cicero against Cataline.

I flunk.

I remember that omnia Gallia est divisa in tres partes, but after that it's a bit of a blur, and I have no idea whatsoever about the rest of that "stuff."

[Famspear]

On Glenn Beck, check this out, from Professor Robert Jensen at the University of Texas at Austin:

"Glenn Beck’s Redemption Song"
by Robert Jensen

Excerpts:

About halfway through Saturday's "Restoring Honor" rally on the DC mall, I realized that I was starting to like Glenn Beck.

Before any friends of mine initiate involuntary commitment proceedings, let me explain. It's not that I really liked Beck, but more that I experienced his likeability. Whether or not he's sincere, I came to admire his ability to project sincerity and to create coherence out of his incoherent rambling about religion, race, and redemption.

As a result, I'm more afraid for our political future than ever.

First, to be clear: Beck is the embodiment of everything I dislike about the U.S. politics and contemporary culture. As a left/feminist with anti-capitalist and anti-empire politics, I disagree with most every policy position he takes. As a journalist and professor who values intellectual standards for political discourse, I find his willful ignorance and skillful deceit to be unconscionable.

[ . . . . ]

What I saw was the most rhetorically and visually sophisticated political spectacle in recent memory. Beck was able to both connect to a right-wing base while at the same time moving beyond the Republican Party and the Tea Party movement, potentially creating a new audience for his politics. It's foolish to make a prediction based on one rally, but I think Beck's performance marked his move from blowhard broadcaster to front man for a potentially game-changing political configuration.

My advice: Liberals, progressive, and leftists -- who may be tempted to denounce him as a demagogue and move on -- should take all this seriously and try to understand what he's doing.....

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/08/30-6

[Nikki]

Daring to break into the thread to return to the original topic,

Ed will, most likely, die in prison. Even with his last breath, he will be railing about all the evil Jews, Masons, Jesits, etc, and the corrupt government who have all conspired to ruin his idyllic existence.

He has long passed the point of having sufficient functional neurons in the appropriate lobe of his brain to allow him to conceive of, much less accept responsibility for, the possibility that he is a failure -- irrespective of any outside influence.

He will die convinced that he would have been a major success and a beloved, powerful man had it not been for all the conspiracies against him.

Elaine will, most likely, go out in the same manner, although probably not quite as bigoted.
The worst thing I can think of that might happen to her would be for her to realize, or even consider, that Ed ruined her life.

It's more likely that Elaine has swallowed enough snake oil to both make all of Ed's crap palatable and to prevent her from considering the various 'what if' scenarios if she hadn't followed him.

In any case, we can expect to see regularly-issued diatribes and inane legal filings from both of them until senility or death makes it imposible for them to scrawl their names in red crayon.

[grixit]

Ed is so far into denial, he's scuba diving in Lake Victoria.

[fortinbras]

I believe that the prison environment does few inmates any good. Ed originally, at his fortified house, imagined himself the great generalissimo of a revolution, and now that he's in a prison with nastier people who don't pretend to be impressed with him, he's retreated into a sort of delusional state where he is one of those great revolutionaries inspiring his vast troops of loyal followers from exile or a dungeon cell. I expect this self-deception will turn into a vicious cycle, making him less and less connected to reality as time passes. Maybe in ten years he'll have turned into Emperor Norton.

[Burzmali]

I always kinda figured that both Ed and Beck are both closeted self-loathers who are overcompensating for their personal "flaw" by being publically extreme about what is "right". It's a common enough pattern, Dimmesdale tastes of the forbidden fruit in private and, unable to reconcile this with his world view, scourges himself while delivering fiery sermons from the pulpit. Ed is probably a bit more sympathetic as he likely discovered his condition during his first prison stay. No clue on Beck's past, it could be just as tragic, or he could have got drunk at a frat party. We'd all probably be a bit better off if it was as socially acceptable for them to gay as it is for them to be raging asshats.

[Arthur Rubin]

(referring to Ed)

Maybe in ten years he'll have turned into Emperor Norton.

That's a slander against our glorious Emperor.

Seriously, Emperor Norton, as I understand it, was essentially "nice", and actually seemed to have enough contact with reality to make sensible pronouncements. I don't think Ed will ever match either of those points.

[bmielke]

On Glenn Beck, check this out, from Professor Robert Jensen at the University of Texas at Austin:

"Glenn Beck’s Redemption Song"
by Robert Jensen

Excerpts:

Ab

First, to be clear: Beck is the embodiment of everything I dislike about the U.S. politics and contemporary culture. As a left/feminist with anti-capitalist and anti-empire politics, I disagree with most every policy position he takes. As a journalist and professor who values intellectual standards for political discourse, I find his willful ignorance and skillful deceit to be unconscionable.

doing.....

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/08/30-6

How does someone named Robert become a feminist?

[Lorax]

Feminism is, for the most part, the belief that men and women should be equal. If you believe that, you are essentially a feminist. This belief has nothing to do with your genitalia or chromosomes.

UGA, thank you once again for your brilliant, thought provoking commentary.

[bmielke]

Feminism is, for the most part, the belief that men and women should be equal. If you believe that, you are essentially a feminist. This belief has nothing to do with your genitalia or chromosomes.

UGA, thank you once again for your brilliant, thought provoking commentary.

Ok I believe that they should be equal, but I am not now nor will I ever walk around calling myself a feminist. But thanks for the explaining it.

[Imalawman]

Feminism is, for the most part, the belief that men and women should be equal. If you believe that, you are essentially a feminist. This belief has nothing to do with your genitalia or chromosomes.
UGA, thank you once again for your brilliant, thought provoking commentary.

Ha. Hardly. That is a way to label anyone that chooses not to call themselves a feminist to be a sexist bigot. Nice try, though. The label feminist is indeed not limited to females, but its far more complex than simply wanting equality for all.

[Imalawman]

I always kinda figured that both Ed and Beck are both closeted self-loathers who are overcompensating for their personal "flaw" by being publically extreme about what is "right". It's a common enough pattern, Dimmesdale tastes of the forbidden fruit in private and, unable to reconcile this with his world view, scourges himself while delivering fiery sermons from the pulpit. Ed is probably a bit more sympathetic as he likely discovered his condition during his first prison stay. No clue on Beck's past, it could be just as tragic, or he could have got drunk at a frat party. We'd all probably be a bit better off if it was as socially acceptable for them to gay as it is for them to be raging asshats.

Sometimes I think you must be one of the more liberal persons I have contact with. Wow.

[wserra]

The label feminist is indeed not limited to females, but its far more complex than simply wanting equality for all.

From Merriam-Webster online:

Feminism: the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes

FWIW, that's how I've always used it.

[grixit]

Communism failed.

The Soviet Union failed. That has very little to do with communism other than their constant misuse of the term.

[Famspear]

Communism failed.

The Soviet Union failed. That has very little to do with communism other than their constant misuse of the term.

On that note, I respectfully invoke the "aw come on now" rule, grixit.

As a macro-economic system, and as a macro-political system, I would argue that communism failed. It failed in the Soviet Union. Communism failed spectacularly. Definitively. Emphatically.

Sure, the Soviets may or may not have practiced what you or I understand to be theoretically pure communism in some original, Marxist sense, and the Soviets may have constantly misused the term "communism" to describe their system -- but that is beside the point.

I once had a Jewish girlfriend with strong communist leanings (oops, I mean "socialist" leanings) who argued that communism (excuse me, "socialism") was successful on the kibbutzim in Israel. My response was that a kibbutz is not "macro" enough (in either the political or economic arena) to make a difference. Look at the Soviets, at China, at Korea.

Communism had its chance. I guess we could argue about whether communism failed in places like Vietnam or Cuba, etc. As a general proposition, however, I argue that communism failed.

Of course, "history" isn't over yet.

[Famspear]

Regarding the definition of feminism as discussed above, one of my old dictionaries confirms the definition -- from the 1970s:

....the principle that women should have political, economic, and social rights equal to those of men....

--Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language, p. 514, World Publishing Company (2nd Coll. Ed. 1978).

By that definition, I am certainly a feminist. I'm a child of the 1960s, a sensitive kinda guy.....

So, why is it that I don't "think" of myself as a feminist?

And why do I cringe just a little when someone (like Professor Jensen) describes himself or herself as a "feminist"? Why do I feel a bit embarrassed for Jensen when he describes himself that way on his web page?

[Cpt Banjo]

And why do I cringe just a little when someone (like Professor Jensen) describes himself or herself as a "feminist"? Why do I feel a bit embarrassed for Jensen when he describes himself that way on his web page?

It's even more embarrassing when he describes himself as anti-capitalist, given that the size of the UT endowment is primarily due to some capitalists taking risks and successfully drilling for oil on West Texas land owned by the University, producing substantial royalty income for UT.

But then he teaches in the journalism school, which explains everything.

[Joey Smith]

Thread closed as having run far off-topic.

[Imalawman]

The label feminist is indeed not limited to females, but its far more complex than simply wanting equality for all.

From Merriam-Webster online:

Feminism: the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes

FWIW, that's how I've always used it.

Hmm, well, I understand that might the general definition, but I do not think that's how its used. Of course, I'm a feminist when you put it like that. Wouldn't you agree that the name has developed meaning past the technical definition?

EDIT - Oop's, I see the thread is locked. Sorry.