Surfk9

My kids are geeks

This is not a bad thing.  I repeat, this is not a bad thing. Actually it is a good thing.  My kids have all grown up; with computers. No, wait a minute, they literally teethed on mice. Every one of the kids in my house has had access to a computer since the time they were toddlers. Well, maybe not Surfpunk in his early years or Bob-it, but they are  a geeks nonetheless. Surfgrrl, Surfdude, Surfpup and even Surfpunk are all geeks. To them a computer is not a mysterious black box that it was to the people of my generation, rather it is an appliance which connects them with the larger world.  IM, email, chatrooms youtube, myspace are all part of the world that they have grown up in.  Surfgrrl is into Gaia, IM and photobucket where she uploads her art. By the way, have I mentioned that Surfgrrrl is a great artist.  Surfpup puts on youtube and Runescape simultaneously.Surfpunk comes over all the time and shows me youtube clips of shows that his band puts on. These interactions with the on line world represent an evolution in the human experience.  We do not appreciate the changes that will come in society do the this dynamic inter-connectedness. These changes breach the nationalistic political paradigm that has persisted for the last several centuries. Earlier today I read an article on the prevalence of wireless technology in third-world countries and its spawning of a new infrastructure beyond the reach of multi-national corporations and nation-states (I am too lazy at the moment to find and link to the piece-my bad!).  The implications for the future of society are profound.  While many of the children will fall sway to the forces of intolerance and authoritarianism due to an inability to appreciate or accept diversity, many more of the worlds children will be able to break the bonds of parochialism and to see themselves part of a world culture. Think of the dreams of the Apollo astronauts as they saw the world as a small ball in space. Lets pray for the success of the geeks of the world.

9/11

It's hard to put how I feel about 9/11 in writing as my feelings are so ambivalent at this point. 9/11 has been debased by our political establishment into nothing more than a cheap hooker plying her trade under streetlights and in dark alleys. The damage done to our civil institutions, our treasury, our standing in the world, our moral authority and the debasement of our culture in the name of 9/11 is incalculable. And yet the pimps who facilitated the perversion remain in power, enabled by a corrupt and complicit corporate media intent on giving us a steady diet of  Brittany and Lindsay Lohan punctuated only rarely by morsels of sanitized news and Administration spin designed to perpetuate our newly minted culture of fear. It's all tits and terror all the time.

And yet I look at my family and see my extraordinary wife and my beautiful children and I cannot help but have my hopes renewed. The journey of my wife these last six years has been amazing.  From profound grief on 9/11 and the period after. She has committed herself to moving to a higher level of endeavor.  In her case she did this by engaging in the study of Law.  She will graduate this spring.  I have never seen her so alive (which is strange considering how tired she is from lack of sleep). Surfgrrrrl has grown into a fine young woman who shows extraordinary talents and is a good, caring human being.  Surfpup has grown into a fine young man with a great outlook on life in addition to his intellectual and physical talents. For myself, I would not have begun blogging if it were not for 9/11 and the subsequent wars. Finding the blogosphere has been one of the best things in my life outside of my family.  Finding so many people out there with whom I could find community has inspired me to become better as a human being. This would not have happened without 9/11. the development of the blogosphere into a potent corrective political force would not have occurred without 9/11.

It is not in my nature to stay depressed for very long.   It is in my nature to be optimistic. 9/11 has had  a profound effect on our society.  Much of the effect has been very bad. Yet among the bad things are many positive things that have happened in spite of the bad. The growing of the family and the connections of community will, in the end, overcome the forces of authoritarianism and fear.

   

What Digby Said

I do realize that I loathe Bush on a visceral level and always have, so I can't say that my impressions of him as person are particularly objective. He is a personality type I can't stand --- his privileged, macho arrogance and nasty, sophomoric social game of primitive dominance are about the least appealing characteristics I can think of in a man. Even if he weren't a complete idiot, which he is, he'd still be an asshole.

But I've always wondered if the (dwindling) Bush cult really believed what they were saying when they said this man was brilliant and brave or if they were just caught up in the moment. I don't suppose we'll ever know. But whenever I read these "intimate" portraits of him, I'm always struck by the fact that he comes off even worse than I, who already loathe him, expect him to. These are ostensibly fair observers who were chosen by him and who were granted access because they weren't hostile. Yet, the portrait they paint is of a shockingly stupid, shallow conceited man who may even be delusional. What do you suppose someone who wasn't friendly would write?

How could I possibly put it any better. I used to say, "Hate the ol' man and I hate the kid".  Read the whole thing here.

Disgusted

The Dem capitulation to Bushes War continues apace.  I am so way beyond bummed.  We need better Democrats. Go to the MoveOn site and vote to support primary challengers for the enablers of this madness. Matt Stoller has a list of Bush Dog Democrats who enable this shit here.

Eventually the Progressive Movement needs to really do some soul searching and decide whether or not the Democratic Party is the best vehicle for our beliefs and aspirations.  Matt Stoller seems to think we need to flip 41 seats from conservative to Progressive to get the power needed to further the agenda.  I am not so sure that he is being overly optimistic. My fear is that the Democratic Party will view the Progressives as an annoying necessity.  They will toss us a bone now and then in exchange for our money and foot soldiers, but never really embrace the agenda.  Sound familiar, look at how the Republicans treat the Religious Right and you see the template that the party insiders are planning for the Progressive movement.