Assholes and liars

I am becoming convinced that we are, and, to some degree, every generation always will be, a species of unrepentant assholes and liars. At least for awhile. Until we face up.

And I don't mean that in a "Humanity is irredeemable and doomed," kind of way.

What I mean is that we are all so obsessed with our uglier impulses, that we can't even admit we have them or that they are behind much of our uglier rationalizations for how we live life.

We keep using the excuse that the world is full of assholes to rationalize what assholes we are.

But here's the secret on that one: when you do that, you're still an asshole, asshole.

And the person you should be worried about being an asshole is you.

Most of the assholes we need to worry about today are us. They are not found in some boogeyman notion of humanity we have. It is numero uno. Moi. Me, myself, and I. Not some asshole lurking in another political party or under the darkness of night.

The asshole we should all be concerned with, as my man Jesus used to say, is the one in our own beds. The one who sleeps on our pillows. The one whose words keep being used to justify what fuckin' assholes we are.

You know the one, right? I'll give you a clue. It ain't George Bush. It isn't even Osama Bin Laden. Although I will grant you that both of these guys are grade A asswipes, the second more than the first, obviously.

It's you. It's me. It's all of us. Until we face up.

And no amount of lying makes up for the truth on that one, no matter how you spin it.

You don't want people to think you're an asshole?

Stop being a fuckin' asshole, asshole.

That goes for all of us. Me too.

You doubt that I'm an asshole. Ask my kids.

I've got work to do. To be a better man, that is.

You reap what you sow

It's a pretty simple fact of life. And it is a fact of life in politics as much as in the rest of life.

Rod Dreher offers some really poignant observations on this fact of life, today, in his column, And It Was Written, Our Blame.

"Complex financial instruments come and go, but the hearts of men remain the same. Greed, vanity and hubris we always have with us, as well as a weakness for the soft sophisticated lie over the hard plain truth. About human nature, tradition – the accumulated wisdom of mankind – is never wrong. True conservatives – as opposed to those who confuse mammon-worship with moral and intellectual principle – know that a tolerable order can only exist when most people live by the moral laws articulated in time-worn banalities.

So, send the tumbrels into the streets to carry off the heads of sophisticates who believed that we had repealed the laws of economics and human nature by our cleverness. The Gods of the Copybook Headings demand propitiation. We shall offer them scapegoats and try to forget our own complicity in the coming catastrophe.

After all, these scoundrels did not elect themselves, nor was there an outcry heard in the land against Wall Street rapacity and recklessness when our 401(k)s were rising, and all but the lowliest plebeian was moving into his very own McMansion.

Along those lines, there's one proverb that we will all become painfully acquainted with in the years to come: You reap what you sow."

I try to take a lighter view on things that Ron does here. But I have to say that I'm a little disgusted, today, watching Wall Street folks who fucked up getting a handout while the average folks who lost in this most recent round of the the hot-then-cold housing market get to eat their mistakes themselves.

It's kind of bullshit, really. Whole fuckin' political world is kind of bullshit, really. And then they all go pat themselves on the back on avoiding the Depression that was sure to come one quarter following 3.3% growth. And while liberals are scaring us all with Depression talk, conservatives are out scaring us with talk about how Hitler is around every corner.

It's all so bullshit and dishonest I can hardly stand it. I'm sure these morons honestly believe their bullshit. But they do so avoiding debates with one another and with those who could distinguish Depressions and Hitlers from stuff that they don't even closely resemble.

And then they tell themselves, "See. Those smarty-pants professors didn't know what they were talking about. You don't have to be a genius to make a fortune or build a power base. You just need to believe in your own bullshit enough that you never have to even question it, you're so goddamn sure of how right you are."

The only solace I have watching this load of shit unfold is exactly what Rod Dreher concludes with:

We reap what we sow.

There is no law that human beings always follow. But there are some facts of life that always show up.

And this is one of them.

It will not be the last. No matter how much we try to bullshit ourselves otherwise.

The Debate

It was a strong debate. At least relative to the mindless election we have been subjected to this season.

The irony, for me, is, contrary to the babbling of pundits, the Democrat is the stronger foreign policy choice, this season - save for his talk about withdrawal from Iraq - and the Republican is the, by far, better economic candidate, this election.

McCain had a much stronger handle on economic issues than I expected and understands the fundamentals of the economy better than Obama, who is, otherwise, I believe, the smarter candidate. Obama's understanding of foreign policy issues - including his much stronger understanding of the situation between Russia and Georgia - and the value of diplomacy, generally, as a sign of strength rather than weakness - were highlighted tonight.

I think the foreign policy challenges we face are a higher priority than our economic challenges, where, as McCain rightly argued, our fundamentals are, indeed, strong. Consequently, I, very marginally, give Obama an edge for my vote, at this point. Though his promises to withdraw troops seriously concern me and could lose him my vote if I continue to hear such threats and I have reason to think he will carry them out, neither of which I take seriously today.

But this debate did exacly what it needed to do, tonight. It highlighted strengths. It challenged candidates to defend positions. And, most importantly, for me, given the arrogance and lack of substance of this election, this debate highlighted weaknesses for each candidate to face both during the election and while in whichever office each candidate wins (one of these men will, presumably, still be a Senator after they have lost the Presidential race, unless I am completely out of the electoral loop, which is very likely).

These candidates need to face a much more fundamental fact of this election: they do not know enough about the world to lead it, yet. And the only way that they will know more is if they must engage in substantive debate and discussion that is not distracted by the mindless drivel that passes for Presidential campaigns in America.

We can correct for that. We can expect more.

And, tonight, these two candidates did a better job of delivering more substance. They should be acknowledged for that. And they have a long way to go before they are ready to lead America. And Americans should make that clear by talking about the substance of this campaign, and by ignoring and being openly critical of the senseless and generally baseless personal attacks.

America and the world should expect an American leader who does not insult our intelligence, who expects as much out of us as we expect out of him or her, and who is willing and able to debate and discuss honestly and substantively with those who can identify his weaknesses as well as support his strengths.

Candidates who expect anything else are not worthy of the office. And we should no longer accept anything less than leaders who expect the best from themselves and from the American people.

"Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country."

It is a spirit that America has lost in the early 21st century in our contemporary politics. And the loss of that spirit is reflected in the bulk of our most serious challenges.

And it will take leadership that asks Americans to expect more of themselves and their leaders that will get us back on track.

May the best man win.

The American way

Preach on, Brother Ross. Preach on.

An Election About Nothing

This is why politics and people involved in it are so endlessly stupid. Why, again, are we looking to such morons to tell us which directions to take with our lives and with the country? Why should I trust such idiots to know how to handle the most serious problems America and the world has to face? I shouldn't, is the obvious answer to that really pretty self-evident question.

And if the goal is to convince me that the folks in Washington - politicians, activists, the press - are unworthy of that trust, this election is quite the validation of that notion.

The more you talk about nothing, the more people realize you really have nothing to say or offer. And, over time, the less they trust you and the more they seek out their own answers.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how progress takes place in a democracy.

Despite us

The more life I live, the more I begin to wonder, "Is it possible, sometimes, that maybe people just won't make the really important changes in their thinking and their lives that will move us forward?"

It's not that we can't. It's that people resist every effort that challenges them to think different and bigger than their current thinking and circumstances.

And, obviously, at some level, that is because some people have to think of more serious and honest ways out of problems before other people can, slowly, get things figured out, better.

But I am beginning to believe that, perhaps, old people, in particular, are doomed to stick to whatever foolish, stubborn habits of thought they have picked up, over the years, and then pretend like those habits of thought are the only ones that younger people could possibly imagine adopting themselves.

The arrogance of older folks of all stripes is often matched by the stupidity and arrogance of younger people.

But the big question is that with so many stupid, arrogant, and fallible folks, what business do any of us have thinking that if we just exert our will over one another then and only then will the world be right?

It's goddamned foolish, is what it is. And the fact is that I have far fewer younger people, in my life, trying to "take charge" with me, in such ways, as I do older people. And those who do often look very, very foolish to me. Which makes me all the more wary of why I am being asked to follow their leads.

The two Presidential candidates, Congress, and most of the political class in Washington could not be a better illustration, right now, of such arrogance as it becomes increasingly clear that they are tilting in the winds hoping that they have better answers which they impose with certitude that they just cannot have honest warrant to assert other than because they said so.

And most Americans who follow this lead do so because they don't know any better.

It would be funny if it weren't so foolish.

We definitely can have more honest reasoning at the core of our politics and our lives. But we often choose, stubbornly, to ignore such reason because doing so, honestly, means admitting so many things that only such honesty would allow as to acknowledge that we just could not possibly know. But that kind of humility would involve a challenge to our egos that most of us just don't think we can handle. Because it might mean admitting shortcomings that we just cannot bring ourselves to admit that we might have. And round and round and round that bit of infuriating circular logic.

We definitely can wind our way out of this circular nonsense. The question is will we. And if we won't, what consequences will this world have to continue to deal with until we can face up to our stupidity.

Much nonsense, if history is any guide.

Most of history's most serious tragedies are bound up in such stubborn stupidity. Perhaps it is stupidity that we will refuse to escape.

In which case, maybe our children will make progress despite us rather than because of us.

Maybe this is how progress has always worked.

Grown-up music

My music tastes have definitely mellowed as a grown-up. That's a good thing, I think. More beauty. Less pop and shock value.

This song has particularly stood out as a favorite, these days.



Harry Connick is quite the catch. Beautiful voice, rich, and not bad on the eyes for the ladies. And he makes music that touches the soul.

I don't always want to listen to grown-up music. But I do prefer it, more and more, these days. Lots of jazz in my musical interests, these days. Anything beautiful and classic.

And anything that reminds me of nice things in life when I'm being treated shitty all day.

Love is my favorite, I must admit.

What we need in the world is more of it, not less, even as we romanticize otherwise.

Be nice if people finally grew up and took it seriously.

As another jazz great, Louis Armstrong, once said:

"Love baby, love. That's the secret, yeah. If lots more of us loved each other, we'd solve lots more problems. And then this world would be better. That's wha' ol' Pops keeps saying."

It's really not more immensely complicated than all that. And, in the meantime, I wouldn't settle for any other kind of life.

So sad that so many people choose otherwise.

My new favorite band

With all the shit on commercial radio aspiring for nothing, these days, its refreshing to see kids who sing because they love it and not out of greed or other base purposes for commercial music, these days.

Hence, my new favorite band. DeCadence, out of University of California, Berkeley. It has zero to do with politics. It's just nice to see kids sing because they love it and sing songs that I love too.

This is my favorite DeCadence tune. Their cover of Ben Folds' cover of Dr. Dre's Bitches Ain't Shit.



But Pop Nightmare is pretty fun, too.



And a medley of one of my favorite bands from high school and college, The Cranberries.



Be nice to be able to trust that more of the music I heard, these days, was being made because people loved the music more than the music business, and the bullshit that comes with it.

Nothing wrong with business. Nothing particularly noble about it, either.

It's nice to know when some people have their priorities straight.

Democratic politics, 21st century-style

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It's not just Sara Palin. It's the whole fuckin' lot of us.

Me get power. Me solve all world's problem with power. Power good. Me smash what makes me and you afraid. And threatens my power.

Lord Acton pussy no understand power solve all. Me smash Lord Acton and pussy liberty-loving hippy friends. World safe for good.

If only human beings could reason more like gorillas and bears, only then would we all finally be safe. Or something like that.

Why didn't we think of this before? Oh wait. We did. It's the whole fuckin' dumbass history of humanity.

Only, this time, the gorillas mean business. We should be so proud of ourselves.

Power and responsibility

This is what I love about power. All the weaseling.



Tony Blair used to be a democratically-elected leader I could really respect. But watching this interview, I think I realize, now, that power now and forever means never having to admit when you are wrong or even that you might be wrong. I have no more faith in this process or these people, except to look after their own asses every single time. I am seriously considering not voting this election, I am so disgusted with how dishonest this process is, at this point.

The only saving grace is that all of these folks eventually fall. And until they give up the obsession with power to solve all of our problems, they will fall hard.

Little bit of justice in that thought.

We could do better. But we'd have to stop being such pricks.

Until then, instant karma's gonna get you.

No matter how much power you grab.

A good man

I'm grading and watching Jerry Maguire, tonight.

And as I watch the lovemaking scene - which is so incredibly sexy, by the way; I know, I'm such a chick - and as I reflect on the movie and the big fall that Jerry takes and a similar big fall that I've taken in my life - and also been similarly and strangely blessed, as a consequence - I'm reflecting some on my own ego and what I've needed to face, in my own life, to be a good man, and the only kind of man I would ever settle for.

I aspire for greatness. But it's taken this time alone and taking some falls in life to recognize that who I am and who I aspire to be are not the same. It takes time to be what we aspire to be. And, in the meantime, I've had an enormous ego to let go of to be something more.

I aspire for greatness. And, by definition, I've been mediocre and a big lump of ego, in the meantime. I'm not proud of that. And it's part of the learning curve and the process, in the meantime, I'm convinced.

But I'm tired of my ego overwhelming my potential.

I want to be a great dad. I want to be a great lover and husband to my wife. I want to be a great teacher. A great thinker and writer. And maybe, amidst all of that, I want to be a great guy.

But I got work to do. I've got an ego to let go of. I've got effort to make. I've got love to give. I hope I have some wisdom and other strengths to offer.

But, mostly, I've got an ego to let go of as well as a notion that my life is about anything other than loving and caring for my family, my friends, my students, my colleagues, my neighbors, my friends from the old neighborhood and every kid who has ever grown up afraid that they won't be able to make something of their lives, and generally my fellow man, and woman, and kids, and everyone who I can offer something of my heart and mind. I aspire to do great things. And I don't forget where I came from. And I want to offer something that everyone can benefit from, not just myself.

And, one day, perhaps, when I might be a good man, and maybe a great man, I can look back at all of this ego and immaturity, foolishness and frailty, maybe then I can feel some satisfaction that my life has not been in vain or only to serve my own selfish ends.

In our hearts, we all know that is who we need to be, when we are not stoking the flames of our own egos. I forget. Often. I need reminding. Often. I aspire. Often. I fail. Often. I'm proud, at times. I'm disappointed, often.

But that, I am convinced, is the only true route to being a good man, even a great man. Or woman. Or even being a great kid, for those kids who care enough to aspire.

Everything else is, and always has been, ego, I am convinced, at this point. No matter the protestations to the contrary.

And I want to live a life that is honest, as well as aspiring for greatness, and to be a good man. Humanity has had quite enough of the lies of men and women of ego conspiring for their own petty and self-centered purposes.

It is time for humanity to walk on its own two feet. And, to do that, we will, each of us, need to give up our search for perfect men and women, whom do not and never have existed, or worse, brutal men, people who use aggression to somehow compensate for their own and all of our own failings. It is time that we gave up this foolish and destructive tendency.

It is time that we each aspired for goodness and greatness of our own choosing and on our own merits and stopped relying on the flattery of those who would stroke our egos for their own self-centered purposes.

And, to do that, each of us must face ourselves honestly. Our strengths and our failings. I have not enough of the first and too many of the latter. And recognizing that is the only path to doing and being good in the world. Anything else is a lie, to ourselves and to others.

I have lived that lie enough in my life. I need something better. So does everyone else in my life. And that is the only honest path to being and doing good in the world.

In a world where there is and always has been much to flatter the ego and deceive ourselves and others about our truest natures, to be a good person necessitates that kind of honesty and effort. It is available to us. It is available to all of us, no matter the worst lie that too many of us tell ourselves and one another - that there is no such thing as such goodness and greatness, for real, because of our own failure to face our own failings and frailties - if only we will do the work of facing ourselves honestly and correcting what needs correction to do well by our fellow man, woman, and child that every life offers.

Some people never seriously aspire. But everyone, generally, aspires, better, in my experience, the better those around them aspire. Each of us have a role in setting that standard for ourselves and for one another. And each of us does better the better each of us take that responsibility seriously.

Tonight, I reflect on my own efforts and failings. I find myself falling short too often to ignore. But my efforts are honest, even as I fail.

And letting go of my ego, one choice at a time, offers me the most honest route to doing and being good, in this world, for real, and being the kind of father, lover and husband, son, brother, uncle, friend, coworker, teacher, thinker and writer, and neighbor to my fellow man that I can possibly be.

When I think about my own family - my wife and children - and the kind of example that I set and love I have and need to offer for them, I remember what that kind of man looks like more clearly.

And I'm proud of that man. If I ever learn to live the kind of love, decency and greatness I think he might have to offer.

I keep working. And I hope I'll have that to offer to a woman and children, one day. And perhaps to the rest of my family, my students and colleagues, my friends and neighbors, and all of the people I love in my life.

And it is the fact of that long and winding journey to being a good man, a good woman, and good and decent human being, that makes love the highest priority in a world that too often takes ego more seriously. Thoughtfulness and being worthy of others' trust also matter. But love makes it all possible, given our inevitable failures and disappointments on that path.

That is my reflection on being a good man and giving up the vanities of ego, tonight, on a night of, perhaps, too little grading and too much reflection, and plenty of Jerry Maguire, the Muppet Movie, and other various cheesiness on a refreshingly grounded and wholesome Saturday night for a single guy looking for love.

Now I have work to do. And to find someone to share that life with who has similar love to offer.

It's the only life worth living, as far as I am concerned. Everything else would be an enormous waste. For myself and for everyone in my life.

I only hope that I honestly make the best of it.

Love,
Ben

Gronk crush mindless election cycle

This is what our politics has been reduced to.

Me Crush Middle-Class Tax Hike

Gronk smash vapid political discourse. Gronk conquer senseless breast-beating as inane substitute for honest reasoning. Gronk very angry.

Gronk host caged Ultimate Fighting Championship match between Barack Obama and John McCain to decide who tough and dumb enough to lead free world.

Gronk eat chicken wings and drink cheap domestic beer. Gronk happy.

Gronk no need be genius know beer and fighting morons make for high-dollar entertainment. And undeniable political progress.

Plus nasty hangover come November 5.

Mark Spitz is a winner

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Perhaps it might offer perspective to the candidates in this election that winning is not its cracked up to be, even in the highest stakes races.

If you doubt that, you have a friend in Mark Spitz.

Presidential

Obama to the left of me. McCain to the right. Here I am, stuck in the middle...

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

How incredibly sad that political candidates would behave like this and call it Presidential.

Do we really want people leading us who behave in this way?

Not unless we're an irredeemable lot of scared, hyperaggressive morons.

Perhaps I spoke too soon.

Certainty

"Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd."
- Voltaire - French author, humanist, rationalist, & satirist (1694 - 1778)

Life would work out so much better if more people could figure this out.

Sometimes you gotta wonder

Sometimes you gotta wonder. When things get so bad in the world, is it possible that noone really gives a shit if things get worse or better?

I wouldn't have thought that as a kid.

But if people give a shit, they could have fooled me.

Because for me, if things get worse, I start to wonder, "Am I maybe doing something wrong?"

That, apparently, is too difficult a question for most people to ask themselves.

And hence flows most of our problems.

Overwhelmed

I'm kind of overwhelmed by the world, right now.

The needs of the kids I work with can be a bit much. Their behavior, their judgment, their often very low reading and reasoning abilities, their need for adults who stick by them even as it means a lot of energy on my part and confusion and frustration on their part, not to mention sacraficing other more respected and lucrative opportunities for my life. It's hard to keep up, sometimes.

And the world I am preparing them for is seriously fucked up in so many ways. And it misunderstands them and we misunderstand one another as often as we understand.

The world is a mess, is the truth. And kids look out into it and see that, no matter our protestations. And they get overwhelmed with it, generally with much less understanding than me or most adults. And they often screw up. And we often treat them like we treat everyone. Like shit.

And sometimes it gets a little overwhelming.

After awhile, it is so overwhelming, it very much feels like the efforts are useless. I am so often cleaning up after the messes of other adults - in the kids' lives, in school, in the political and legal world, - and it never seems possible to keep up with all of it.

The bottom line around most of it is that people are often assholes who just can't find it in themselves to take responsibility for their asshole behavior. And so that fact of existence, from the beginning of human history, has been used to rationalize people being bigger assholes to somehow compensate for the asshole behavior of their neighbors.

It's a dizzying cycle of stupidity and ugliness.

And I'm basically a janitor for humanity's refusal to face up to the bullshit and the failures that come with this outlook on life.

But, sometimes, the messes are just much bigger than anything I can keep up with. And when people are busy making bigger messes and pretending that those messes are not their fault, it sometimes outstrips my capacity to do fix the situation.

Sometimes I just want to have a quiet life with a wife and children and with friends and family and just stop looking out for others, all the time, and have a life to myself that is not consumed with the overwhelming needs of others, especially kids who have no clue how difficult it is likely to get once they leave school.

Sometimes its too much. And I need a life where I'm not constantly facing a barage of needs that I cannot always keep up with.

We could fix that situation for teachers. We could fund enough teachers and schools who could care for the needs of students. But to do so would necessitate us moving away from the self-righteous and intrusive grandstanding of politics and to seek funding and opportunities outside of the perhaps, but not quite, irredeemably dysfunctional world of power and politics. It would necessitate people of good faith thinking far outside the very narrow and nasty box of contemporary politics and building schools that attend to the judgments of teachers and parents who are more intimately knowledgable of kids and their needs and much less attention to politicians who have very little direct understanding of kids and schools.

But to do so will need for people to give up on the false faith that we can ask Congress to simply mandate improvements and that they will come. They won't. And that false faith comes at far too enormous a cost for kids, teachers, schools, and liberal education.

It is our most dangerous tendency and it is, appropriately, the most deadly sin.

Pride.

And the pride that our repressive and regressive impulses to force the world to shape up do more good than they really do, which is often not much, in the short term, and, worse, that they make matters worse, in the long term, is the most serious problem that humanity faces at this moment.

And, sometimes, all that pride and its consequences are a bit much for me.

It is in moments, like these, when I could use a friend and a partner who I could seek out a little comfort and understanding from.

Because God knows I could use it, right now.

I want to leave this whole mess and do something less demanding.

But doing so, I know, involves leaving these kids to their own devices in a world that treats them and everyone like cattle, too often, rather than like human beings, with consciences and judgment and a need to cultivate both with a rigorous and liberal education.

Most people denigrate the need for education and deeper understanding of the world, right now, when other more base desires seem so easily and abundantly satisfied.

And perhaps the world just needs teachers as a reminder of a commitment that is more honest when baser concerns dominate peoples' attention for all of the reasons that baser concerns have always dominated peoples' attention.

That's what I value in my teachers, anyway. In a world that would seem much less honest and grounded were it not for them and their more honest, if less lucrative and self-centered, commitments.

I just wish they and I could and would live up to those liberal and democratic ideals more honestly than we do or allow ourselves or are allowed. I just wish the hypocrisies and compromises of liberal democratic peoples was not constantly a source of excuse for the abuses of less liberally and democratically commmitted peoples everywhere.

All I know is that it overwhelms me, at times, and that I cannot always know what is the best means of living those values.

Maybe I just need a break. Maybe we all do. Maybe we all just need to cut each other more slack than we forever seem to fail to do for fear of appearing weak when we offer up compassion and understanding. Maybe we all just need a lot more slack. Because how we are handling things now is definitely not doing the trick, unless we are forever going to lie to ourselves about the success or not of our efforts.

Surely honest, decent, free peoples can do better than that.

Because, if not, the doomsayers are given the self-fulfilling prophecy that they so desperately covet to try to prove the one thing they value more than anything else: being right, even when they are so clearly wrong.

And that fact of life will never change as long as honest, decent, and free peoples are constantly trying to prove what thugs they can be if only given the chance.

Surely we can do better than that. Surely our better angels are not found in the clothing of gangsters, terrorists, and despots. Surely we have something better to offer.

All I know is that hope is better placed than any assurance that it is not possible. Because that assurance is not honesty. It is us giving up and resigning ourselves. And no amount of resignation and cynicism will ever make life better, for us and our children.

No matter how overwhelmed I might feel at the moment.

Lying sacks of shit (all of 'em)

Hypocrisy knows no limits when it comes to politics. It is the the political class saying, "We deserve this so much more than you do."



James Carville, Harold Wolfson, and appropriately named Harold Ickes deserve their own half-hour show dedicated to this topic.

But this will do for now.



Hypocrisy isn't a sign of dishonesty with ourselves about our failings. Lying and hypocrisy are the way that we show we care.

Can't you just feel the love?

Thank you, Karl Rove, Dick Morris, and Bill O'Reilly - and you too, Harold Ickes, James Carville, and Harold Wolfson - all for being such lying sacks of shit.

Where would our democracy be without you? Shutter the thought.

You like all this progress? I thought so.

Just in case you needed proof that punishment and force as a governing philosophy really work.

Married at 9, slain by parents at 17

Kind of hard to do anything once your dead. That'll teach her.

Thank god they went easy on her. They could have raped, tortured, and burned her alive her before they killed her. These guys must be liberals.

I have really learned to appreciate the generosity of repressive forces in the last few years. Just think how ugly the world would be if they really punished someone.

Thank goodness repressive countries have eradicated all that sinning and ugliness with their repression. Now there'll be no more bad things in the world. We have finally forced badness from our midst. And thank goodness for that.

When will all of the soft-hearted fools finally figure out that we are kicking ass and there's not a goddamn thing they can do about it.

Repression is the only real route to progress. We don't take responsibility because we never do anything wrong. And when we beat the shit out of one another, it shows that we really care.

So when we kill you, it's because we really love you.

You still doubt force as a governing philosophy you, fuckin' pussy? Maybe someone needs to kill you in broad daylight and see if that is effective in shutting your fuckin' mouth.

And once we kill and imprison all these motherfuckers, we can finally get some goddamn progress up in this place. Once all the pussies who doubt our wisdom are out of our way, that is.

You like all this progress? I thought so.

Noone really ever questions me when I put it like that.

Leadership

This campaign has become quite the sorry little joke. And not the funny kind. It's kind of pathetic and sad, really.

And the same people who have brought this to you - each of the respective Presidential campaigns, the press, the activists, and too many citizens who have gone right along - have the gaul to say, "This is why I deserve to be able to run your life."

What remarkable bullshit.

There is nothing real being said, right now, during this election. This election could have been staged by my students. In fact, it is everyday.

And how incredibly sad that adults would act like this and pretend that it is some kind of example for mine or anyone's children. How sad that we would act like this at all.

What this election has taught me is that I will have to teach my own children that there is no way on God's green earth that they can ever look to such people for examples of what it means to be good or responsible or anything of the sort. Because what a remarkably low standard those in and who aspire to be a part of the political class set.

They will look to their father and their mother, which reaffirms for me the enormous responsibility of parenthood. They will look to their teachers. They will look to the most responsible people they encounter. And, all too often and sadly, they will look to less responsible people.

But, ultimately, they will look to themselves.

And my children, at least, will learn to look to themselves to take responsibility for their lives long before they look to anyone in political circles.

Because what a sad and sorry standard the political world offers, right now. Perhaps it always has. In which case, perhaps all of us should have always looked elsewhere for guidance.

I looked to my family and my teachers.

Thank goodness, this election season, my children have a better alternative. Because those who are supposed to offer the kind of example that children and citizens are supposed to be able to trust, as their most fundamental responsibility, have badly fallen down on the job.

How sad that this is what political folks call leadership.

How lucky for each of us that politics is not where real leadership takes place in life.