Ravings from a Man in an Old White House

Wednesday evening kinda sucked. After it was too late, I discovered I had been invited to watch Death at a Funeral. I had wanted to see it, but I figured that since my phone hadn’t rung, it wasn’t happening. Well, my phone didn’t ring because I had put it on silent the night before (one of my brothers was texting me incessantly while I was watching How I Met Your Mother with people).

That alone was not enough to spoil the evening. Sometime last weekend, I discovered I had some money left on a Barnes & Noble gift card. For a change, I knew instantly what to buy: a copy of the Lincoln-Douglas debates. I figured after I found out about the movie, I went to my local Barnes and Nobles. They didn’t have it. Just to see what they had, I went to the Borders across the street. Again, they didn’t have it. I was so excited, but my hopes were dashed. It turns out there are around 40 different editions. How the heck do you figure out which one to pick online? I need to look at them in person. I can’t do it because they don’t have any in stores. Stupid book stores. Don’t even get me started about how major book stores could fail to stock the Lincoln Douglas debates.

I need to update the books in my Currently Reading applet on the sidebar of this blog. I also need to fix the page that comes up when you click “View full Library.” I can say that I have been reading Ecclesiastical History of the English People by the Venerable Bede for quite some time now. It is readable enough, but it is wearying to read the discussions of how the British (read Romano-Celtic people of Ireland, and the north and west of Great Britain as opposed to the Anglo-Saxon (English) peoples of the east of Great Britain) are heretics because they observe Easter on the wrong day. I will get back to it at some point.

The probability that I will finish Radical Center has significantly decreased because I can’t find it. The last I remember seeing it is Friday night. Maybe Vicki hid it.

The latest addition to the right side of this blog is The Radical Center. So far I’m not too impressed because it states that we are in a period of “dealignment.” In our history there have been a few points at which support for the major political parties has shifted: The 1820s, 1860s, 1890s, 1940s, and, arguably, the 1980s or 1990s. At base, realignment is the reorganization of subgroups among the major parties of the day (the first and second actually involved new parties: the Whigs and Republicans, respectively). The idea behind dealignment is that party identification has eroded to a point where party doesn’t really matter. It may be true, but what bothers me is that the book doesn’t present any evidence beyond the fact that more people self-identify as “Independent.” What is more important is how the constituent parts of the coalitions are voting. Are they still voting for the same parties? Are they voting in the same numbers?

Maybe it will get better.

John Ferling’s Setting the World Ablaze was very good. It’s a comparative biography of Washington, Adams, and Jefferson. The first three presidents are great subjects for comparative biography because they come from different backgrounds. Jefferson and Washington were both rich Virginians, but they got there in different ways.

Washington was the first to really understand what Britain was doing in the post-French and Indian War period. He saw that the King and Parliament were trying to reign the colonies in by reducing the freedom to which they had grown accustomed. Adams and Jefferson figured it out years later.

Adams worked tirelessly in different posts here and in France during the war. In Congress he was the workhorse of the independence movement. In France, he managed concessions in peace negotitaions where others had failed. His work during the war doesn’t get much attention because he did a lot of the boring work.

Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence. Others could have written it, but Jefferson’s writing made it powerful document it is. Jefferson’s work during the war doesn’t get much attention because he didn’t do much after 1776. He went at least a year without mentioning it once in correspondence.

I recommend the book as it is an enjoyable read, and makes these three men and the times they lived in more accessible than some other books. At a little over 300 pages, it’s not too cumbersome, either.

I don’t think I’ve bought a DVD since June, and I’m starting to get antsy. Is that normal?

I’m not sure if it’s the first time since law school, but I have a bookmark 100 pages into a book that wasn’t written by Robert Jordan, J.K. Rowling, Rex Stout, or Agatha Christie. The book, newly added to the Currently Reading section on the right, is Overthrow: America’s Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq, by Stephen Kinzer.

The book deals with America’s foray into the most extreme form of foreign intervention: toppling another country’s government. Kinzer divides overthrows into three eras: Imperialist, Cold War, and post-Cold War. I am about finished with the chapter that serves as a conclusion for the first period. We all studied the transition to colonial overlord in high school, but this book provides a deeper analysis. The familiar part of the pattern for everyone was is fusion of manifest destiny, business interests, and racism (specifically the notion that brown-skinned people are unfit for democracy) into a catalyst for imperialist aggression.

Among other things, Kinzer also points out the recurring theme of American leaders deluding the public into believing that the reasons for intervention are noble. Generally, these are national security and liberation of a people from oppression. This delusion is made necessary by the American public’s reluctance to intervene based on self-interest. If you ask the French why they intervene in North Africa, they’ll tell you it is to protect French interests. We need to tell ourselves we are doing the morally righteous thing.

Another interesting pattern is breaking promises and oppressing (or allowing oppression by the now friendly government and then being surprised when the lied-to and oppressed people revolt.

All in all, it is an interesting read with important insights for making the inevitable future decisions about overthrowing governments or otherwise intervening in foreign lands.

I have not felt like posting lately. I’ve been in a somewhat contemplative mood lately, but I haven’t managed to come to any conclusions. I’ve been thinking about maturity and growth; dating, marriage, and children; careers and working; my family; and death. Because of a situation at work, I have been more tired and anxious. The result is that when I get home, I can’t keep my mind on anything long enough to post about it.

I wouldn’t say a lot has gone on since my last post, but there have been a few things. I went out of state to visit my Grandmother. I got her hooked on Firefly and Serenity. I have decided that I really need a new care right now. I have just lived without A/C for too long. Despite my troubles concentrating, I’ve added two books to the “Finished Reading” list. I saw two movies that I really enjoyed. I’ve continued a leftward political shift (I blame Brad). After almost seven years, I played Euchre for the second time. Bridge is next. I have continued losing weight, which is fantastic. I’ve enjoyed some new music and old comedy thanks to Vicki and Mark. I continue to enjoy the new friends I’ve made. I’ve vacillated on whether e-dating sites are worth using and developed a crush on our summer receptionist, who’s seven years younger than I am, mind you.

All in all, I am having a fine enough summer that I have not gotten around to posting much. I don’t really expect to until fall.

From time to time, I have to answer questions like, “Does the possessive form of my last name take an apostrophe or apostrophe-’s’?” To answer such questions I have The American Heritage College Dictionary (it came with a CD-ROM of the regular version and a thesaurus, so I had to get it), Garner’s Modern American Usage, Black’s Law Dictionary, The Chicago Manual of Style, and a host of other books on language, grammar, and writing.

Ever since I started my current job, more than a year ago, I’ve known that eventually I would have an office. Along with that would come space for books. Books about writing, which is a big part of what I do. This creates a problem: If my writing books are at work, what do I use at home? What happens next time I start dithering over a hyphen while posting to this blog? What if I wake up in the middle of the night feeling insecure as to the preferred pronunciation of “precedent” in “condition-precedent”? Will I drive to the office at 3:00 a.m. or will I sit up all night worrying?

The obvious solution is to obtain a second set. That is a pricey proposition. I seriously doubt that I can sell the idea of spending a few hundred dollars for this to my boss. In my world she would say, “Of course, you can never have too many copies of Eats, Shoots & Leaves. Sadly, my world is not the real one.

Assuming that I am going to be stuck with the bill, do I keep the new ones at home or at work. I doubt there will be a difference in content for any of them, so it’s just an issue of where I should keep the fresher, cleaner ones.

Before getting to the meat of this post, let me explain your recent respite from the drivel that often sits below the pretty lady on this page (if there is no pretty lady, don’t worry about it: just know she’s a Pre-Raphaelite beauty). I have been busier than usual at work, where major renovation has been underway. The busy patch is almost over. This week alone we have three evidentiary hearings, one of them major-ish; one argument; and two pre-trials. There being five days in a court-week, you can see we have multiple events on at least one day. In fact, we have two events on two days. The worst part is that the three most difficult and labor intensive events are on those two days, and those two days are back to back. I will participate in anywhere from two to four of the six, but I have already helped prepare each, to varying degrees.

The meat of this post isn’t steak. Not even cheap steak. It’s more like beef jerky. Or even beef stick. But not individual servings. Its a variety-pack post.

I have attempted to keep some sanity. Sunday, I bought shoes and a ceiling fan (I certainly don’t shop thematically. Yesterday seemed like a good time to install the fan. After 7th Heaven was over, of course. It was a good one, too. Anyway, 8:00 rolls around, and I knew it was getting dark. I didn’t let that get in my way. I should have. The thing about darkness is you don’t see well. I mistook a light blue wire for green wire. Blue means “hot” like black does; green means ground. I thought I was connecting a ground wire to a ground wire. What I actually did was destroy the wall switch. But that didn’t happen until the end of the project. With the fuse still out of the fuse box, I completely assembled the fan. When I put the fuse back in, “pop.” Think light bulb, but louder. I thought it was the fuse, but when I looked upstairs, things still worked. The fan didn’t, though. I thought the fan motor or something fried. So I took the whole thing back apart. Then I went to bed feeling angry, bitter, and inadequate.

Was the fan fried? Nope. My step-dad figured out it was the switch. So I bought a new switch. We had to troubleshoot a few different issues, but eventually we got everything working. Except that the new switch is faulty and has to go back. Ugh.

I am also working on the lengthy task of typing my notes from Knife of Dreams, the 11th book in the Wheel of Time series. Yes, I really just said that. And yes, I realize that means “too much time on my hands.” During 7th Heaven, I was typing a note from Chapter III that said, “Mesaana and Aran’gar are working on ‘the plan.’” The first thing that popped into my head was 10 Things I Hate About You. I laughed. You should have been there.

I discovered something awesome. Mott’s Granny Smith Applesauce. I don’t know if they have jars of it, but they do have single-serving containers. I tried one yesterday at work. My boss and the real estate paralegal were standing talking about some office renovation thing, and I suddenly let out a loud “mmmm.” They both turned and asked if I was alright. I explained that the applesauce was really, really good. Even better than expected. They weren’t impressed. I don’t care. It was damned good applesauce.

One of our clients fired us this week. It was the result of a phone call I had with him. I still don’t know exactly what went wrong. I think it’s my fault, but I’m not sure. Anyway, if you read this far, you now know where the title of this post came from. Except for Chris, who skips to the end, so has discovered the secret without reading the rest.

Trivia question for Brad: What is the significance of being within 100 miles of the Dirksen Federal Building?