Comments Elsewhere

In response to Daniel Larison's comment: "In the event that the officials responsible for these decisions were arrested or found guilty of crimes, that would not be a dark day, but rather the day when the sun has finally started to peak through the clouds of arbitrary and illegal government actions."

I wrote:

Absolutely.

My fear at the moment is the blanket pardon, though it would have the advantage (long-term) of eliminating the fifth amendment dodge.

Most of my more substantive comments lately have been at Edge of the American West. In a discussion of the Vietnam War Memorial, I wrote:

My only complaint about the Vietnam Memorial is that it spawned so many imitators: listing names — or exact enumerations of victims (those stars on the WWII memorial?) — is now the de facto standard for memorials, more or less obliterating any chance at abstraction, inspiration or processing beyond simple grief.

Others have pointed out that name lists were common memorials before, which is true but not entirely the point.

In an earlier discussion about engagement between liberals and conservatives, I wrote:

Going back, if I may, to one of the original questions, not only are there substantial portions of this country where Republicans — often extreme ideologues — rule and reign, but there is a substantial network of institutions developed in the 70s and honed in the 90s which are devoted to the maintenance and development of right-wing intellectual and political figures. Scaife, Murdoch, Gingrich and others have created a way to ensure that the issues will not go away, that the ideas will find outlets and new expressions, and that we will have to contend with all this over again.

The real question, by the way, isn’t “what conservatives are worth listening to and engaging with?” but “what conservatives are speaking reasonable truths to their conservative audiences and whose ideas are going to be influential enough to be worth taking into consideration?”

(and if you're wondering why I repost these, part of the answer is that I only got one response in that 200+ comment thread)

Finally, for now, in response to a fascinating history of a landmark work of modern art, I wrote:

One of the most wonderful things about the 20th century is that it became possible for obsession, intensity, creativity and temporary insanity to be expressed outside of the realm of religion.

I'm going back to my pre-election status: some quotations, some quizzes, ocassional pictures, and reposts of comments made elsewhere. Thanks very much for reading along, though!