I became insane with long intervals of horrible sanity.
Edgar Allen Poe

The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all.
- H. L. Mencken

Many people would sooner die than think; In fact, they do so
-Bertrand Russell

What I have been telling you, from alpha to omega, what is the one great thing the sigil taught me — that everything in life is miraculous. For the sigil taught me that it rests within the power of each of us to awaken at will from a dragging nightmare of life made up of unimportant tasks and tedious useless little habits, to see life as it really is, and to rejoice in its exquisite wonderfulness. If the sigil were proved to be the top of a tomato-can, it would not alter that big fact, nor my fixed faith. No Harrowby, the common names we call things by do not matter — except to show how very dull we are ...
-James Branch Cabell

October 30, 2016 - 10:19 a.m.

Intellecutal Honesty Leads to the Best Policy

I don't set my alarms on the weekends but I usually get up around the same time, 8:30. I could set the alarm for 8 AM on Sundays to hear A Thousand Welcomes on WFUV so I missed the first half hour. I'll live. My usual procedure now is to eat breakfast then write but on Sundays I want to listen to the rest of Kathleen's show so I can't eat till 11:00. That means you get to read an early edition of Wise Madness. This is the schedule that makes me happiest, writing at 9:19. I got a nice early start. Too bad I don't know what I'm going to write about.

By design I didn't leave the house yesterday but that means I there's not much about myself for me to write. I can write what I always can write about food. I made a nice dinner, chicken thighs and roasted potatoes. It was a day for hot and spicy; I used Buffalo sauce on the chicken and Cajun spices on the potatoes. It was a good day for it. I love a tasty dinner. Then I had a double dessert. First came chocolate fudge pop-tarts, then an orange. See I had something healthy. I'm going to live forever. It was quite satisfying. I have to check the 45-bus schedule. I might go up to the Stop & Shop in New Rochelle today; I won't be able to go my usual day, Wednesday after therapy. I have one hot dog; that's not enough for dinner. I could vamp around that and add bacon and cheese. That's a thought. I don't have any rolls but I have pita. This is sounding better and better to me.

One of the reasons I stayed home last night was to watch the World Series and root the Cubs in. I didn't do a good job. Sorry Chicago, it is all my fault. This isn't over. Teams have come back from 3 – 1 before. The Cubs can do this. I just have to work harder.

I just realized I will not be able to watch the start of game seven. There is going to be a game seven and the Cubs are going to win. It will be Wednesday night. Villa Palagonia is playing at Rockwood Music Hall then and I'm not going to miss that and neither should you. That cute merch guy will be there and he'll be the cinematographer too. Everyone put that in your calendar, Rockwood Music Hall, Stage 3 at 7 PM. You'll still be able to watch most of the game.

Polls show that enthusiasm for Hillary is growing and I see that reflected on my Facebook newsfeed. The response to the ridiculous announcement by FBI Director James Comey is being treated as ridiculous. This makes me happy as I am as enthusiastic about Hillary as any candidate I've ever supported. A big part of the reason I love her is something that lowers the enthusiasm of others, her intellectual honesty. Every Republican since Reagan has run on a completely dishonest economic platform, one that George H.W. Bush called voodoo economics. They claim that cutting taxes will have a miraculous effect on growth and so wont' decrease tax revenue. The way they usually put it is, "the cuts will pay for themselves." Hillary won't do that. The truth is that we don't know how to greatly increase economic growth and anyone that tells you otherwise is trying to sell you something. Tax cuts won't pay for themselves and neither will spending. I'm not being a deficit scold here. There are times we need economic stimulus and shouldn't be afraid of spending more than we take in. Infrastructure projects and education should be considered capital spending and treated separately from operating expenses. They do increase productivity, in the future.

I preferred Clinton to Obama in 2008 because he wasn't intellectually honest about health care. He was against the mandate, which is just not viable. I give him credit for accepting it when he took office but when he was running he proposed a system that couldn't work. He also promised a post-partisan government. We see how that worked out. Hillary stays honest and doesn’t promise the moon and people find that disappointing. I find it refreshing. Ignoring reality is never a good strategy. I do that in my personal life and look how that's worked out. At least I recognize that as a problem not a virtue.

Basing beliefs on evidence and reason and not on what you want to be true is a core value for me. I know I said about the Cubs are going to win, what I want to be true, not what is most likely. That's a game. It's part of the fun of sports. It's not what I believe. What I believe is that it's possible, and far more likely that most people realize.

Wow it's 10:12 and I've said all I want to say today. Part of me wants to go and eat and miss the rest of the show. Part of me wants to hear great Irish music. Which is going to win? I honestly don't know. I'm just happy that I got myself to write this early. I'm going to eat sausageeggandcheese on a bagel for breakfast. I'm happy about that too.


I signed the Pro-Truth Pledge:
please hold me accountable.





Memories: Not that Horrid Song - May 29, 2018
Wise Madness is Now In Session - May 28, 2018
The NFL and the First Amendment - May 27, 2018
On The Road Again - May 26, 2018
Oliver the Three-Eyed Crow - May 25, 2018



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Horvendile October 30, 2016
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