the coffee philosopher

Posted on April 5, 2012April 4, 2012 by the coffee philosopher

Grayson Needs To Run A Tight Ship This & Not Repeat Mistakes Of 2010

I love some of what Alan Grayson said while he was in Congress. He spoke out forcefully against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He spoke out against the failure of the Republicans to propose any meaningful plan to make sure every American has access to adequate, affordable healthcare.

But he was a terrible candidate.

There was little chance he would survive the terrible GOP wave of 2010 but there was every chance he could have made the sort of showing that put him within spitting distance of Webster (and therefore, given him a slim possibility of pulling it out). There was no good reason for him to have lost by 18 points and to not even have gotten 40% of the vote.

Or rather, there was a very good reason. He ran an awful campaign.

He can raise money, but in the new 9th district wherein he’s running, GOP’er John Quinones could beat him, even though the 9th was created to be a bit of Democratic vote sink (not too much of one, since that would violate the Florida Constitution since the passage of Fair Districts). John Quinones can probably raise respectable money based on his position on the Osceola County Commission and if Grayson looks to be repeating his 2010, you can bet that the RNCC will put enough resources into the district to keep things on an even keel, money-wise.

Maybe Grayson already has a campaign infrastructure, but unless he has a strong experience manager who knows how ‘manage’ candidates, things could go south fast. Someone who can keep Grayson’s most impolitic instincts from taking over, someone who will work with the candidate and the rest of the campaign staff to keep things not only ‘on message,’ but also to focus on those issues that resonate with the voters and to use a tone that doesn’t play into negative perceptions. It’s the difference between appearing as a bullying loudmouth and a blunt fighter for one’s values. The line between the two is finer than you think, which is why care needs to be taken. Two years ago, I don’t believe that happened.

Posted on April 5, 2012March 30, 2012 by the coffee philosopher

Thursday Staff Meeting – The Strategies Of Poetry & Politics

Poetic strategies in political rhetoric and political tools in poetry.

I’ve been to this restaurant and can vouch for it, but Murray is still an ass.

Occupy Wall Street goes to Sotheby’s.

Posted on April 4, 2012July 7, 2017 by the coffee philosopher

Ezra Pound: Canto LXIX

This is a relatively short Canto compared to last few – less than five and a half pages. It mixes English with some tidbits in French and what I believe is Dutch.

Still addressing Pound’s obsession with finance, this Canto focuses on inflation as a means of depreciating debt and the consequences to the nation. The ‘time’ is Revolutionary War period.

While there’s little poetic about it, some things were interesting.

Once again, what he writes seems relevant in the wake of the last economic crisis.

The depreciation, he writes

but by no means disables the people from carrying on the war
Merchants, farmers, tradesmen and labourers gain
                               they are the moneyed men,
The capitalists those who have money at interest
                                        or those on fixed salaries
                                                                                                     lose.

If you think of ‘war’ as standing in for the ‘real economy’ – the economy of real assets, like physical items or labor, as opposed to the shifting of financial instruments – then doesn’t this point to the current inequity between those who live and work in the ‘real economy’ (most of the 99%) and the 1% who so often are those ‘who have money at interest’ as Pound says. Pound suggests that, really, we could do quite well and shouldn’t worry about the latter.

Posted on April 4, 2012April 4, 2012 by the coffee philosopher

Reverend Doctor King – Labor Organizer

In case you forgot, the Rev. Dr. King believed that justice was inextricably linked to the right of workers to organize. When he was shot on this day in Memphis, he was helping to organize public employees – just like the ones the right has been demonizing.

Posted on April 4, 2012March 30, 2012 by the coffee philosopher

Midweek Staff Meeting – We Still Miss Adrienne Rich

I never knew much about her social activism. I knew she was a social activist, but I only followed her actions in that realm in a cursory fashion. But you only had to read her poetry to see she was deeply committed to the hope of just society and to remembering the failings of one that was still unjust.

Postscript: Adrienne Rich 1929-2012

A Poet of Unswerving Vision at the Forefront of Feminism

Poet and Pioneer

In Remembrance, Adrienne Rich

Adrienne Rich: Moral Compass

The Will to Change

Posted on April 3, 2012April 24, 2012 by the coffee philosopher · 1 Comment

Adrienne Rich Interviewed

In memory of the great American poet Adrienne Rich, who passed away late last month, may I suggest this 2011 interview she gave to the Paris Review?

She is often lumped together with Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath (mainly because she was their contemporary, she was a woman, and she is associated with feminist poetics) but perhaps not given the same level of reverence. Sad to say, but maybe now that she’s dead, she will start to receive it.

Posted on April 3, 2012March 27, 2012 by the coffee philosopher

Tuesday Staff Meeting – I Said ‘Oannes’ Not ‘Onan;’ Very Different Things

Oannes, the founder of civilization.

‘Planet Patrol,’ one of the high points of western civilization.

The best philosophy journals.

Posted on April 2, 2012March 29, 2012 by the coffee philosopher

Ezra Pound: Canto LXVIII

Pound is still thinking about the early years of America as an independent country. The primary figure here is John Adams, which is an interesting choice because, let’s face it, before McCullough produced that door stopper of a biography, no one gave a s–t about Adams (caveat: I have read that door stopper, a signed copy no less, and it’s a good book, but I’m not going to tell you that Adams was as important as all that, except for the basic fact of having been only our second president).

An interesting little tidbit – five pages into this Canto, Pound uses ‘@’ in place of ‘at’ in a sentence:

Mazzei: little hope of success @ so low an interest

While there is little else of interest, I always perk up at mentions of early coffeehouses:

Affaires (Xmas day, Amsterdam) still suspended
but stockjobbing goes on uninterruptedly
at coffee houses on Sundays and holidays
when it cannot be held upon ‘change

As a simply historical fact, the first modern marker for stock trading (or stockjobbing, as it was, indeed, called) did truly begin in a coffeehouse.