News Flash: Chaise Lounge Adjusted
Latest Bush Cabinet Shuffle

In a fine display of attempted misdirection and blatant political quid pro quo, the president has replaced one lapdog with another. John Snow, described as "Loyal but uninspired" is being replaced by multi-multi millionaire Henry Paulson, member of the Pioneers, a group composed of six-figure donors to the Bush campaign.

Now, being a multi-millionaire doesn't necessarily bother me. Large donations are more problematic. If as Sen. McConnell says "money is speech", then is it fair that his speech can drown out the speech of hundreds of three-figure contributors? I'll probably delve into that at a later date.

More significantly at the moment, does anyone really believe that this- or any of the recent Cabinet shuffling will make the slightest bit of difference in the Administration's performance? The Administration's problem is not in the Treasury department; it's in the Oval Office. Bush has declared himself to be the "Decider", conveniently if inadvertently taking responsibility for the actions of his administration.

The Administration's problems are legion, starting with a lack of credibility and progressing through corruption to treason. Credibility was dubious from the beginning, "winning" the 2000 election on a party-line vote in the Supreme Court while blocking a recount of citizen's votes after having run on a platform promising bipartisan cooperation. Subsequent events confirm the trend of complete disregard for the law and for those of us without six figures to speak for us.

Politics is supposed to be the art of compromise. Historically, if a President felt that a particular legislative compromise was inappropriate, he would veto the bill. If it was popular enough, Congress could override the veto, limiting the President's power over legislation. Bush doesn't veto anything, he merely crosses his fingers while signing, and proceeds to ignore legislation that he doesn't like. This is prima facie illegal and in violation of the oath he swore to uphold the Constitution.

We are in the midst of a serious Constitutional crisis. Someone needs to turn this ship of state around and fix the damage before all the controls are sabotaged and a collision becomes inevitable.

Is that Celine Dion I hear?

A Few Thoughts on Some Things That Matter

Welcome to my blog Stochastic Eclectica. As I'm about the 32,000,000th person to start a blog, I am a bit late to the party. I hope I can make up for that with quality. Like most people, I have a philosophy of life, and opinions about the world around me. Also like most people, I am neither a billionaire nor a political insider; my ability to influence the larger world is limited. I believe that I have reached the same conclusion as many others that the greatest power that I have is the power of ideas. In order for an idea to have power it must be communicated. That is why I am here now.

In this first post I'm going to talk a little about what I hope to do with this blog. As the title suggests, I'm going to talk about many things, but some topics are more probable than others.

Let's start with ideology. This word and its personified form, ideologue, have gotten a lot of bad press lately. We use it to describe people or groups that aren't like us, and that obstruct what we see as the path forward. While this description does accurately describe some groups and individuals, these are only a subset of ideologies. Ideology is in a sense the social "operating system" that a person uses to function. All of us, even sociopaths, have an ideology. Sociopaths are pure utilitarians: each social encounter is to be manipulated to maximize the personal benefit. If it's to their benefit to help you, then you'll be showered with assistance, if not then it's to the wolverine pit with you. "Nice doggie...Aargh! My leg! My leg! Give it back!"

Certain ideologies are conducive to the smooth operation of a modern society, and others are not. In fact there's significant disagreement among ideologies over what that modern society should look like. I can only speak for myself and my own vision. Starting at the beginning:

• I believe in physical reality.
• I do not believe in the existence of a creating and/or guiding intelligence.
• Consciousness is special.

These three statements are postulates. I can't prove that we aren't organic batteries in the Matrix. I can't prove the non-existence of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. I can't prove that I'm not just programmed to spout out conscious-sounding phrases; "What? I don't understand? Where's the tea?" If any of these postulates were false, then life would not have the same meaning; I would be at best a character in someone else's story. While I cannot prove these statements to be true, I cannot disprove them either, so I choose to believe them and in doing so live my life as a unique individual with (some) control and influence over myself and my surroundings.

The next few statements follow at least in part from the three postulates. This list, like our understanding of the world, is incomplete, and I will probably be adding to it from time to time.

• Moral codes are purely the product of human thought.
• Science is a method not a static body of knowledge.
• Our understanding of the world and the cosmos is incomplete.
• I will change my mind when presented with good data supporting a contrary position. (nod to Emerson*)

*A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day. -- `Ah, so you shall be sure to be misunderstood.' -- Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood. -R.W.E.

• A society that respects its members and treats them with dignity will be more successful in the long term than one that does not.
• Too many rules and too few rules can produce different, but equally unpleasant experiences.

When I write on other topics, particularly ones of political and social relevance, I will try to draw on these precepts in formulating my statement.


ideology