Links for 2010-12-30

  • “The work of a senator doesn’t have to be so painful. If you find yourself complaining because you’re being forced to defend indefensible positions by voting on them, it might be that the problem doesn’t lie with those forcing you to cast a vote and take a stand. It seems more likely that the problem lies with where you have chosen to stand and why you have chosen to stand there.”
  • “In the name of full disclosure, let me admit straight off that this new personal operating principle is not an original production. I stole it from U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer over coffee last month, a week before the election. We were talking about how bad things looked for the Democratic Party, and I noted that this must be a stressful time for the congressman, what with all the cross-country travel he does, the lack of economic good news and the prospect of being back in the minority soon.

    No, he agreed, these aren’t the happiest of days. “But we have a saying in my family: No whining on the yacht.” “

  • “Socrates: “Why do people think philosophy is bullshit? Let me put it this way – imagine you’re in a cave, all chained up so you can’t turn your body at all, and all you get to look at is this one wall. Some assholes behind you are making shadow puppets using the light from a fire and making echo noises and that’s all you or anyone else chained up has seen or heard all your life. Sounds terrible, right? Except it’s all you’ve ever known, shadows and echoes, and that’s your whole world – there’s no way you could know that, really, you’re watching a slightly-improved M. Night Shyamalan film.”