tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3260529726656118434.post3957658370933604354..comments2023-10-06T00:52:04.371-07:00Comments on news from the zona: The Peckerwood insurrection and the decline of HydrarchyRoger Gathmannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11257400843748041639noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3260529726656118434.post-70088646763658866842009-10-11T11:57:15.854-07:002009-10-11T11:57:15.854-07:00i believe it's richard braithwaite (poet), not...i believe it's richard braithwaite (poet), not richard baxter (theologian). it was weird that i came upon this post, bc i'm on that chapter in "tmhh" and had just read the excerpt you posted, the intro to that chapter. i came across you, bc i'm trying to find an out-of-context definition of hydrarchy. any suggestions?sashnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3260529726656118434.post-53249555066393608032009-08-19T09:32:27.996-07:002009-08-19T09:32:27.996-07:00Roger: I lack the erudition of your other comment...Roger: I lack the erudition of your other commenters to do other than say that this was an amazing post. Bravo!Brian Mnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3260529726656118434.post-10483924582190078352009-08-16T10:27:40.742-07:002009-08-16T10:27:40.742-07:00Amie, not only do I second your words, but - eccle...Amie, not only do I second your words, but - ecclesiasticus! I have not read any of the Apocrypha in too long. I always dip my pen in the prophets when I want to become particularly corvine and denunciatory.Roger Gathmannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11257400843748041639noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3260529726656118434.post-67074122155463023232009-08-15T19:51:05.723-07:002009-08-15T19:51:05.723-07:00This makes me think of a couple of other related t...This makes me think of a couple of other related things you've been hammering at for a while. For the myth of the free market is holding hands with the myth of that blight upon earth, the soi-disant SELF-MADE MAN. Oh the hard work, oh the sacrifice. Take for example, the best and brightest irreplaceable specimens of such at Goldman Sachs. They didn't exactly refuse did they, their fair share of a handout of a mere few trillion bucks - from the fucking Guvmint! This happened, um, recently yes, and here we are mere months later talking about how oh no no the Guvmint must not ever interfere with the free market and its invisible hand. As you say, it's as if the State has become a "natural" entity, and one with an invisible hand into the bargain! But hey, why make a fuss, "they" were too BIG to fail, and so the handout is for the good of all. It creates wonderful stuff, such as "liquidity". Which one would be stupid to think of as the best and brightest having pomegranate martinis during a power lunch while discussing deals - economics! - such as which waitress can I throw money at and get to fuck. That really doesn't matter, nor that the pomegranate martinis are paid for with blood. <br />For what is best left invisible is the mangle of inequality. When it is discussed and debated with the accompanying hand-wringing it has to be in terms of the self-made man naturally, which only renders it more invisible.<br /><br />Liberty, sweet liberty, sweet because it is shared with others, where is that cry of the hydra?<br /><br />"Speak, if you are old - it is your privilege - but come to the point and do not interrupt the music."<br />(Ecclesiasticus 32-3)<br /><br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-d5x-CiTUs<br /><br />AmieAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3260529726656118434.post-65530092750836318792009-08-15T15:34:09.212-07:002009-08-15T15:34:09.212-07:00Paul, you are right - but I'm sort of hoping f...Paul, you are right - but I'm sort of hoping for a little exercise in empathy here. Of course, I did title this the Peckerwood insurrection, which is max unempathetic, but still - these are scared people. They've watched their symbolic world and real world receive jolt after jolt. And, truly, I think the Obama people have handled this with a puzzling ... inexpertness. Did the Dems really send their congressmen home without any talking points to bring to these embattled town hall meetings? Could Obama have really caved to big Pharma about the most pernicious and stupid structure set up by the Bush years, the agreement not to negotiate prices for medicines - which is insane. And you do not please the editorial writers of the Washington Post by talking sternly about cutting back costs on Medicare - especially in the Great Recession. The Hooverites don't exist in the rabidly right wing - those remarks pushed the old and cranky to join with the teabaggers. To think that this is a 'debate' in which the p.-woods are taking a reasonedl, small government stand is to absolutely misunderstand the politics. The correct line is - medical costs are going to be more expensive no matter who pays. They will rise and you will lose your insurance through your employer, who will baulk at paying the higher premiums. They will rise and the burden will fall on you. Period. Or you can have a public option. Instead, absurdly, the right is scaring old people that they are going to be kicked off medicare by Obamacare! This is absurd.rogernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3260529726656118434.post-85124983564314618642009-08-15T15:00:15.140-07:002009-08-15T15:00:15.140-07:00It’s funny we hear Republicans say that they do no...It’s funny we hear Republicans say that they do not want “faceless bureaucrats” making medical decisions but they have no problem with “private sector” “faceless bureaucrats” daily declining medical coverage and financially ruining good hard working people (honestly where can they go with a pre-condition). And who says that the “private sector” is always right, do we forget failures like Long-Term Capital, WorldCom, Global Crossing, Enron, Tyco, AIG and Lehman Brothers. Of course the federal government will destroy heathcare by getting involved, Oh but wait, Medicare and Medicaid and our military men and women and the Senate and Congress get the best heathcare in the world, and oh, that’s right, its run by our federal government. I can understand why some may think that the federal government will fail, if you look at the past eight years as a current history, with failures like the financial meltdown and Katrina but the facts is they can and if we support them they will succeed.<br /><br />How does shouting down to stop the conversation of the healthcare debate at town hall meetings, endears them to anyone. Especially when the organizations that are telling them where to go and what to do and say are Republicans political operatives, not real grassroots. How does shouting someone down or chasing them out like a “lynch mob” advanced the debate, it does not. So I think the American people will see through all of this and know, like the teabagger, the birthers, these lynch mobs types AKA “screamers” are just the same, people who have to resort to these tactics because they have no leadership to articulate what they real want. It’s easy to pickup a bus load of people who hate, and that’s all I been seeing, they hate and can’t debate. Too bad.Paulnoreply@blogger.com