(no subject)

This is a response I made to Scott Rosenberg of Salon. In his entry, he pondered the odd behavior of the Republicans. He feels that their nuking the rights of the minority party in the Senate indicates short-term thinking on the part of the GOP, since they will (he wrote) someday face minority-party status again themselves. My response:

I suspect that it isn't short-term thinking. In many ways, these guys are acting as if they KNOW that they will never be out of power ever again.

Why would they think that? Well, there's at least a reasonable chance that they believe that the nation's black-box voting system is permanently rigged in their favor.

But even if that's not the case, they could safely rely on an unfortunate fact: if the Democrats ever again regain control of the Senate, they're virtually *certain* to restore the full filibuster rights of the minority immediately. They simply WON'T screw the Republicans back, in large part (I suspect) because they have an incurable delusion: that by playing by the rules and being "nice guys", they'll win the public's trust and restore Republican sanity.

That has about as much chance of succeeding as an attempt to rehabilitate a shark from its carnivorous behavior through loving kindness and lots of hugs, but the Democratic leadership have their heads pretty firmly up their asses these days.

(no subject)

This is a response I made to Scott Rosenberg of Salon. In his entry, he pondered the odd behavior of the Republicans. He feels that their nuking the rights of the minority party in the Senate indicates short-term thinking on the part of the GOP, since they will (he wrote) someday face minority-party status again themselves. My response:

I suspect that it isn't short-term thinking. In many ways, these guys are acting as if they KNOW that they will never be out of power ever again.

Why would they think that? Well, there's at least a reasonable chance that they believe that the nation's black-box voting system is permanently rigged in their favor.

But even if that's not the case, they could safely rely on an unfortunate fact: if the Democrats ever again regain control of the Senate, they're virtually *certain* to restore the full filibuster rights of the minority immediately. They simply WON'T screw the Republicans back, in large part (I suspect) because they have an incurable delusion: that by playing by the rules and being "nice guys", they'll win the public's trust and restore Republican sanity.

That has about as much chance of succeeding as an attempt to rehabilitate a shark from its carnivorous behavior through loving kindness and lots of hugs, but the Democratic leadership have their heads pretty firmly up their asses these days.

Want to know what I'm doing right now?

I'm playing the Clash's "Rudy Can't Fail" 100 times in a row.

Okay, not really. That song is 3:28 minutes long, so that would take 5 hours and 28 minutes to complete - assuming zero seconds on restart, which I don't think is right. I believe Windows Media Player inserts a second, or maybe three, at the end of the song. So that would take even longer.

But I've played five games of solitaire (and won three) while listening to the song; about 55 minutes, all in all. So that's a lot of Clash.

Why "Rudy Can't Fail"? Damned if I know. It scratches the itch.

Want to know what I'm doing right now?

I'm playing the Clash's "Rudy Can't Fail" 100 times in a row.

Okay, not really. That song is 3:28 minutes long, so that would take 5 hours and 28 minutes to complete - assuming zero seconds on restart, which I don't think is right. I believe Windows Media Player inserts a second, or maybe three, at the end of the song. So that would take even longer.

But I've played five games of solitaire (and won three) while listening to the song; about 55 minutes, all in all. So that's a lot of Clash.

Why "Rudy Can't Fail"? Damned if I know. It scratches the itch.