Random Sunday

Probably the briefest one of these that I've done to date:

• This summer, I plan on learning to "cook." I never have found cooking enjoyable, and I probably never will. To me it's as mindless of an activity as taking a shower. But I really do wonder about the long-term health implications of continuing to consume so much processed food, so heavy in preservatives and other such chemicals. I'll probably limit myself to eating out twice per week (as opposed to basically always eating out as I do now.) I plan on learning how to make about 20 or so distinct dishes - a few seafood plates, a few pasta things, hamburgers, etc. etc. Should be interesting...
  
• Few things fascinate me more than the process by which the GOP has completely flipped its orientation - in 140 years, going from the party of the liberal North to the party of the conservative South. Who can imagine what our party system will look like 15o years from now?
• Libertarians and conservatives, to me, seem to perfectly fit the definition of insane - they expect to repeat ad infinitum the same failed supply-side economics and generate different results. Where it has been implemented, supply-side economics has resulted in ballooning deficits, increasing levels of disparity between the very poor and very rich, deterioration of standards of living for the middle class, and governments increasingly in debt and increasingly unable to provide services to their citizens. As it turns out, when you shower fabulously wealthy people with even more money, very little of it actually manages to "trickle down" - unless, of course, you happen to work as a suite butler at a Four Seasons or as a manufacturer of those decadent sculptures of some Roman god urinating in a fountain. The debate over the stimulus bill made it clear that the right-wing proponents of supply-side economic theory have learned absolutely nothing over the last several decades.
• On that same note, I do not think that the current stimulus bill is big enough to have the effects that it claims, and I think that President Obama is taking a tremendous risk by so heavily attaching himself to a legislative initiative that he didn't even write, and furthermore, that he allowed to be diluted to an inane degree by these deranged fiscal conservatives. Will the America Reinvestment Act accomplish any good? Absolutely, particularly in terms of laying the initial steps for our new green economy. But in a $13 trillion economy, I just don't believe that $800 billion - much of which is dedicated to ineffective tax cuts - is large enough in scope to provide a major economic boost.
• A few days ago here in Pittsburgh, I watched in amazement something that I never had thought I would see - a large and powerful union (SEIU) paid to air commercials in effusive praise of a Republican, Pennsylvania's own moderate Senator Arlen Specter. How lonely it must be to, to be a moderate Northeastern Republican. Given the exodus of moderate voters from the Republican party here in Pennsylvania and in other Northeastern states, Senator Specter could very easily end up losing his primary bid next year; conservatives, an increasingly large majority in the party of Greed, Oil, and Prostitutes, are effectively ready to place Senator Specter on the plank. Even though I'll be back in Florida by that time, I plan on closely monitoring how that election progresses here in Pennsylvania.
• I went to see the play Metamorphoses at the Pittsburgh Public Theater on Friday night. Theater that involves a pool - really! One of the most unconventional plays that I've seen, but very entertaining and something that I would highly recommend checking out if you have the opportunity.
• I'll be the first to call it - provided that he doesn't resign, Illinois voters are going to overwhelmingly throw out Roland Burris in 2010, and in yet another classic example of the Democratic Party shooting itself in the foot, the most liberal state in the entire Midwest will end up with a Republican Senator. Blame it all on Harry "the only thing smaller than my balls is my backbone" Reid.
• I've often wondered about the logic of the far-left, typically secular/agnostic/atheist politicos who so vehemently bash Israel every time that the nation faces an existential threat. This seems to be the case with many French citizens. Do they really believe that radical Islam is more compatible with their worldview than moderate, generally secular Judaism?
  
• Is what I'm learning here at Carnegie Mellon really worth $18,000 per semester? Well, I'm not paying the $18,000 - my scholarship is. But it is a huge sum of money, and I cannot absolutely say "yes" at this point. Only time will tell. Speaking of which, I stand corrected - there are some fun, down-to-earth people in my program, and at CMU. Not exactly in prodigious quantities, but we do exist!
• The types of liberals who got offended by the AFSCME parody are the types of stuck-up, I'm-better-than-you liberals that I truly cannot stand. Yes, it was somewhat inappropriate for Eric Cantor to seem to belittle the gravity of the current economic situation. But the parody itself is hilarious. And yes, I'm firmly and strongly pro-union. My grandfather was a truck driver for decades. Some liberals would benefit greatly from putting down The New Yorker, taking the stick out of their ass, and developing a goddamned sense of humor.
• And lastly, teething at 21 years old is just not cool. Damn wisdom teeth. At least I don't have to have them removed - yet. But having a tooth very slowly cut through your gum line is not a pleasant process, and I can fully see why the teething process turns even the most docile infants into irritable, destructive little brats.

Have a great week!