The Quote Shelf

A frequent feature on this site; feel free to comment on the quote or to supply a competing quote.

We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men.
--Herman Melville

But Did George W. Get the Message?

The Democratic Party rode what television pundits are calling a "tsunami" of voter discontent with the war in Iraq and political corruption to take control of the US House and - possibly - the US Senate (at this writing Democrats in the Senate races in Virginia and Montana hold leads, but some precincts remain to be counted).

President Bush is expected to hold a news conference at 1:00 pm today to discuss the election and what it means to his administration. I expect that he will say the expected: congratulations to the victors, and a call for bipartisanship. He has already called presumptive new House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to offer congratulations.

The real question, however, is whether the President really understands why voters turned out the GOP.

I watched former GOP Speaker Tom DeLay on television this morning, and he clearly is in denial about the reasons why his party lost. DeLay believes that Republican fiscal irresponsibility and - get this - a Republican failure to rein in "judicial activism" were the chief factors that led the Democrats to feast last night.

Mr. President: Americans sent you a loud and clear message about Iraq and corruption. Listening to the siren song of partisan voices such as Tom DeLay is not a smart political move, and you do so at the peril of your party and your legacy.

2006 Election Predictions

(Toledo, OH) Even though I am cynical that there is much difference between the GOP and the Democrats this electoral cycle, I still admit to an unhealthy obsession with following the outcome. With that being said, here are my 2006 predictions:

US Senate:
Democrats to pick up 5 seats, final tally (before any party-switching): GOP 50, Democrats 50. VP Dick Cheney will play an important role as tie-breaker on numerous votes in the next two years. George Allen survives in Virginia, despite perhaps the worst-run campaign in recent memory.

US House: Democrats to pick up 18 seats, gain control of House.

As I see it, we will be in for two years of absolutely nothing substantial being accomplished by Congress.

How do you forecast today's elections?

Engaged History Lecture - Dr. David Roediger

Left: Dr. David Roediger

(Toledo, OH) The History Department of the University of Toledo will be hosting a lecture by Dr. David Roediger this Thursday November 9 at 7:30 pm entitled "How Whiteness Travels: The U.S. and Worlds of Race."

Professor Roediger is the Babcock Chair of History at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Roediger’s research interests include race and class in the United States, and the history of U.S. radicalism. Among his books are Working Toward Whiteness: How America's Immigrants Become White - The Strange Journey from Ellis Island to the Suburbs (2005), Our Own Time: A History of American Labor and the Working Day (1989 - with Philip S. Foner), The Wages of Whiteness: Race and the Making of the American Working Class (1999) and Towards the Abolition of Whiteness (1994).

The event is free and open to the public, and the lecture will be held at the Driscoll Alumni Center in room 1019. The Center is the building on the corner of Bancroft Street and University Hills Drive next to University Hills Apartments.

I will be there, and I hope to meet a few of you this Thursday evening.

On John the Painter, Revolutionary Icons, and the Sanctity of Private Property

Left: John the Painter, forgotten political arsonist

During the American Revolution a Scot known as John the Painter (also known as "James Aitken" or "John Aitkin") brought great fear to the island of England, as he was busy committing acts of terror in British naval dockyards. Over the course of several months he attacked facilities in Portsmouth and Bristol, creating the impression that a band of terrorists was on the loose in England. He claimed to have the tacit approval of American diplomat Silas Deane in Paris for the scheme, but never received remuneration beyond a few pounds that Deane loaned him.

Aitken was born in Edinburgh in 1752, the son of a “whitesmith” and the eighth of twelve children. He tried his hand at a variety of low-paying trades before finding that the world of criminal activity offered him more immediate rewards: he admitted in his testament to being a highwayman, burglar, shoplifter, robber, and (on at least one occasion) a rapist:

…I made the best of my way through Winchester to Basingstoke, intending to return to London. Going over a down near Basingstoke, I saw a girl watching some sheep, upon whom, with some threats and imprecations, I committed a rape, to my shame it be said.

Fearful that his crimes would soon be detected, Aitken negotiated an indenture in exchange for a voyage to Jamestown, Virginia. He, of course, had no real intention of serving the terms of the indenture, and soon escaped to North Carolina. His next two years in the colonies were spent in such locales as Philadelphia, Boston, New York, and Perth Amboy; it was during this period that he became exposed to revolutionary rhetoric, and at some point after a 1775 return trip to England he developed his scheme of political arson.

Despite his pro-Revolutionary behavior, Aitken is not among those individuals revered in American folklore. As something of a career criminal, Aitken is exemplary of anti-capitalist thought; the concept of private property (especially portable and easily-liquidated goods) was for John the Painter not deserving of the esteem in which the English legal system held it. The American tradition of filiopiety might overlook the peccadilloes of Benjamin Franklin, the slave ownership of George Washington, or even the cruel murder committed by John Paul Jones, but there is no room in the Revolutionary mythology for a disrespecter of property.

An excellent place to develop an understanding of John the Painter is Jessica Warner's book The Incendiary: The Misadventures of John the Painter - the First Modern Terrorist, though I disagree with Warner's dismissal of Aitkin as some sort of working-class radical. John the Painter, despite his flaws and his over-inflated sense of destiny, rationally flouted English property laws (which at the time were capital crimes) because his attempts at "honest" work led to impoverishment.

And, despite committing guerilla acts from which the newly independent colonies might have derived benefit, the brigandage made manifest by John the Painter was most definitely a threat to the commercial interests of the American elite.

Rapid Rhetoric: FILIOPIETY

This is an irregular feature - both in frequency and oddness - dedicated to a word I came across that I have never previously used.

filiopiety \fil-ee-oh-PIE-eh-tee\ n. excessive reverence toward ancestors; cult of ancestor-veneration.

Filiopiety is derived from the Latin words filius ("son")and pietas ("reverence," "patriotism"). Somewhat akin to ancestor worship, filiopiety is perhaps best represented by the American devotion to the group of post-independence figures known as the Founding Fathers.

Interesting Site on Bookplates

Image courtesy of Louis Jaffe

(Toledo, OH) Lewis Jaffe, a bookplate collector and broker, has developed an intriguing site about his favorite passion - bookplate collecting. His web page is worth a glance for collectors as well as curious non-specialists.

A bookplate is generally a printed piece of paper affixed to one of the pages of a book (often on the inside front cover) denoting ownership.

Confessions of a Bookplate Junkie catalogues (in the main) American and British bookplates.

Bookplates are often of interest either as examples of a decorative technique, or as personal relics of famous persons. Bookplates also served as a class distinction, since the more ornate examples were designed by renowned artists in the employ of wealthy patrons.

The Quote Shelf

A frequent feature on this site; feel free to comment on the quote or to supply a competing quote.

You can not put a rope around the neck of an idea; you can not put an idea up against the barrack-square wall and riddle it with bullets; you can not confine it in the strongest prison cell your slaves could ever build.
--Seán O'Casey

Sucking up the Leaves

(Toledo, OH) Efforts by homeowners in my neighborhood to keep up with the onslaught of leaves paid off today, as the city's leaf trucks made their way through west Toledo.

I am ambivalent about leaf removal, and I mulch about half of my leaves each year. My contribution to the city's collective mulching efforts are mostly the leaves from two maples near the street, plus those leaves that have blown over from the yards of my neighbors.

I mulch the leaves from my Shumard oak, elm, and cherry trees - pretty much every leaf that falls in my backyard becomes next year's lawn and garden fertilizer.

The vacuum hose on the leaf truck has a diameter of about 16 inches, by my estimation, and made quick work of the 3'x3'x 10' pile of leaves I had collected out front. The city takes the collected leaves to a central location and turns them into mulch.

When I lived in Detroit, such luxuries as snow removal and leaf removal were limited to a few select areas and major thoroughfares. Residential streets developed ice ruts during the winter, and people either bagged their leaves as trash, burned them, or let them rot.

A fine dust blows from the top of the leaf truck, and I was surprised that most of the workers were not wearing masks.

"You get used to it," replied one city worker to my query, his voice barely audible above the roar of the leaf truck.

Not me. I'd be hacking up leaf pieces for a week if I had to perform this job without a mask.

The Quote Shelf

A frequent feature on this site; feel free to comment on the quote or to supply a competing quote.

Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.
--Mahatma Gandhi

Evangelical Pastor Admits Meth, Massage, But Denies Sex

Left: Evangelist Ted Haggard

(Colorado Springs, CO) Evangelical leader Ted Haggard admitted Friday that he bought methamphetamine and received a massage from a gay prostitute who went public with charges that the outspoken gay marriage opponent engaged in a 3-year homosexual affair.

Speaking to reporters outside his home, Haggard denied the sex allegations but acknowledged that he did buy meth from the man because he was curious.

"I bought it for myself but never used it," Haggard said. "I was tempted, but I never used it."

R-i-i-i-i-ight.

This rings even more hollow than Bill Clinton's "I didn't inhale" disclaimer, especially given the fact that 49-year-old male prostitute Mike Jones has multiple taped messages from Haggard making arrangements to pick up the "stuff."

Left: Male prostitute Mike Jones

And let's face it - $100 to $200 worth of crystal meth is hardly "experimentation," as Haggard claims - this is enough crank to keep a regular user wired for a couple of days, or be one hell of a bender for a recreational user.

I also suspect that we are only seeing the proverbial tip of the iceberg (pun fully intended), as there will likely be other men and other meth dealers involved. I wouldn't be surprised if Haggard has a full-blown meth addiction that he's been covering up - meth is notoriously addictive.

Still, the disgraced Haggard should be allowed to fade into obscurity, provided he chooses not to participate in a high-profile campaign of public flagellation.

If, however, Haggard wants to follow in the footsteps of the tearful public confession of sin by Jimmy Swaggart, he'd better admit to more than "I never snorted the crank I bought" and "that male prostitute massaged me, but never banged me."

Teen Aims BB Pistol at the Wrong Car

(Cedar Rapids, IA) From the Department of Stupidity:

Police in Cedar Rapids arrested teenager who pulled his BB gun on the wrong car on Halloween night, which happened to be an unmarked police car containing two undercover officers.

The officers, thinking the BB gun was real, pulled out their .40-caliber Glock handguns and told 15-year-old Ryon Shelton to drop his weapon.

"They thought it was a real gun," said police Lt. Kenneth Washburn. "He dropped the gun and attempted to run and was apprehended."

Shelton told the officers that he was "just playing around" and trying to frighten people during the Halloween night incident. The teen was cited for assault while displaying a dangerous weapon and released to relatives, police said.