“Within the military, there are rules about adultery. But within civilian life, should there be? The line of the day on the morning talk shows in Washington, seemed to be that Petraeus did the “honorable” thing, or, “he had to resign.” The old saw that if he wasn’t squeaky clean, he could be subject to blackmail by his enemies, thus endangering national security, was mentioned again and again. To me, the whole Victorian shame game seems seriously outdated. Something like half the marriages in the country now end in divorce, and you can bet a great many of those involved extra-marital affairs. Is it desirable to bar such a large number of public servants from top jobs? It certainly seems fair to question Petraeus’s judgement, ethics, moral fiber, etc. in this matter, but if infidelity wasn’t treated as career-threatening, its value to black-mailers would be much reduced (the fear of a spouse is another matter).”
— A Petraeus Puzzle: Were Politics Involved? : The New Yorker
9:23 pm • 11 November 2012 • 4 notes
“I Refuse To Cater To The Bullshit Of Innocence” Maurice Sendak
BLVR: What kinds of things do children write to you about?
MS: Usually it’s awful, because they don’t feel the urge to write themselves—a few of them do, but usually it’s “Dear Mr. Sendak, Mrs. Markowitz said would you please send a free book and two drawings?” When they write on their own, they’re ferocious. After Outside Over There, which is my favorite book of mine, a little girl wrote to me from Canada: “I like all of your books, why did you write this book, this is the first book I hate. I hate the babies in this book, why are they naked, I hope you die soon. Cordially…” Her mother added a note: “I wondered if I should even mail this to you—I didn’t want to hurt your feelings.” I was so elated. It was so natural and spontaneous. The mother said, “You should know I am pregnant and she has been fiercely opposed to it.” Well, she didn’t want competition, and the whole book was about a girl who’s fighting against having to look after her baby sister.
BLVR: You find the unvarnished truth consoling, even if it’s vicious and painful.
MS: If it’s true, then you can’t care about the vicious and the painful. You can only be astonished. Most kids don’t dare tell the truth. Kids are the politest people in the world. A letter like that is wonderful. “I wish you would die.” I should have written back, “Honey, I will; just hold your horses.”
(Source: believermag.com)
11:38 pm • 10 November 2012 • 4 notes
“If anything, Obama cuts against the tradition of chief-executive drinking by choosing beer as his relaxant of choice. Most presidents have kept whiskey on hand. George Washington was one of the biggest rye producers on the East Coast. Andrew Johnson, who occupied the White House between Lincoln and Grant, was drunk on whiskey pretty much his entire time in the executive branch. He took the oath of office as Lincoln’s vice president after a morning curled up with a bottle—“medicinal” whiskey, he said, for a cold. Six weeks later, hours after his boss was assassinated, Johnson was found in the second half of an epic bender, and had to be sobered up to take the oath of office as president.”
— Four More Beers - The Morning News
11:27 pm • 10 November 2012 • 3 notes
“Instead, she veers off into a discussion of all the things she’ll do when she’s no longer secretary of state, and there’s time. That led to a mention of her favorite television shows, which are all about house buying and home improvement. Her top pick is “Love It or List It,” in which a couple who are unhappy with their current residence gets to look at new houses while a decorator rehabs their old place. The plot arc is always the same, and in a way, it’s sort of Clintonesque. The redecorators find termites or a leaky furnace; the house search goes awry. Everybody’s upset! But after a lot of hard work and the final commercial, there’s a happy ending. “I find it very calming,” she said.”
—
Hillary’s Next Move - NYTimes.com
LOVE IT OR LIST IT
6:50 pm • 10 November 2012 • 10 notes
“In any case, solitude and privacy are not just privileges. They are also compensations. People didn’t have modern selves in traditional society, but they didn’t need them, because they had family and community: extended families, face-to-face communities. They had an intricate structure of relationships, traditions, roles, and expectations to give content to their lives and direction to their efforts, to orient themselves in space and time. They didn’t need to go it alone or make up the world for themselves, so they didn’t need the equipment that enables modern individuals (if they’re lucky) to do so. Now all we have is ourselves. The modern self is a consolation prize; it’s what we have to cling to—that and friendship, modernity’s central relationship. Intimacy is also a modern phenomenon, because it rests on privacy. When E. M. Forster said “Only connect,” he didn’t mean that’s all we need to do; he meant that’s all we could do: forge our horizontal bonds, because the roots are gone.”
— The American Scholar: Subsistence - William Deresiewicz
1:16 pm • 9 November 2012 • 5 notes
“But I would very much like you to vote. I have heard the arguments about being “implicated” in a “system of compromise” and therefore “not wanting to vote.” To you, I say: EAT DICKS IN SPACE. I mean honestly, don’t go to the supermarket then if you can’t deal with being implicated. An abusive system that keeps poor people poor brought that food to your table, oh no, better stop eating. YOU ARE implicated.”
— Did You Still Not Vote Yet? Here Is One Good Reason Why: Paul Ryan | The Awl
11:52 am • 6 November 2012 • 3 notes
“No matter what happens tomorrow, I must remember—I fight to remember—that never in my wildest dreams did I see a black man competing for white votes the way Barack Obama has.”
— ‘99 Problems’ But Mitt Ain’t One - Ta-Nehisi Coates - The Atlantic
7:20 pm • 5 November 2012 • 3 notes
![LAST CAMPAIGN SPEECH!
[via Reuters]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_md1uw62ZEZ1qzvz1ao1_500.jpg)
