Moral Vanity

By Al Schumann on Saturday August 11, 2012 10:28 PM

Yes indeed. Step right up, folks. Step right up and don't crowd each other now. There's plenty of room. Circus SMBIVA has a treat for you. From the wilds of the untamed Beltway, by way of the intertubes, we have a genuine geek, who is prepared to bite the heads off chickens for your entertainment and edification.

Via Chris Floyd.

Comments (19)

diane:

Parry must be really foaming at the mouth about Moral Vanity after the Ryan pick. Love this line from Chris:

What he [Parry] is in fact advocating is the bleakest moral nihilism.

Al Schumann:

He's right about that. I found Floyd's response sincerely respectful, as much as was possible under the circumstances. I can't manage it, but I'm glad he did. Someone needs to keep Parry's human worth in mind, even when Parry can't do so for others.

diane:

If they are actually friends it must be excruciating for Chris. And yeah, it was respectful yet to the point.

So sad the friendships that have likely been strained to the limit over the lesser evil bullshit.

Have a good evening, Al, I'm turning in for the night.

Al Schumann:

I'm not sure how close they are, or were. I assume collegial regard. Floyd shows that much.

Parry has a blind spot for Democratic malevolence. It takes too much effort to compensate for it. I wound up finding him completely unreadable some years ago.

lunch reformé:

I can't vote for either of these candidates. But I understand that Parry sees the policy decisions at stake differently than do the morally vain leftists.

His appeals have fallen on hardpan and will not germinate because vanity is almost as powerful as the will to live. The two are almost indistinguishable. He must try again and show in a persuasive fashion how Romney is practically guaranteed to perform some act of governmental stupidity that Obama is practically guaranteed not to perform. And the act must be something that vain leftists cannot abide. A tough task, given the last four years of Obama policy choices.

If there were something that Parry could point to in the Obama record, but really there is not. Even the miserable health care reform was kicked down the road beyond the upcoming election so that no one can really evaluate its effects.

The argument that Romney should not have the nuclear codes is a joke. He has $250 million - $400 million in assets and a house full of children. So he's going to incinerate all that for a place in a history that would never be written?


Al Schumann:

From a truly morally vain perspective, other people's misery is the best moral vindication possible. Both major party candidates are determined to deliver misery. Support for either guarantees vindication. The partisans can have a field day!

Op:

The gimmick that drives me crazy bored here is the use of very high altitude generality

Just the sort of oxgen mask
pilgrims' regress type
mission travel
I despise

I note

His trashing of demo pol and direct action as effective alternative venues of struggle
note also the omission of job site rebellion

Lesson never go Beyond the double crossed ballot boxing ring

Citizen progressives
Be relieved you have a two sided rubber stamp

Where two evils can be weighed against each other

And the lesser one boldly stamped "preferred" if not approved

Al Schumann:

Pwogs have such an odd understanding of power. They'll make noises and expound on policy, but won't focus at all on seizing the initiative and using it to force their reforms. They'll only focus on elections. And even there, they're too dainty to force the pace.

peter:

So the author of a several thousand word apology on voting for a politician finds vanity a most disagreable vice?!

Christopher:

Every one of these lesser evil guys begins their argument by conceding everything to their opponents:

Obama and Romney will both kill a lot of foreigners for no good reason.

So, if I want Presidents to not do that, voting in this election is, in the worst case, actively counterproductive, and in the absolute best case is merely a tangential, tertiary action that attempts to control the fire while I look for something which will actively put it out.

So... why should I care again?

I should care because my not caring apparently makes some people feel guilty, I guess.

I'm incredibly skeptical about arguments that are mostly about people's attitudes instead of their actions. Take away this "You think you're better than me? Huh?!" posturing and what's left?

D'ahh, jeezus. Robert Parry, my old fave. A couple of years ago, I was actually moved to rages of sarcasm by this guy, but now, I'm like m'eh, another lesser-evilist mouthpiece. Next...!

Sighhhh... I really am at a loss this time around. I mean, what could I say about Robert Parry that I haven't already said about the sensation of having red-hot steel needles driven into my eyeballs?

I pretty much said everything I could possibly say about that old turdburger a couple of years ago:

http://www.sinkers.org/posters/fuckinghippies/obama_poster550x900.jpg

diane:

Sorry to be ‘off topic’ (but not really) to anyone this may offend, but oh my - on the Ryan cue, from UZ today - start your kiddles in capitalism very, very young (pre-birth if possible), az Pappy Ben would be pleased:

www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/forum/story/2012-08-13/thrify-ben-franklin-frugal/57039184/1 [yes, that "thrify" does work, no need for the kiddles to be able to spell basic words correctly, or, write in cursive unless they’re in the Master Predator class.]

Column: Forgetting our frugal roots

When Florida students head back to the classroom this month, 14-year-old Willow Tufano of North Port will not be among them. Willow, you see, has more important things to do — such as collecting rent from the tenants who live in a house she bought recently with earnings from her small business.

Yup, there is no excuse for anyone not able to be living off of rents and fees themselves: The homeless [and soon to be] are parasites™. And thats’s why you can go to Jail for feeding the homeless in Florida (as well as other STATES, no doubt), as it should be,...Pappy and would approve!

No doubt, Obombster will be giving our young Capitalist, a Hero of Capitalism Award next week and tightening the screws on the homeless, and soon to be, ‘parasites.’

(Someone please lobotomize me.)

diane:

(sorry about that stupid "and" after the second "Pappy," sloppy incomplete editing on my part.)

Op:

They call me ...MISTER pappy

diane:

Rascal. I ask for a lobotomy and you deliver humor, how fucking sappy can you get? Hypocrite!

diane:

(hmmmmmm, and for further clarity, there are two "Pappies" included in my Sorry to be off topic comment above, I wasn't calling anyone here "Pappy", (just in case you're bellowing ashy coals Owen [Sappy] Paine).)

diane:

[On a serious note, it looks like Susie Madrak who writes for (and, has gotten lashed too many times by the readers of, recently) Crooks and Liars and has her own site:

susiemadrak.com/ ....,

is living in gruesome fear, .... due to not being employable despite a long journalist vocation (whether one totally agrees with her thoughts or not, she appears up front, in my thoughts.)

Anyone able, may want to give her an assist.]

diane:

Speaking of Susie Madrak, two major subterranean issues she’s highlighted earlier today:

1.) HBGary/Stratfor/Trapwire/Cubic/Abraxas/Dauntless/Ntrepid ....... barrettbrown.blogspot.com/

and

2.) The horrid Trans Pacific Partnership ....... susiemadrak.com/2012/08/17/lets-see-the-trans-pacific-partnership-text/

The Daily Kauz diary she links to has of course been mostly ignored, and has sunk below the readable horizon - as most Daily Kauz pieces (those which survive on minimal oxygen) contrary to their Lesser Evil Obomber, I would imagine, do – while Obomber, as a crusader for Occupied, has headlined the, mostly rancid Orange, ‘Front’ Page “recommends.”)

(See also: www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/06/why-isnt-obama-plan-to-put-foreign-companies-above-the-law-an-impeachable-offense.html ....(< I would have worded that “Multinational,” versus “Foreign”)........and ....... www.economicpopulist.org/content/trade-agreement-you-never-heard-about-tpp....)

diane:

Owen, I thought of you when I read this (via BLCKDGRD ........ www.blckdgrd.com/2012/08/lurid-conditions-are-facts.html ....) interview: Britain’s Second Empire ....... www.newleftproject.org/index.php/site/article_comments/britains_second_empire

(I hope Al and Michael are okay? ... not to pester, if they are enjoying at least a slight reprieve from the tubez and/or taking care of life important matters, ... mind you.)

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