“He Said WHAT???”

A Truly Pernicious Idea

As I have mentioned in here a few times already, one of the reasons I embarked upon this blogging journey was to take a few last swipes at some really idiotic notions before it is time for me to shuffle off this mortal coil. By a stroke of good fortune, I was reminded of one such bit of pernicious nonsense as I got caught up on my reading while enjoying my morning coffee...

In an article posted this morning on The Daily Beast about attorney John Morgan, the blunt-spoken lawyer takes a potshot at Wisconsin governor Scott Walker: "Walker would be the first president with a GED. We just cannot have a dumb shit as president. Total dumb shit."

Completely aside from the absurd hyperbole about the GED (Walker was an honors student in high school, and attended Marquette University for three years), what bugs me about Morgan's remark is the assumption that anyone without a college degree simply must be "a total dumb shit." Has credentialism really advanced to the point where we're comfortable saying anyone without that particular piece of paper isn't just uncredentialed, but incapable of intelligent thought? Sadly, I know many degree-holding individuals who believe wholeheartedly in this fallacy of composition error, but hardly anyone among the nearly 70 percent of Americans without a college degree who does. Ironic, no?

"Is it possible to be both rich AND asinine? Absolutely."

Elsewhere in the article, Morgan brags that he "beats bullies up for a living."

I, on the other hand, mock arrogant lawyers purely for the sport of it...

Things That Make Me Happy: Nostalgia Edition

One of the greatest things about the internet is the ease with which one can now locate and purchase collectibles. Hobbies that used to require significant investments of time and energy are now far less daunting, for which I am exceedingly grateful. Among the things I collect, via eBay auctions mostly, are these:

Rosewood with gold trim.

In the late 1970s, Hallmark produced and sold pens and mechanical pencils made of various woods, individually and in pen/pencil sets. Some of these items came with chrome metal parts, while others had their metal trim gold-plated. I still own one such pen that my late first wife gave me as a birthday gift just months before she died. It is red oak, with gold trim. To make a long story short...

Shut it, quadruped. Anyway, long story short, when I first discovered eBay, the very first search I did was for these Hallmark writing instruments, and to my surprise and delight I found dozens of such listings. I have amassed a nearly complete collection, and I occasionally give them as gifts to significant people in my life. That means I still keep an eye out, as my collection needs to be replenished periodically. The only long-standing "hole" in the collection is for this set:

The Holy Grail.

This set, made of briar wood with gold trim, was a very limited special edition, just 250 sets produced. Once or twice a year I get a crack at one of these sets on eBay, but I have yet to win one of those auctions. Someday...

The Stupid, It Burns...

As someone who taught logic and reasoning skills his entire career, I can't avoid applying those things to the writings and utterances of people in the public eye. Politicians, in particular, are often guilty of the most egregious sins against reason, and I take great pleasure in mocking them for this at every opportunity. Sometimes, though, one them says something so profoundly irrational (even by the standards we must apply to politicians) that I almost feel guilty drawing attention to it. Take it away, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders:

"I'm running for President...stop laughing, damn it, I'm serious!"

“You don’t necessarily need a choice of 23 underarm spray deodorants when children are hungry in this country.”
            --Bernie Sanders
               May 25, 2015





I'm not sure which interpretation of this remarkable non sequitur is more damaging. If Senator Sanders actually believes that consumers having choices in the marketplace is responsible for hungry children in America, he's obviously too stupid to be a senator (a low bar, admittedly), much less President. If he doesn't believe it, but merely thinks that voters will be impressed that he said it, his contempt for us couldn't be clearer...

Once or twice, yeah...but there are times for "subtle," and times for...you know...not...

Housekeeping

One of the curious aspects of Blogger is that, while posts like this one are archived for posterity, the specific contents of those sidebar sections like Thought for the Day and the weekly recommendations are not. Each time I change them, whatever came before disappears. A reader suggested that I consider making a separate archive page for such things, and apparently this IS possible in Blogger. I'm looking into it. Anyone who uses Blogger is welcome to contact me with tips and/or advice...

Until Next Time...

Today's fine arts coda is from the wonderful DVD Perfect Square, which captures one of my favorite bands, R.E.M., in the middle of their 2003 world tour. The concert was recorded in Wiesbaden, Germany on July 19, 2003. One of the reasons I'm so fond of this video is that the only time I ever got to see the band perform live was just a few months later, at Starlight Theatre in Kansas City on September 17, 2003. They were using the same set design as in the video, and virtually the same set list (this was the tour where the band took requests via the internet at each venue). My (late) best friend Matt went with me, even though he wasn't a big fan of the band, and when he helped me move to Iowa in 2004 he gave me the concert DVD as a housewarming gift. Both the concert (one of my peak life experiences, to be sure) and his gift were much on my mind yesterday, Memorial Day. Miss you, Matt...