Something for the morrow

Just back from a rather enjoyable vacation amongst a bunch of delightful reprobates, and still catching up on the world. So by way of intermission something I was linked to ages ago which well I rather like it and seems quite apt for anyone walking tomorrow.

From across the pond

A friend of mine across the pond pointed me at an article in the Washington Post by Charles Krauthammer (who I’d never heard of before), discussing anxiety-induced Obama Underappreciation Syndrome. The condition he describes is oddly familiar from our last lot of glorious rulers, if only we understood the wonderful things they were doing we’d stop complaining.

Opening a whole new branch of cognitive science — liberal psychology — Obama has discovered a new principle: The fearful brain is hard-wired to act befuddled, i.e., vote Republican.

But of course. Here Obama has spent two years bestowing upon the peasantry the “New Foundation” of a more regulated, socially engineered and therefore more humane society, and they repay him with recalcitrance and outright opposition. Here he gave them Obamacare, the stimulus, financial regulation and a shot at cap-and-trade — and the electorate remains not just unmoved but ungrateful.

Faced with this truly puzzling conundrum, Dr. Obama diagnoses a heretofore undiscovered psychological derangement: anxiety-induced Obama Underappreciation Syndrome, wherein an entire population is so addled by its economic anxieties as to be neurologically incapable of appreciating the “facts and science” undergirding Obamacare and the other blessings their president has bestowed upon them from on high.

I’m afraid you have to sign in with facebook or a throw away account to read the whole thing, but it’s quite worth doing, if only for his take on the
rioting in France and the economies of other bits of Europe.

An apology to Laurie Penny

I find myself feeling somewhat like the less virtuous player in the story of “St. Peter and the gossip”, over at the Devils Kitchen I made a comment about Ms. Penny which really didn’t need making. For this I would like to offer my apologies, though I realise no apology is an undo switch.

I do stand by what I said but not everything needs saying – I shall offer no further comment or explanation for fear of appearing to make excuses for behaviour which falls short of the level of politenss I try to aspire to.

I shall however* say that Ms. Penny was a most welcoming host, when I had occassion to visit her and my comments were in no way based on any behaviour at that time.

* There’s always an excep or however isn’t there.