Come sail away with me-eee

There's a book out about why people like me are not activists. Here is the guy who wrote it.

Discussions of this book and previous discussions of the subject of the book address the young-people-need-to-pay-bills and the young-people-are-disillusioned as two streams of discontent which converge to this river of cynicism. I have another idea. I think these tendencies are two manifestations of the the same dynamic (or non-dynamic, really).

Look, I'll Google some studies up, but it is like, a fundamental principle of psychology that liek all stress ever is very, very, very much linked to perceived lack of control (or lack of perceived control, I'd say, but you know, I'm all OHMMMMM these days.) I think that both the desire to cling to anything that looks like it might be a Career Path AND the disinclination to organize/activise/see oneself as an agent of political change are expressions of a loss of control.

Ogle Blogging

Apropos of last month's Hardball circle jerk, I just want to talk for a minute about Fred Thompson. I guess the people on TV really want him to be president, maybe because he also is a person-on-TV.

But whatever. First Margaret Carlson* has this moment with Chris Matthews over Fred, which is maybe the dirtiest non-loofah moment in the history of Cable News. I mean, I know it couldn't have sounded that bad, but the transcript is... well, the transcript, er... it doesn't read very worksafe, if you know what I mean:

CARLSON: The theme song of Republicans should be "Some Day My Prince Will Come," and they're waiting and they‘re hoping. And so Fred Thompson is not late at all. His moment is here.

MATTHEWS: Some day he will come along. Do you think he's coming now?

CARLSON: I think he's coming soon.

Now maybe it's just me, but I absolutely cannot read that in the non-pornographic context it was uttered. Actually it probably is just me, but hey, I imagine she knows a few things I don't about Fred Thompson.

Moving on to what I meant to say in the first place: the TV-people think he looks like a Truck Driver or something so That's Why he should be President. Which basically tells you most of what you need to know about the TV-people, but not about truck drivers and not about presidents, neither of which at age 65 (when imagined as a silly archetype) would strike me as the type to marry This Gal:

and with A Guy You Really Wanna be Photographed With:

I mean, I'm sure they're in love and all. And that's great and when I'm a 65-year-old retired senator and character actor You Bet i want a 30-something Buxom Blonde. You Bet. BUT how does that blah blah blah in Peoria blah blah blah John Edwards Hair OH RIGHT; I forgot.

*I met Margaret Carlson once. While the visual confirmation of cuteness is fresh in our minds, I will confirm that - visually, at least - she is cute.

To Do List: January, 2009

1. Re-stock the government's professional bureaucracy.

I'm gonna be in the bathroom. This might take a while.