The Invisible Library

Apparently, this Sunday, May 29th is Jesus Day.

For those of you who believe a dead Jew on a stick with magical healing powers¹ still influences world events 2000 years after Mel Gibson scourged him to death with broken glass (and filmed the whole thing, for posterity), this is a Jubilation Day. For those of us who still cling to the tattered remnants of sanity that dealing with such superstitious nincompoops on a daily basis has left us with, it’s just another day.

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1. Requires the afflicted roll 2 D10, and subtract the charisma rating of any Dark Wizards in the vicinity.

A little history lesson from, of all places, USATODAY:

It was Barry Goldwater, the revered conservative, who convinced Nixon that he must resign or face certain conviction by the Senate %97 and perhaps jail. Goldwater delivered his message in person, at the White House, accompanied by Republican congressional leaders.

Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee likewise put principle above party to cast votes for articles of impeachment. On the eve of his mission, Goldwater told his wife that it might cost him his Senate seat on Election Day. Instead, the courage of Republicans willing to dissociate their party from Nixon helped Ronald Reagan win the presidency six years later, unencumbered by Watergate.

Another precedent is apt: In 1968, a few Democratic senators %97 J. William Fulbright, Eugene McCarthy, George McGovern and Robert F. Kennedy %97 challenged their party’s torpor and insisted that President Lyndon Johnson be held accountable for his disastrous and disingenuous conduct of the Vietnam War, adding weight to public pressure, which, eventually, forced Johnson not to seek re-election.

Today, the United States is confronted by another ill-considered war, conceived in ideological zeal and pursued with contempt for truth, disregard of history and an arrogant assertion of American power that has stunned and alienated much of the world, including traditional allies. At a juncture in history when the United States needed a president to intelligently and forcefully lead a real international campaign against terrorism and its causes, Bush decided instead to unilaterally declare war on a totalitarian state that never represented a terrorist threat; to claim exemption from international law regarding the treatment of prisoners; to suspend constitutional guarantees even to non-combatants at home and abroad; and to ignore sound military advice from the only member of his Cabinet %97 Powell %97 with the most requisite experience. Instead of using America’s moral authority to lead a great global cause, Bush squandered it.

I’d like to think that our elected officials might put politics aside and do the right thing. But I’m not holding my breath.

Link courtesy of Norbizness at Elated Hairy Pumpkin Farming and Doorknob Polishing Service.

I just posted the next part of Christian’s adventures in Iraq:

Baghdad - May 25, 2004

I received quite the response from my last e-mail! To begin with, I will clarify some of my positions so people can better understand where I’m coming from and the reasons for my decision to be a part of this effort. After all, generally the first response I received from my friends upon telling them of my plans was, “What? Are you crazy?”

Probably one of the more interesting facets of this venture are the motivations of its participants. We have all types here for all reasons. First, there are those who are here for the money. I know an engineer in his 70’s who is working hard here to buy a an autopilot for his boat back home. Another wants to earn enough money to settle down as a cattle rancher in Indonesia.

Then there are the politicos. (I guess I might fall somewhat into this category.) One such guy is currently residing in the political wilderness after having resigned from a British cabinet post. For him, this is just a pause before he jumps back into domestic politics. For others like myself, this is a means to jumpstart an exciting career.

Then there are those who just enjoy the danger and excitement of the moment. This would include all the security firm contractors and some of the military personnel.

As for me, I signed up for a variety reasons. Career was an important factor as was money albeit to a lesser degree. Today, the factor I want to talk about is the idea of taking part in a great struggle.

I’m tired of rehashing politics, so we’re going to talk about books today.

currently, I’m reading The Man Who Was Thursday, by G.K. Chesterton. I’m about four chapters in and so far, very much enjoying it. My only quibble is a minor one: his depiction of Anarchists as bomb throwing nihilists bent on the death of humanity. I realize that this was the Edwardian English view of Anarchism and in some respects, not all that far from the historical mark in some cases. It strikes me though, as I have a bit of an affinity for Anarchism, especially of the ontological variety (check out the link on the side for Hakim Bey, under non-fiction). But I realize of course that Chesterton’s book really isn’t about Anarchism. Like I said, it’s a minor quibble, one that manages to underscore my intellectual snobbery, more than anything else.

The Man Who Was Thursday is a fever dream, or “a very melodramatic sort of moonshine,” as Chesterton puts it. Primarily, the story is about dualism and paradox, the flinging of oneself from one extreme to the other in violent reaction. Reaction to what is precisely the question Chesterton is asking us. Take the main character, Gabriel Syme:

He came of a family of cranks, in which all the oldest people had all the newest notions. One of his uncles always walked about without a hat, and another had made an unsuccessful attempt to walk about with a hat and nothing else. His father cultivated art and self-realization; his mother went in for simplicity and hygiene. Hence the child, during his tenderer years, was wholly unacquainted with any drink between the extremes of absinthe and cocoa, of both of which he had a healthy dislike…. Being surrounded with every conceivable kind of revolt from infancy, Gabriel had to revolt into something, so he revolted into the only thing left–sanity.

However, Syme becomes too sane and one night is recruited by a philosophical police officer to join a special anti-anarchist brigade, who search the parlors and taverns of London, looking for the roots of anti-establishment thought. In this way, Syme stumbles onto a conspiracy of Anarchists and is accidentaly elected onto their International Council (because a conspiracy of Anarchists would of course, need to have an organizational body to succeed in its goal of world inhalation). Adventure ensues.

As I said, I’m still at the beginning but I’m very much looking forward to seeing where the moonshine leads me.

So, what are you reading right now?