Random Thoughts on Various Subjects

1. A LOUSY WEEK FOR BLOGGING

I have really struggled this week with the blog. I have had the time, but I haven't had the energy to blog. Most of the time, the blog urge is strong, and I can't not post something on a daily basis. This week, the blog urge has been weak. It has been incredibly weak.

I haven't run out of material since I have a backlog of topics to write about on my list. Plus, I am always able to dip into my sources of inspiration for subject matter. This would be Facebook and the Google Reader. I find that the stuff I write most passionately about is actually in response to things other people have written. The problem is that no one seems to be writing anything that I find to be provocative. Or, it could be that I am simply beyond the ability to get pissed off anymore.

2. CAMPAIGN

It is becoming more and more obvious that Mitt Romney and his ilk stole the Maine caucus glory from Ron Paul. There is also that whole delegate strategy that the Paulians are pursuing in anticipation of a brokered convention. Newt is fading now while Santorum is rising. I think this year shows a Republican Party in transition. Obama is weak, but the Republicans seem unable to go for the guy's jugular. Of the current four candidates, Ron Paul strikes the greatest contrast to Obama and clearly has the best chance of beating the guy in the general election. Romney is merely a vanilla Obama while Newt and Santorum are just plain nutty as fuck in their respective ways. The problem is that Ron Paul can't get to the general without going through the gauntlet of the GOP primaries. It is a bottleneck as Ron Paul's base of support is broad, but his independent and Democratic supporters can't vote for him in the GOP process. Ron Paul could run as a third party candidate and may just do that. This would split the GOP vote ensuring Obama's second term.

The guy that should have run was Jeb Bush. If Jeb's last name was Smith instead of Bush, he probably would have run. But Jeb knows he will have to answer for his older brother's fuck ups even if the two are not the same guy. His name keeps getting tossed out there as the possible savior of the GOP in the event of a brokered convention. The Obama Machine would crush him.

Mitt really needs Newt and Santorum to drop out. He is going to have to cut a deal with them. He may offer Santorum the veep job while Newt would probably get whatever cabinet post most appealed to him. Neither Santorum nor Gingrich could ever get the nomination, and they have to know this. But they also know they have enough to deny it for Romney as well. A brokered convention means an Obama victory, so at some point, deals are going to be cut. But that would be a prediction from me, and I hate making predictions.

3. WHITNEY HOUSTON

There's not a lot I can say about Whitney Houston dying. She was an incredible singer, but that voice died long before the rest of her did. With the death of Michael Jackson and Amy Winehouse in the background, people have to be wondering what is up with musical stars and their drug habits.

I call this drug and alcohol fueled lifestyle "dirty living." This is opposed to clean living like I do. I remember boasting in my post called "The Death List" that I was going to do lots of drugs in the event of receiving news of terminal disease or whatever. I am rethinking that a bit as I think I would like to retain some dignity in my dying. Drugs and alcohol are antithetical to life and flourishing. I do not believe in hedonism, and it would be incongruous to suddenly embrace that hedonism when I don't have to worry about the consequences.

Is pleasure the highest good? Is pleasure happiness? For Whitney Houston, it clearly wasn't. Her final moments were probably blissful as she was swept away in the euphoria of her substances. But her life seems tragic and sad and unenviable. A pleasurable death is not a good death. I don't think I want to die like she did. It is something I will have to think about though I will probably eat it in a car wreck with some drunken teenager smashing into me. Hedonism is not happiness.

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