All politics are based on the indifference of the majority.
   -James Reston

Government, even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, and intolerable one.
   -Thomas Paine

For me, this says it all ( from “Parting Shot” at Loaded Mouth by tas, who apparently is taking a break from blogworld) :

And that’s when I realized that my problem isn’t with Republicans – It’s with fucking assholes. Despicable pieces of trash who exist simply to argue with people. All they care about is appearing right so they beat their chest and pump up their ego a little bit more. It doesn’t matter who they take down in the process. For example, Boyd winning an argument with me is a more pressing concern to him then how his president responds to genocide. It doesn’t matter if I point out Bush’s lack of response and even the fact that I proved my point and I was correct. All that matters to Boyd is two things: I posted it, so that automatically invalidates the post; and that the lives of those hundreds of thousands in Darfur dying aren’t Americans, therefore making their deaths meaningless. He even comes right out and says he supports genocide in his comment: “I’m more concerned about what may affect the US (and by extension, me) than what may affect others. Syria allowing terrorists to come into their country for the express purpose of entering Iraq to kill Americans is more important to me than what may happen in another country that doesn’t affect us here.â€?

Regardless of the profanity, this encapsulates my views.

I will explain more soon. It is 11PM here in France, and I need some sleep. If you are interested in more than simple partisan screeds, you will read my future post explaining the meaning behind my catogory “Amber and Cruelty” that will be up in the next day or so.

…but Key was nice enough to email me to let me know she tagged me, so here it is (even though it might reduce the number of questions that Basil will get for my blog interview!!!).

What were three of the stupidest things you have done in your life?

The first one is easy, marrying the wrong woman when I was young and stupid.

The second one is related to the first one. I only achieved a Masters of Science in Physics rather than a PhD because my wife of the time insisted that she was “tired of being poor” and wanted me to get a real job and start making real money. So, I left school before I had earned my PhD to satisfy the woman I ultimately divorced because she was unwilling to accomodate what I wanted and needed.

These are both MY mistakes and not attributable to her, my ex-wife, at all. I simply did not have enough faith in myself to stand up to her (if you are guessing there is far more to this story than I am revealing here, you are correct, but you will get no further information from me).

I will list that as my third mistake, not having faith in myself. I have a list of other mistakes that is so long and so impossible to prioritize that I cannot find the best to list as a third, but the common theme is that of not having enough faith in myself.

So, there it is.

At the current moment, who has the most influence in your life?

I’m sure this answer will disappoint most, but I am the one who has the most influence on my life at the moment.

Am I a selfish bastard?

Well, the answer to that question has always been a resounding “YES!” (except when I was young and stupid and married), but the reason behind my answer is rooted in my current circumstances. I live in France at the moment, far from family and friends.

Who else would have the largest influence upon my life, other than the cat I brought to France with me, and he doesn’t get even a quarter of a vote, given his brain is smaller than the size of my fist (yes, I’m an elitist, too…).

Sorry if you expected some answer related to religion. God gave us brains for a reason, and I refuse to abdicate the use of mine, since in my opinion my brain works so well.

If you were given a time machine that functioned, and you were allowed to only pick up to five people to dine with, who would you pick?

Hmmmm… only five folks.

Thomas Jefferson, because he had such a large influence upon the formation of our government (although he was in France when the Constitution was written). I often wonder how the Constitution would have turned out if Jefferson had been present at the Constitutional Convention. President John Kennedy said when hosting 49 Nobel Prize winners at the White House, “I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered at the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.” President Kennedy was correct.

Benjamin Franklin, because he was such a renaissance man, a man of science, of politics, and of the world (in ALL senses of that expression). I could learn a lot from him. (an aside, my first passport was green, in stark contrast to all other US passports being blue, in commemoration of Bejamin Franklin being the first Postmaster General and in charge of passports for the US… it caused some inconvenience to me, but despite the problems, I appreciated it and asked that it be returned when I had to get it renewed)

Ulysses S. Grant, not only because I share his last name, but because he overcame adversity in a way that is rarely seen.

Jesus, known to many as “The Christ,” because I would like to look him in the eyes to see for myself.

Finally, Richard Feynmann, because he seemed like a remarkably fun guy for a genius in Physics. I mean, c’mon, he did a lot of his work in nudie bars…

You can learn a LOT from eccentrics, if you are willing to look and listen with an open mind.

If you had three wishes that were not supernatural, what would they be?

Hmmm…

For reasons both selfish and altruistic, I would like to be as successful as Bill Gates. Despite what he has done with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, I think I could do more good with the same amount of money (plus, I wouldn’t have to have a real job any more…).

Second wish, entirely selfish, to have that gene that provides for relative ease in physical accomplishment. I have always had to work hard to be good at any physical sport, raquetball, bicycling, running, whatever. I simply have never had the natural talent for those efforts that many others do have. I envy them.

Third wish… this one is difficult. I have an internal war between the altruistic and the selfish. I am only human, after all. I think the third wish would be for the culture of the United States to not be so hung-up about sex. This topic merits volumes to be written on it in addition to the volumes that already exist, but that falls outside the scope of this meme (thankfully…).

Name two things you regret your city not having, and two things people should avoid.

I will assume the city means Austin, Texas and not where I currently live in Grenoble, France, which is lacking in a LOT for an American (you would not believe how much I miss both good Tex-Mex and bar-b-que…).

So, for Austin, what is lacking and necessary to avoid?

Lacking: Good Memphis bar-b-que (yes, Phin does not agree with me on that…), and a beach… which geography prohibits, but at least saves Austin from hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico.

To avoid? That one is difficult, because I have yet to find anywhere or anything I feel is unsafe after my experiences…

You might want to avoid the “East side” of Austin if you don’t speak Spanish or are unwilling to at least make an attempt, but I doubt you would ever be in danger of anything other than a slight ridicule (they assumed I could speak Spanish there… I ordered as best I could, and they accomodated this gringo with no problems…).

A second thing to avoid? Other than any event involving hoidy-toidy Texans who get too full of themselves sometimes, I don’t know what else to say.

Name one thing that has changed your life.

My divorce. I had to take my soul out and examine it closely. Not fun, but very necessary. I am a better man for it, but I can honestly say it was the least fun experience of my life.

Keep the virus alive. Swap spit with five hotties.

“Swap spit”???? I don’t like that imagery even when it is applied heterosexually…

So… anyone who wants to take this one up is welcome, but I won’t tag anyone (even though there are indeed a few I would because I am curious about their responses).

Is a work in progress… I don’t reveal much about myself willingly, so give me time to finish editing!

The Commissar of The Politburo Diktat is considering making a family tree of blogworld.

It is easy for me to remember when I started blogging, because my third post was on the destruction of the space shuttle Columbia on 1 February 2003. I had started Random Fate as a way for me to keep my friends updated on my sojourn as an expatriate in France. Unfortunately, the departure date for my assignment was continually postponed until April of 2004, and Random Fate evolved into something other than a simple “here is life in France” weblog. I still try to keep that part of the weblog going, hence my “Letters from Europe” and “Observations on France” categories. Unfortunately for the Commissar’s family tree, I cannot point to any weblog that prompted me to start blogging because I started for a reason that may be comparatively rare in blogworld.

It’s been a long trip for such a short two and one-half years. I moved from Blogger to my own host, I’ve changed hosts, I’ve changed blogging software, I’ve changed templates, and I’ve changed the tone of Random Fate. I’ve been invited to guest-post on several weblogs, and I am now a co-blogger on The Moderate Voice. I’ve started a few other weblogs, the only survivor of those efforts at the moment is Radio Saigon, but I may attempt another group-blog sometime soon.

I do have the honor of having encouraged someone else to blog. Chrissy began blogging at my behest (along with Eric, the Straight White Guy, a co-blogfather with no blogfather, an image I’m not entirely comfortable with…), and she rapidly gained a higher prominence than my curmudgeonly site has ever enjoyed. She continues to blog at various venues, although her initial foray, Feisty Repartee, is sadly dormant at the moment. According to the family tree the Commissar has assembled and posted, Chrissy has prompted at least three others to start blogging.

So, I guess I could be described as a “blog-grandfather who was immaculately conceived.” That’s likely the only thing immaculate about me…

The Truth Laid Bear is taking a blog-poll on the Harriet Miers nomination to the Supreme Court in a unique way. He is using a bot to go around to weblogs registered in the Blogosphere Ecosystem to get positions on the nomination, avoiding the vote spamming that so often distorts polls. I want to participate, along with checking to see if Random Fate gets re-listed properly in the Ecosystem (I’ll be sending NZ Bear an email later to ask if he could fix things if the scripts don’t take care of it). Here goes:

I oppose the Miers nomination.

I am in opposition for two reasons:

First - Someone who needs to “bone up” on Constitutional Law is not “the best qualified” to rule on what is Constitutional or not. I don’t think any further explanation of this point is needed.

Second - Although I am in disagreement with his conclusion, Don Surber is correct when he writes, “It comes down to trusting Bush.” I have not trusted George W. Bush from when he was Governor of Texas (I lived there at the time), and he has shown little reason for me to trust him since. To the contrary, the way that his Presidency has been handled, with many critical issues completely botched, not to mention the antics of his spin-machine, I would state that George W. Bush has given me plenty of reasons to trust him less.

I didn’t oppose the nomination of John Roberts. The man was obviously highly qualified, and he did not appear to be an ideologue who would put party above country. Sadly, I believe at least some of the support for Harriet Miers is from those very ideologues who claim to put the nation first when they decry “judicial activism” but in reality want someone who will “rule right” and be an activist to their liking.

There it is.

As a quasi-commemoration of my 41st birthday on Monday, I’ve been working on an “About Me” page for Random Fate. According to Jakob Nielsen, number one on his list of the Top Ten Design Mistakes for weblogs is “No Author Biographies” followed by number two, “No Author Photo.”

Gee, not even to number three and I’m batting 0.000 and have been for years… and let’s not even discuss how I don’t make the grade on post titles and link descriptions along with committing the sin of mixing topics.

So, I’m writing the darn “About Me” page and working on the least-bad photo I have to put up on the sidebar.

Somewhere in there I need to work in what is my biggest struggle, which is not making the short, easy trip from skeptic to contrarian to cynic.

Cynicism is unhelpful at best and more usually damaging. While I may be a curmudgeon, that is not the same as being a cynic, because a curmudgeon is curmudgeonly because he sees hope, a cynic is cynical because he sees no hope.

I definitely do not want to lose hope. I lost it once, and that sent me into the Black Pit of Despair. I crawled out, got the T-shirt, and have vowed to never go there again.

I may never be an optimist, nor even play one on TV, but I do strive to avoid the short trip from contrarian to cynic.

When I switched over to WordPress from MovableType, I had some difficulties with the Blog Ecosystem. I tried to remove Random Fate from the Ecosystem so that I could relist it, but now I see that some old listings I had back when I used the same domain name for different weblogs are still there, and they are interfering with my re-registering Random Fate.

Oddly enough even though Random Fate doesn’t show up on the big listing, if you go to the page that the Ecosystem says is the details page, a ranking of around 127 is displayed. As you might see on the sidebar (where I have restored the code), apparently Random Fate is now a “large mammal” in the Ecosystem.

I wonder if that increase in ranking (when I last checked a few months ago, I was a “marauding marsupial”) is because of an increase in quality and recognition, or merely a sign of longevity…