The Legacy of GWB

"Listening to the fatuous Al Gore claim his undeserved Nobel Prize and maunder on about how America is ruining the planet makes me realize how fortunate America is to have as its president George W. Bush. Yes, Bush has his ample share of failings. He occasionally speaks at the fifth-grade level. He is too willing to surround himself with cronies and sycophants. An unsupple man, Bush sometimes reminds me of the toy soldier who walks into the wall and keeps going."


This is an excerpt from Dinesh D'Souza's most recent column. I think that the he doles out a perfect balance of praise and criticism for an imperfect President that still gets undeniably shafted by a dishonest media on a daily basis. I am inclined to disagree with his final claim that Bush could be remembered as one of the great Presidents of our time, but anything is possible. It is interesting to go back and read what Lincoln's critics predicted of his legacy.

The Good, the Bad and Pat Buchanan

When the world is divided into two distinct camps, liberal and conservative, some radically different points of view tend to be lumped together. The Almond Gallery subscribes to a strong conservative belief system that has been defined with help from certain individuals. These "foremost conservatives" must be distinguished from the far less savory "fauxmost conservatives," that is, those who I believe tarnish the reputation of conservatism in general. Here are my lists of those who exemplify each subset:

Foremost Conservatives
#1: Barry Goldwater - Reinvented the Republican party as the party of small government. Fought responsibly against the 20th century's greatest threat: Communism.
#2: Winston Churchill - A champion of freedom during the darkest of times. Took on both worldwide fascism and his country's Labour party with an impeccable wit.
#3: Ayn Rand - Provided a philosophical backing to the principles of individualism and conservatism. Taught us that acquiring wealth is something to be proud of.
#4: George Will - The most consistently readable conservative columnist. His opinions carry a lot of weight with his conservative readers such as myself (see post from Nov. 13, Donations, Nominations..).
#5: William F. Buckley - Despite being referred to by #3 as the most dangerous man in America, his biweekly publication the National Review has been incredibly influential in shaping politics in Washington for the better.

Honorable mentions to: Justice Antonin Scalia, Ronald Reagan and Thomas Sowell
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Fauxmost Conservatives

#1: Mike Huckabee - To quote foremost conservative Winston Churchill, "He has all of the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire." He holds a backwards philosophy that diametrically opposes Goldwater's conservatism.
#2: George W. Bush - Despite generally good intentions, President Bush has failed to apply conservative principles and has little results to show for his (almost) two terms. Also has fermented general hatred for the Republican party.
#3: Arnold Schwarzenneger - Has disappointed conservatives in his second term with his middle-of-the-road approach to governing and big spending programs.
#4: Pat Buchanan - His protectionist/isolationist ideas are some of the most anti-free-market since the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.
#5: Ron Paul - I give Paul credit for his honesty and divergence from typical politicians, however, he fails to distinguish libertarianism from libertarian fetishism. The latter is dangerous in itself and in that it deters voters from looking rationally at reasoned libertarianism.

Honorable mention to: Pat Robertson, James "Mountain Jim" Inhofe and Abraham Lincoln

sleep the clock around

Life has a way of seeming more beautiful when I am listening to Belle & Sebastian.

Waiter Rant

Today I stumbled upon a blog called waiterrant.net. It is one man posting random things that happen to him. Typically this sort of anonymous journaling fails. It takes a certain sort of arrogance to believe that your life is interesting enough for people to want to read about it on a regular basis. Though not a brilliant writer, he gives each story a relatable, heart-warming, and overall good feel. I read for 20 minutes easily without realizing what I had done. I highly recommend it.

!!!

When did the exclamation mark go out of style? When did it become the mark of a middle school writer? Today I used an exclamation mark in an essay of mine, but I have a nagging fear of being derided as immature. Before now, I can't recall the last time I formally used an exclamation mark. I think that its usage only becomes a problem when the writer uses it to replace legitimate emotion or intensity. If you can use one to enhance or clarify a statement--denote that it is meant to be read with a little more oomph--I say, by all means, exclaim away!
The worthlessness of certain punctuation marks is the invention of English teachers, frustrated with the typical poor usage by their students. I remember also being told never to start sentences with "and" or "but." I was also told by my seventh grade teacher that she would not be teaching us to use parentheses because we would not be able to do it correctly. Lastly, the cliche Nazis would have us believe that any common figure of speech denotes a lack of originality. All of these devices have merit when used sparingly and correctly.

The Grout Gallery

Tolman Hall, located on the north-western edge of U.C. Berkeley's campus is known for its award-winning architecture, nationally recognized graduate psychology research, and to a somewhat lesser degree, the graffiti in the third-floor men's bathroom. Above the row of urinals are ordinary bathroom tiles. In between the tiles, however, people have penciled in dozens of grout-related puns. As a lover of words (a logophile, if you will), I was amused by the various puns people came up with. Most were fairly unoriginal variations of the word "great," as in Grout Expectations or the Grout Depression. Others spiced it up a bit with things like Groutcho Marx and Potatoes au Groutin. Perhaps the trend started as a student's psychology project that has since taken on a life of its own. However it began, it has given me and countless others something to read while peeing, and for that, I'm thankful.

Loyal A.G. Reader Challenge:

Be forever enshrined in the prestige of Tolman Hall (at least until they remodel the bathrooms)! Submit your pun to the comments section of this post. I will announce the winner on Monday night. The next day I will pencil in the winning pun on an empty line of grout. Entries will be judged on originality, comic-value and overall effect. Bonus points will be awarded for additional incorporation of bathroom themed word-play. All entries must be received by Monday 12/2 at 11:00 PM PST.

That's Not All Folks

There is a lot of excitement right now in the realm of my folk music tastes:

• I just found out that Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson and Ray Price came out with an album called Last of the Breed last March. I don't know how I missed this, but I did.
  

• The season finale of Showtime's Weeds ended with Pete Seeger's rendition of Little Boxes. Seeger popularized the song originally by Malvina Reynolds. The show opened with Reynold's version for the whole first season. The second and third seasons have opened with various artists' renditions of the song. I always wondered why they never
  played Seeger's version (by far the best, and the one I was most familiar with). The answer is now obvious: The producers were saving it for the perfect time. After a delightful episode, the song came on at just the right moment. It made all of the waiting worthwhile.

• Arlo Guthrie's first solo performance in decades, at Zellerbach Hall here in Berkeley, is just months away (April 10). Arlo is the son of the late Woody Guthrie. This is really a once in a lifetime opportunity.