Forgive me if a sound a trifle annoyed at a few people. I don't have any difficulty with people who think that my two previous entries (West of Hollywood, Disco Inferno) were a bit "over the top.". Ain't it grand that we live in a free country? But as an educator for more than 30 years, I do occasionally get peeved when people criticize me for saying something I didn't say, or reading something beyond what I'm saying to distill a different message than the plain language of my writings state. Years and years of telling students (and children) to "read the instructions carefully" have clearly fallen on more than a few deaf ears. The most recent blast of criticism (about 5, compared with more than 500 "you go girl" - don't ask and I won't tell) probably isn't worth responding to publicly, yet I want to make a point clearer than a few people seem to be interpreting it. My ellipitical titles and forays into popular culture notwithstanding, each of my essays has a clear point or two in it. These aren't disguised, buried in metaphor, or otherwise obscured in a wall of words. They're there for those who take the time to read the essays fully. If it wasn't obvious from the two controversial essays, let me repeat: my point was NOT simply an attack on the Fool on the Hill (our current Governor); it was much larger than that. If you think that ALL I'm interested in doing is sending Ted out to find another elected job he can serve in for yet another single term, you've completely misunderstood what I'm suggesting. Think of my approach as the PERS members' "nuclear option" (or is that "nookyaler option"). Changing Governors without changing the rest of the branches of government is sort of like moving a deck chair on the Titanic.
I'm not fond of any of Gertrude Himmelfarb's writings (except maybe her book on Charles Darwin written well-before the rest of her ideas were so hardened), but I am fond of a title to a book she wrote about 10 years ago entitled "On Looking Into the Abyss". Think of that title when you read my last two essays.
This muckraker will be taking a vacation from his anti-elected officials screeds for awhile. Further blog postings will continue as usual, but the reminders about our elected officials will continue appear at periodic intervals, whenever I think people are getting too smug, too self-satisfied, and too complacent. "We've only just begun to fight."
I'm not fond of any of Gertrude Himmelfarb's writings (except maybe her book on Charles Darwin written well-before the rest of her ideas were so hardened), but I am fond of a title to a book she wrote about 10 years ago entitled "On Looking Into the Abyss". Think of that title when you read my last two essays.
This muckraker will be taking a vacation from his anti-elected officials screeds for awhile. Further blog postings will continue as usual, but the reminders about our elected officials will continue appear at periodic intervals, whenever I think people are getting too smug, too self-satisfied, and too complacent. "We've only just begun to fight."
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