Off-shore Joe

Lieberman isn't evil, but he is filthy. Pandering to the public or selling his mother swamp land in Florida is just a days work for the ultimate symbol of Spectacular Capitalism and his giving the keynote at the Republican Convention will be a great tribute to our historical Moment. It's all about the Perfect Lie. Where many politicians would see the publics disdain as a cause for reform, Joe more fully engages and embraces slime to a point beyond parody, beyond hypocricy, to what is an almost artistic realm. Being the Master of Sleaze provides celebrity and a positive feedback loop of filth and fame. As with our fascination with car wrecks, watching totalitarianism perfected is weirdly sublime.



"These low-wage workers (from a survey of 1350 people who put in at least 30 hrs weekly and earn less than $ 27,000) account for nearly one quarter of all US adults. Not only do they recieve low pay, but their jobs frequently come with no health care coverage, vacations or even sick days. Yet the vast majority say they like or even love their jobs and they believe in the power of hard work to transform lives."

People say one thing on the phone to pollsters but I suspect as they lie on their beds after a fast food dinner and a couple of Bud Lights, thinking of the next days grind and humiliation, just before they slip into American Dreamland, other perhaps less optimistic thoughts may creep in.

One of my favorite bloggers, Helmut over at phronesisaical, weighs in on politics: "reimagining politics in all it's honesty and deciept, coherence and incoherence, change and ingrained habits, illusions ,confusions and contusions,is the route towards understanding what's good about it and towards being societies that truly want to be better than they have been."
A sort of Emersonian buddhist approach I admire.