"Undermining my electoral viability since 2001."

Savage

Saturday night. Holy crap. As if staying out until 5am on Friday wasn't enough.

Kevin brought me out to a rather nice apartment party in Greenpoint. Third wave kind of scene; young professionals; tasty artichoke dip; the sort of thing that threatens to price me out of my old neighborhood. I don't know how it happened, but Franz and I worked our way through a bottle of Wild Turkey in about two hours, things get hazy from there. We were disputing over the issue of Federalism and the appropriate purview of the power of the State. We eventually went to Royal Oak, my attitude was reportedly "fuck those hipsters." The self-loathing is getting more pronounced, you see.

Scene missing.

Conclusion: I puked on Wes and Jeremy's futon. Testiment to my social network that I lived through the night and lost only my bike lock and a jacket (jacket might be at the bar, I'll drop by and check). Apologies to the girls I called at 3 in the morning; hope I was civil at least. Don't really remember. Mega apologies to Wes for the untimely return of the artichoke dip.

I've got to do a little adjusting here, let things settle down, learn to play again. My first day back I was skeptical. I'm still not convinced, but I'm remembering why I like living here. Everyone is beautiful. Everyone ambitious. Gentrification gets me down, but it's not something I can control. Yet.

Anyway, this week I get a haircut and a sublet. We'll see how it works out.

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Heavy Lifting

Sam Rosenfeld and Matt Yglesias, two professional wonks at the American Prospect, have written something good.
The Incompetence Dodge
got some play in the tit-for-tat world of the blogosphere for the way it drops rhetorical bombs on the position du-jour of the so-called Liberal Hawks -- aka those Democrats who supported the war and their backers in the punditry. It's high quality flaming, and the LibHawk position (essentially that invading and occupying Iraq would have worked given better management) needs discrediting, but the thing that makes me want to write about what they wrote is that they go on to offer some substantive thinking about the nature of US military power and its appropriate uses.

This is much needed. The Left often shies away from really grappling with issues of power, and military power especially. Efforts to the contrary are productive.

The U.S. military is good at exactly what one would expect an exemplary military to be good at: destroying enemy forces while keeping collateral damage to historic lows. Consequently, we have the ability to eject hostile forces from areas where they lack a strong base of popular support. This power allowed us to create the conditions for negotiation between the parties to the Bosnian war, and to keep the local Serb, Croat, and Muslim communities from killing one another in large numbers once the peace was signed. They also allowed us to eject Serbian forces from Kosovo and bring autonomy to that province, plus provided a large measure of security and autonomy for Kurdistan for more than a decade. These are no mean achievements, and they were accomplished largely from the air, at little risk to American soldiers. But in none of those places have we yet been able to achieve what we are likewise failing to accomplish in Iraq: the sudden transformation of a society.

That's tight. I can unpack that seven different ways depending on who I'm talking to and make it all sound interesting. Well done there, boys. Keep it up.

On the opposite end of the salary spectrum, we have pro-am and still pseudonymous Billmon with his Imperial Candor:

Like Richard Clarke, [Colin Powell Right-Hand Man] Wilkerson strikes me as reasonably representative of the technicians who actually run the empire -- and his assumptions largely appear to reflect those of his class. American supremacy is a taken as a given, requiring no legal or moral justification. Not because America has any grand historical mission to spread the blessings of democracy to the heathen, but because American power maintains the world order and keeps the peace, or at least something approximating it. It also keeps the sea lanes open and the oil flowing and the wheels of industry turning, not just here but around the world.

It does appear to have dawned on Wilkerson that the U.S. hegemony isn't viewed as quite such an exercise in utilitarian benevolence by the rest of the world, but I'm not sure he understands exactly why this is. I think he puts far too much blame on the cabal's shenanigans -- although these admittedly have made things worse -- and not enough on the fact that empires, even the practical, no nonsense type favored by the realists, are anachronisms in the modern world.

We've got a couple of the pieces of the puzzle here. A national security policy based on returning the US to its republic-an (not Republican) roots would have wide popular appeal. At the same time, there's a recognition that force is real, and that it can do good if we're willing to attempt to shoulder the responsibility. This is essentially the ethos of Spiderman, and it's the only moral way for people in positions of power to behave.

Power of one over another tends (tends) to corrupt, and an institutionalized or persistent differential in power (Absolute Power) corrupts without fail, creating Oppression, which is Evil, and something to be actively confronted. Activists like to fight Oppression, and in doing so we often end up with a negative, rather than healthily skeptical, view of power. This leads to an almost instinctual, perhaps even irrational, fear of wielding it ourselves, which as we can see has led to a great and tragic backsliding.

We must realize that power is not going away, and like all things it will remain unequally distributed at any point in time. Total Equality is not something that can be attained. This is why pure pacifism just doesn't work out. It is also the fundamental failing of Anarchism as a political philosophy, and interestingly enough its source of triumph as a personal philosophy.

Personally the credo No Gods, No Masters is quite compelling, though my heart is really in the logical inverse: All Gods, All Masters. When you get down to brass tacks this leads to different techniques for implementation -- raising up rather than tearing down -- but philosophically they're kindred notions. Anyway, it's a very empowering way to look at the universe. That's good.

However, any analysis of the human condition on the global or historical scale reveals that many people strongly desire Gods and/or Masters. That's a choice people are allowed to make in my book. Heck, who doesn't get a craving for credible leadership from time to time? I mean, mouldn't that be nice?

It would, but we're not going to get it until we contemplate and concieve our own notions of power, and then implement them in a way that displaces the establishment. That's what I mean by "the revolution."

And it might just happen. I'm seeing a lot of really good heavy lifting starting to happen all over the place. It's become clear that the conservative movement has reached a high water mark. Having achieved Total Power, their coalition is breaking as its internal inconsistancies come to the fore. Yes, the wheel is in spin, another cycle starting. There's a lot of organizing that's ramping up now that needs help. There's also a lot of intellectual work to be done so that this shift -- which in many ways is inevitable -- can be translated into meaninful gains for the Public.

I know where my official place in the 2006 campaign is: providing tools. I build and maintain instruments for information warfare. But in the meantime I'm also working on the revolution, which is the Long Game. But it starts now. It always starts now.

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New York, New Stuff, New EVERYTHING!

I made it. The last haul of 800 miles from Chicago to Brooklyn left me with a sore buttcheek from my wallet, but otherwise it went smoothly.

Also, over the past week 2000+ spam comments were accrued on the site. I've implemented a CAPTCHA challenge. Sorry for the additional hassle, folks, but it's the only way to keep this crazy train rolling.

Soon enough the website will be more completely overhauled and moved from wordpress to Drupal. This will let you do nice things like have an account that your computer will remember so you don't have to bother with this crap.

Anyway, I'm back at it in NYC. Will be working pretty furiously through the next couple of months. Looking for a sublet, hoping maybe I can find something that will work for me and just me, but we'll see...

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Drive on...

Made the 747 mile day -- 10,000 vertical feet there too -- and another 550+ across much more level terrain to pull into the Farm. Good place to spend a night.

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Joining Up

Apropops of what I wrote before about work, one of my favorite Snarkbloggers is joining a campaign. Fuckin' a, man. Just come on back sometime and make fun of the bastards again.

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Road Notes

The place I feel most in it so far is still Westhaven. It feels like the revolution up there. I really do want to build an outhouse that drains into an algae pool I use to make biodesil I trade to my neighbors for fresh produce which I excrete in the outhouse which drains into an algae pool...

Dead Tower? What is that, like Whiskey Dick or something?

Aside from our neo-survivalist tendencies, we also talk real crackpot schemes. One good one we had was a rehash of the Corpulent Populism concept, combined with our idea of a turnkey Porntrapraneur service. The two ideas are 1) a publication aimed at converting middle class straight white males to the left -- a Progressive Maxim of sorts -- and 2) an answer to the revelation to outfits like Suicide Girls may not, in fact, be all that empowering to all that many women, since the girls in the photos don't get a real cut of the revenue, nor even the copyright to their images. We invision a system which would allow people to join a network of porntraprneneurs, with 80%+ of proceeds going back to the actual producers and the image subjects retaining full copyright over their photos. We also envision a magazine of inquiry, taste and opinion which would enjoy a collegial relationship with these content producers, publishing some racy pin-up images with every issue. Seems like quite a combination.

So there was that, and then I was out. I think the way I'll get back there is if the biz gets over the hump and I have time and inclination to write and Mark finally gets the fucking internet. I could occupy the Siesta and crank out many lines code and many pages of book. It would be good. Maybe.

San Francisco was fun though. Once the party got going everyone was stoned and it was loopy and loud. I think I was only entertaining for the first half of things. Joe and I played some word games. "Crack torch" became "freebase combustor" became "narcotic immolation system," which is a good name for a band we thought. Dumm is on his way to Amsterdam for a conference. Zack dresses really nice, or let's Jamie dress him really nice which amounts to the same thing and is a good idea in either case. I told the bird-picture phone joke, and only realized right then that the punch line -- "wing, wing wing... herwow?" -- could have kind of prejudicial overtones. Or maybe it was a flash of social paranoia. Who knows.

Anyway, I woke up and drove to Vegas, and met Mike of Trellon in real life. I like this guy. I've liked him since he told me in one of our first IM conversations that he has two rules for the company: No scumbags, no liars. Those are rules I can get behind. Plus he's a legitimately eccentric workaholic single-father (his 9-y/o daughter is awesome; charges me and everyone else $1 for every time we cuss) and a practicing Catholic to boot. I can get behind that.

Also met colleague Dan Moger, who I thought was two years older than me but turned out to be two years younger. He was a frat-houser in his day at Wesleyan, which means he knows how to tuck his pink collared shirt in, but isn't much of a back-slappin' keg-tappin' personal friend to the Quayles. Actually in previous days, he helped monitor the first free elections in Georgia. That's the former Soviet republic, where, unlike the member of our United States, there is no Poll Tax. Ho ho ho.

Anyway, it's been interesting. We're on some ambitious paths here, following the twin lures of being devistatingly effective in taking control of the government away from assholes and making the kind of money that qualifies you as "successful" in 21st-Century America. These are both things I'd love to do in the next year, but I've still got to get used to the idea in some ways. I need to find my own logic and through-line for it, my own terms for the deal.

Reading the second volume of HST's corrispondence, wishing I could get that as a motherfucking podcast. 747 miles tomorrow. G.D. it.

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Quickie

I'm in Vegas. Craps is fun.

I inadvertantly deleted a couple of "real" comments just now trying to manage my massive comment-spam problem. I'm going to try a few new things, and if that doesn't work I'll do the deal that forces you to type in the random letters before you can post, a CAPTCHA test.

Anyway, thanks for the comments. I'll be reaching out soon to folks once I get a sense of what time I'll be arriving the next few places. Yesterday I did 570 miles and it wasn't event all that hard, so I'm hopefuly about tomorrow's 747 mile haul through the Rockies. As I recall from before, I-70 is mostly deserted until you get into Denver, so I'm hoping to beat Google's 15-hour estimate for timing.

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Westhaven

I killed a deer on the way down. Never done that before. It was foggy, nothing I could really do about it. But it provoked an inetersting round of thought. I didn't stop. At fist it was just schock and the cars behond me that kept me driving, but quickly the rationalization engine kicked in: it was dark, there was a narrow shoulder, nowhere to safely pull off; the deer was most certainly going to die if not already dead, and there was not way for me to help that along. I've heard tell of friends pulling off to drag a wounded doe off the road and slit its throat to speed it's passing and clear the highway, but I was without a knife and there were four vehicles right behind me, and I would have had to drive ahead several miles to fined a good place to turn around and go back... I didn't see any realitic options.

So I arrived in time to catch the tail end of dinner in Weshaven, a good time for sure. Costume photos. Dance party. Beautiful people. I like the whole scene. Kelly's the master instigator, channeling the spirit of michael jackson and bringing it all together...

Everything swirls for a while in that great bohemian way, and by and by Mark and I end up talking it out around the fire. Recent history, current situations, future plans. We talk about serious possibilities; making biodiesel, making our own moonshine (Sustainable Booze), making our own piece of life that works.

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Now leaving Drumm's in SF, my old neighborhood, the Bay Area scene. We had a little party, though i was on the phone helping Alonovo get off the ground for the first couple hours. It was a good time though; lots of comic moments and me being extra loud for people. I slept in the basement and now I'm good to go; hit the coffeeshop and then the road for Vegas.

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Westhaven

I killed a deer on the way down. Never done that before. It was foggy, nothing I could really do about it. But it provoked an inetersting round of thought. I didn't stop. At fist it was just schock and the cars behond me that kept me driving, but quickly the rationalization engine kicked in: it was dark, there was a narrow shoulder, nowhere to safely pull off; the deer was most certainly going to die if not already dead, and there was not way for me to help that along. I've heard tell of friends pulling off to drag a wounded doe off the road and slit its throat to speed it's passing and clear the highway, but I was without a knife and there were four vehicles right behind me, and I would have had to drive ahead several miles to fined a good place to turn around and go back... I didn't see any realitic options.

So I arrived in time to catch the tail end of dinner in Weshaven, a good time for sure. Costume photos. Dance party. Beautiful people. I like the whole scene. Kelly's the master instigator, channeling the spirit of michael jackson and bringing it all together...

Everything swirls for a while in that great bohemian way, and by and by Mark and I end up talking it out around the fire. Recent history, current situations, future plans. We talk about serious possibilities; making biodiesel, making our own moonshine (Sustainable Booze), making our own piece of life that works.

---

Now leaving Drumm's in SF, my old neighborhood, the Bay Area scene. We had a little party, though i was on the phone helping Alonovo get off the ground for the first couple hours. It was a good time though; lots of comic moments and me being extra loud for people. I slept in the basement and now I'm good to go; hit the coffeeshop and then the road for Vegas.

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Hit The Road

I'm about out. The travel plan is thus:

  • Tonight: Westhaven w/Mark
  • Friday: San Francisco; get-together at Drummy's at 10pm
  • Saturday/Sunday: Vegas summit for Trellon
  • Monday: Round about Denver, prolly Motel seis
  • Tusday: Iowa Farmhouse
  • Wednesday: Chi-town, Dave and Jessica
  • Thursday: NYC -- probably very late

This is a savage and greuling marathon schedule, with multiple 700-mile legs. However, with the exception of the final push to NYC, the long legs include vast stretches of mostly empty country where high speed driving is the rule. I figure if I can average 75 on those stretches, 10-hours of driving isn't out of this world. I can break it up with catnaps or whatever too.

I picked up a 400W DC inverter from GI Joes that will run off the cigarette lighter. This is a better deal than all those specialized converters: it'll run anything I have a power plug for and it's got clips to hook direct to a battery, so it can be used for all sorts of other things too. This'll keep my laptop and cellphone alive while I drive, so I'll be rocking out to tunes, audiobooks and podcasts.

I'll post when I can, but no promises there. See you New Yorkers soon though, and all you in-between peeps sooner.

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