Does that seem like an arrogant, conceited statement? Someone remembered and brought it up today, deep in the comments to "Does it smell funny in here?," the post about the accusation against Brett Kavanaugh, where I provoked some people by saying — point #4 on a 5-point list — "Why should we Americans accept this man's power over us? He's been portrayed as a super-human paragon, and I don't think that can be the standard for who can be on the Supreme Court. It's dangerous to go looking for paragons. Maybe they've got a hard-to-detect dark side that has driven them to a life of saintly good works."
I don't want the judiciary limited to bizarrely squeakily clean, ultra virtuous people. Too many good candidates won't make the cut. Kavanaugh has seemed wonderfully virtuous, but I don't think all of that is necessary or even desirable in qualifying to be a judge. I want a real person, who can understand real people and make good judgments about human activities, which are full of bad behavior that a goody-2-shoes might assess priggishly. And, as that last sentence — "Maybe they've got a hard-to-detect dark side..." — is meant to say, an overachiever might be overcompensating. I certainly didn't say Brett Kavanaugh looks so virtuous that I assume he's got a dark side. I have no idea about him specifically. I'm just not enthralled by seeming saints. We're all human.
Anyway, this comes from a commenter who calls himself Чикелит (which my translator said is "Chikelit")(scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on "newer" to get to page 2 of the comments and see this):
Ann Althouse said... “Maybe they've got a hard-to-detect dark side that has driven them to a life of saintly good works.”I get the joke. Fine. (By the way, the most racist thing in my family that I know is that my paternal grandmother, back in the 1950s, used to say to me, if I wasn't nice about appreciating something, that she "knew a little colored girl" who would like it.)
Althouse recently stated that she has NO bad habits. Perhaps this is a lie. Perhaps she too has a dark side which has driven her to a life of saintly good blogging. For example, I’ve long suspected that there is something terribly racist in her family’s past which drives her acts of white guilt.
But the reason I'm blogging this is to delve into the question of habits and how easy it is to say that you have no bad habits.
By definition, a habit it something that you do compulsively/automatically and often, like every day. You don't have to look hard to see your habits. You do them all the time. It's easy to review your typical day and see what your habits are. Then, ask yourself: Are any of these things bad? I look at my day and identify the habits: getting up early, drinking coffee, blogging, eating some food, showing some affection to my husband, and going to bed early. That's about it. None of those things are bad, therefore I have no bad habits. I'm not bragging that I never do anything bad. I'm just talking about habits.
Posts
111 comments:
Scalia was a chain smoker. We need more guys like that on the bench. Someone who smokes and hunts and has a lot of kids.
Kagan actually seems pretty cool. She went hunting with Scalia. Maybe she'll take up smoking or at least vape.
Life is chaotic. Strive.
I have a lot of bad habits. But I don't wear them anymore, since I stopped being a Nun.
"A settled tendency or usual manner of behavior"
I wouldn't say that eating or drinking something is a "bad habit" since what is "Bad" simply depends on current medical opinion. Which changes.
I have a "bad habit" of wasting money on small items, like Starbucks Coffee. That's about it.
I don't look at the Supreme Court like I do lower courts. These peope are arguing about grammar and punctuation, and trying to figure out what a bunch of terrorists (who overthrew the government) were thinking, by digging through their published propaganda, and Constitutions.
“I would cite you to the apostle Paul, and his clear and wise command in Romans 13 to obey the laws of the government because God has ordained the government for his purposes..." -- Jeff Sessions on the American Caliphate
Unless you are a terrorist and oppose the government.
“He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her ..... Oh, lookee, there is no one left."
If you dig even deeper in that comments section, you will see that I identified at least one bad habit of yours: deleting she who will not be named. Now, granted, this doesn’t happen everyday, but when it happens, it’s almost knee jerk.
If pressed, Brett Kavanaugh might admit to a few bad habits. Maybe he already has — I don’t follow his every word like some. Has anyone bothered to ask him or are they just assuming he was a Boy Scout and they want to trip him up? Seems very catty to me.
I don't even have the habit of drinking a glass of wine every day anymore. I would argue that's not a bad habit, but I don't even have it as a habit.
I'd have to say blogging or coffee drinking or going to be early is a bad habit to say I have a bad habit.
It's the 100 year old with "bad" habits -- a daily whiskey, stogie, whatever -- who gets the interview.
A policy with respect to comment moderation isn't a habit. It's a standard policy. When X happen, I do X. When someone rings the doorbell, I don't answer it. When I brush my teeth, I wet the toothbrush first. I keep butter in the refrigerator. I wouldn't call these things "habits." You might object to some of my policies. Why do my post titles end with a period instead of no punctuation? I have my reason, and I could explain why, having decided the right approach, I am consistent. But that's not a habit.
Ann Althouse said.... Too many good candidates won't make the cut. Kavanaugh has seemed wonderfully virtuous, but I don't think all of that is necessary or even desirable in qualifying to be a judge. I want a real person...
Ok. Easy question, then: is Kavanaugh a "real person" in that sense, then?
Is his level of virtuousness "wonderful" or "bizarre"? I guess it could be both--so is his level of virtue (in your estimation) a mark against his potential elevation to the Court?
"If pressed, Brett Kavanaugh might admit to a few bad habits. Maybe he already has — I don’t follow his every word like some. Has anyone bothered to ask him or are they just assuming he was a Boy Scout and they want to trip him up? Seems very catty to me."
Kavanaugh and his supporters have *clearly* put his character in issue. We have been told over and over about his general goodness as evidenced by good deeds, such as feeding the homeless and coaching basketball. It's part of the presentation. He has not limited his self-presentation to his professional work. It's been very important that he has unusually high character. Therefore, his opponents have a basis for attempting to refute that. It's relevant evidence, anything anyone wants to do to cast aspersions. It might not be wise, and Feinstein sat on the letter for months, so she probably could see the downside of taking this route. But she did, and now we have to deal with it appropriately. Relevant evidence should not be permitted if the point is overwhelmingly for delay. But here, where the woman has come forward and committed to these details, there should be some process, handled expeditiously and with care taken not to allow a delay tactic to work.
SARWOO = Salt air, red wine, olive oil—a habit I follow every day without fail. If you live in the Midwest like Althouse, go with the last two.
We can discuss sexual habits later.
so you have a claim without corroboration, on the one hand,
https://saraacarter.com/who-will-investigate-the-fbi-and-doj-top-secret-leaks-to-the-media/
compare and contrast:
https://twitter.com/johncardillo/status/1041703941057208327
Kavanaugh and his supporters have *clearly* put his character in issue.
They merely pre-empted the eternal Leftist attack on anybody on the Right's character. Hell they even attacked Saint McCain when he was running for president. Did Kavanaugh and his supporters put character in play, or did Ted Kennedy back in 1987?
I don't even have the habit of drinking a glass of wine every day anymore
Yeah me neither. Stuff tastes terrible to me now.
At the level of the SC and the Federal Courts of Appeal (and others as well), the job is largely political, and for good reasons as these are effectively executive organs. Over-elaborate executive organs, but that's what they are.
It doesn't matter what the civics textbooks say. Looking at the US system from the outside the system of Federal courts is a parallel power structure. And politicians have long experience with staffing them with persons who will vote very reliably in cases with political dimensions, which is most of them.
Althouse has one bad habit: when "women's rights" are at issue, she argues in bad faith.
Example:
"Why should we Americans accept this man's power over us? He's been portrayed as a super-human paragon, and I don't think that can be the standard for who can be on the Supreme Court. It's dangerous to go looking for paragons. Maybe they've got a hard-to-detect dark side that has driven them to a life of saintly good works."
1. We should "accept" his power if proper procedures are followed. Of course, the same question was never asked about Kagan and Sotomayor. It is a rhetorical-question argument of convenience, illustrating the bad faith. (Obviously, we conservatives think all of them have too much power, particularly the kind Blackmun et al. arrogated to themselves and then reduced to absurdity by Kennedy in Obergefell.)
2. Kavanaugh has not been portrayed as "super-human." It is a slur. But by all accounts he is a good man, which makes the slur that much worse.
3. It is not dangerous to look for paragons, if it is done honestly. I would agree, of course, that the Dems can't be honest about anything anymore. Their point is to degrade the process so that even good people will shudder at the treatment they will receive, abetted from the sidelines by the Althouse rationalizations.
4. Yeah, maybe "they" have a "hard-to-detect dark side." Maybe others do. It is a subtle, targeted smear, of a kind not brought up in any other recent judicial nomination. More bad faith.
5. "saintly good works" Like, mentoring associates, coaching girls' basketball, distributing baseball tickets. Saintly, right. The put-down is uncalled-for and undeserved: more bad faith.
The bad habit stands out: on any other topic, Althouse would call BS on the kind of paragraph I cited.
It's going to be Kavanaugh's character against Ford's character. There's going to be a week's worth of shit dug up on her. Women will be coming out of the woodwork to cut into her character. We'll be hearing about what a thief and liar and cheater she was from high school through today.
Last Rat standing.
But she did, and now we have to deal with it appropriately.
The appropriate way would be to ignore it.
Relevant evidence should not be permitted if the point is overwhelmingly for delay. But here, where the woman has come forward and committed to these details, there should be some process, handled expeditiously and with care taken not to allow a delay tactic to work.
Please outline such a thing. Seriously...how is anything other than "completely ignore it" not allowing a delay tactic to work?
oh and by the way:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/washington-post-trump-passport-crackdown_us_5b9ec246e4b046313fbc2bd1
The hearing is a smokescreen. It will be all the stuff dug up on her by operatives over the next few days. No one will give a shit what she has to say in the hearing. It's all about her character now.
tongue in cheek:
https://twitchy.com/sarahd-313035/2018/09/17/breaking-statements-from-brett-kavanaughs-ex-girlfriends-suggest-he-may-have-a-woman-problem-after-all/?utm_campaign=twitchywidget
"I don't even have the habit of drinking a glass of wine every day anymore. I would argue that's not a bad habit, but I don't even have it as a habit."
Makes sense.
Less dishes to clean.
And, it's probably fresher to drink straight from the box's spout. No need to let the boxed stuff breathe.
Wine glasses are for elitist snobs.
If you live long enough, a virtuous life kind of creeps up on you. I wish I had more vices. They give life its zest and drama, but, at my age, who's got the energy. I sleep late and take an afternoon nap. That's kind of slothful, but sloth is such a second rate vice. I'd like to be paying hush money to pornstars or letting my overweening ambition loose upon the world, but nowadays I hardly ever even overeat, I feel kind of guilty about being so virtuous,
I don't currently have any bad habits, which, as you detail, is not to say I live some sort of virtuous life, but my habits - the things I do every day - are not in the bad category.
There was a time when I did have bad habits - that is I did wrong and illegal things on a daily or near daily basis. Then I met my future wife and discovered a reason not to do bad things any longer. I sought and achieved a productive and successful existence, absent bad habits. I have a tattoo of a Phoenix on my hip to symbolize and memorialize my change and transition. I see it every day when I get ready, it reminds me of who I've chosen to be.
-sw
she is david Gregory's wife, former attorney for fannie mae:
https://twitchy.com/sarahd-313035/2018/09/17/face-meet-palm-cnn-legal-analyst-burns-himself-with-this-hot-take-on-kavanaugh-hiring-a-lawyer/?utm_campaign=twitchywidget
Ok, Jelly, you made me laugh.
It's all about her character now.
Sadly true. Unless something turns up that irrefutably (and that's a hard standard from the Left) impeaches her character and honesty, the presumption from the Left and the Althouses of the world will be that she is telling the truth and Kavanagh is unacceptable. The GOP Senate will curl up in a fetal position and the Dems will win.
So principled Americans must either hope for the personal destruction of some unknown woman, or watch a good man get destroyed. Again. The worst thing is, they will tell themselves what good people they are as they destroy him.
Oh, I see how it works. No indiscretions? Unacceptable. Indiscretions? Unacceptable.
They complain if you don’t dance when they play music, and they complain that you don’t cry when they morn.
You have to have that “just right” amount of goodness and badness, and they’ll tell you hour by hour, minute by minute, where the good/bad dial should be set for their momentary tastes.
A man built his house - a woman built her house - upon sand, and the rains came and the wind blew........
Ann Althouse said...Kavanaugh and his supporters have *clearly* put his character in issue. We have been told over and over about his general goodness as evidenced by good deeds, such as feeding the homeless and coaching basketball. It's part of the presentation. He has not limited his self-presentation to his professional work. It's been very important that he has unusually high character. Therefore, his opponents have a basis for attempting to refute that.
Yeah, it's Kavanaugh's fault. If he'd just talked about his professional life/qualifications nice centrist people like you would now object to this allegation being used to delay the vote. That's very believable and not at all transparently disingenuous.
I can just imagine your argument: "This allegation is not great but it goes to character and not to Kavanaugh's professional qualifications, and since he hasn't made his personal life and character an issue it's improper for this allegation, even if true, to negatively influence his nomination." That's plausible, yeah.
1. She has no credible evidence. Otherwise, she would have produced it.
2. She can't even say when or where the assault took place.
3. The Hearing will be a circus. The D Senators will go crazy, playing perry mason, making speeches, going off topic, interrupting, etc.
4. The Screamers and Chanters will return and try to throw the R Senators off their game.
5. Then when its all said and done, Collins, Murowski, Flake, Miss Lindsey, and Sasse will go into their Hamlet act. It'll be a big drama. Will they vote Kavenaugh or sink him? Tune in tomorrow.
Absence of evidence in the face of an accusation is evidence of guilt.
Defending oneself and denying one's guilt is evidence of guilt.
Other people--deplorable people especially--defending you is evidence of guilt.
This guy's guilty. He can't prove that he isn't guilty and he's been accused, so he's guilty!
Why are we even still discussing this?
Althouse, lack of bad habits isn't a virtue. As for Kavanaugh, apparently for the Leftist, his inability to find things they want in the constitution is a character flaw.
You should try some bad habits, prof.
That world's most dutiful schoolgirl routine is awful.
Well, now that I think about it, being a Marxist feminist is probably the worst habit a woman can have.
"I don't even have the habit of drinking a glass of wine every day anymore."
When wine becomes boring:
May I suggest a glass of fine single malt Scots whiskey with a wee drop of water to cut the burn.
I am partial to Islay malts. You can taste the peat and the ocean with softening from the oak barrels in which the whiskey should be stored at least 12 years. Lagavullin (16 years old) is my favorite.
One advantage to good single malt Scots whiskey is that it is very expensive. If you are cost conscious, you will not drink too much - at least too regularly.
Sounds like you would have preferred a Kosinski nomination, Ann. Flawed brilliance.
Oh, but wait! That’s not allowed either.
@Althouse: I suggest that you and Meade pick up a bottle of Heaven's Door whisky or bourbon before it's too late. This will feed your Dylan habit. Poor Bob is being sued for trademark infringement by Heaven Hill Whiskey. I think Bob will prevail because Bob abides.
We’ll be hearing about what a thief and liar and cheater she was from high school through today.
Why? Did she accuse a Clinton of something? No, we will be hearing about sainthood, Diogenes in a dress, sleeping in a hogshead.
Declaring innocence is seen as obstructing justice. And you cannot in any way criticize the character of your accuser. I've yet to read a bad word about Stormy Daniels, and she's a fucking pornstar. I doubt we'll read anything negative about this brave woman who is such an inspiration to so many women in America.
@Althouse: You might look into that lawsuit for blogfodder. It's got lots of visual elements of style in legal terms of what they're fighting over. Bruce Hayden could referee. You could also give it your patented "lawsuits I hope will fail" tag. Or not.
Deleting one's own comments to correct obvious typos is an obvious bad habit or tick. You're only trying to make yourself look smarter.
Does reading this blog and its comments count as a bad habit? I suppose it can be habitual, which can be bad or good.
What if it seems compulsive? Certainly can be impulsive.
If you can't sleep and you log on and your spouse says what the hell are you reading at this hour?
There is even some kind of mental disorder related to internet use now, but it's up for debate whether it is a separate diagnosis.
What if you put lines between your sentences.
While wearing shorts.
Bad habits may be a matter of perspective.
I am consistent. But that’s not a habit.
Ha! You should read the book I am reading right now called The Power of Habit which I don’t know how to link through your portal, but it is a very interesting book, and he would point out to you that it became a habit as soon as you stopped thinking about it, because that’s the process of creating habits, and the purpose of habits, BTW.
He also spent a fair bit of time discussing the problems that the makers of Febreze had creating the habit in consumers of using their product. It turns out that they had to add a smell to a product that was designed to erase smells... So. when you did the “Does it smell funny in here” thing, I assumed you were referencing this great book.
I like Guy De Maupassant's story "Diary of a Madman" about a judge with a dark side. Vincent Price played the judge in the movie version.
You guys with questions about habits should all read the book, and your questions will be answered, at least to the satisfaction of the incredibly wealthy people who use the creation of habits in consumers to generate vast wealth, often to the detriment of their customers, forget about cigarettes, what about french fries and a coke with your hamburger, why stick with a potentially healthy meal when you can make more money destroying your customer’s health?
Web sites run by people like Facebook spend a lot of time trying to create habit forming content using psychological research. Althouse does it by luck and instinct. Drudge created a huge habit forming web site just on instinct too.
Anyway, here is a review, https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/11/books/review/the-power-of-habit-by-charles-duhigg.html
Alcoholics Anonymous was also designed on gut instinct, and only recently has the genius design of it been actually somewhat understood. It turns out that people, even atheists, have brains that require belief.
have *clearly* put his character in issue.
This is why Pro-Choice is a popular religious apology.
When I brush my teeth, I wet the toothbrush first.
Me, too.
Ann Althouse said...
" I'm just not enthralled by seeming saints. We're all human."
The problem with people on the political left is that they abhor anyone who has the appearance of virtuousity, viz. Kathie Lee Gifford or Martha Stewart. Conversely, they love to celebrate perversity.
Remember that I have almost no sense of smell so the taste pleasure of wone ans Scotch is close to nil, sadly.
Any ideas for a bad habit that I coukd enjoy. I can’t even think of one.
https://althouse.blogspot.com/2012/12/were-all-adults-here-its-time-we-take.html
So, you don't consider vaping a bad habit? Or were you just experimenting?
It turns out that people, even atheists, have brains that require belief.
Atheists, agnostics... Everyone has their belief, their faith. Indeed, there are few people who do not conflate logical domains. Let's keep it to an observable, reproducible, necessarily limited frame of reference.
Not all fragrances are meant to be smelled. Some just tickle your nose or cleanse the palate.
Any ideas for a bad habit that I coukd enjoy...
A really bad habit that I enjoy, is eating sunflower seeds with the shell whole. I crunch them and swallow.
Where this becomes really bad, is if I am driving and don't eat anything else, and drink just water or a soda pop.
I call it a colon cleanser (scraper). I've never gotten plugged up yet in 50 years...
“Ha! You should read the book I am reading right now called The Power of Habit which I don’t know how to link through your portal, but it is a very interesting book, and he would point out to you that it became a habit as soon as you stopped thinking about it, because that’s the process of creating habits, and the purpose of habits, BTW”
Some of that is about defining terms. I’m being narrower than that author, who is trying to help people behave better. I think there it’s the idea of never varying from the good way of doing something. But it doesn’t say much about bad habits, does it?
“So, you don't consider vaping a bad habit? Or were you just experimenting?”
Did that for fun for a little while but not recently.
BTW, the book addresses how Pepsodent created the habit of brushing one’s teeth daily, which was all but unknown. It turns out that the taste “minty freshness” which has nothing whatsoever to do with cleaning teeth, is the little psychological reward that the tooth brusher gets. Before WWI and before Americans got rich, brushing teeth wasn’t that important because our diets were better. Nobody did it, but peoples teeth weren’t rotten, at least at young ages.
I don't have bad habits.
Bad decisions, on the other hand...
Will no one rid me of this virtuous judge.
But it doesn’t say much about bad habits, does it?
It’s all about replacing bad habits with good habits, because he claims that the research shows that habits never go away, they can only be replaced with new habits based on the triggers. So you can get up first thing in the morning and read Althouse, or you can go for a three mile walk as soon as you get out of bed, but once you have established something as a trigger, you are going to do something based on the trigger. It’s just too mentally taxing to make fresh decisions each time you face a “trigger.”
Bad decisions, on the other hand...
Choice, repent, and sin no more... including normalization.
Most vices are boring.
Dear Ann,
You don't really get it. It's not what you do that is important, It's what is in your heart that is important. That's the message of Jesus of Nazareth. So we can do good deeds or in your words have totally good habits but still be very flawed. In fact chances are we are deeply flawed for we often do the right thing with the wrong heart. I actually prefer people who do the wrong thing with the wrong heart. They are obvious and transparent and often end up in jail as a result. Those of us who are very good at doing the right thing with the wrong heart are far more problematic. We actually appear believable but deep down inside we are deeply flawed. I know that is the case with me and I expect that is the case with Bret Kavanaugh and you. That is why I have to fight it on a daily basis and face up to my failings which quite frankly I am not very good at
So my dear you are not perfect but you do a pretty good job of appearing that way but only you can possibly know your real failings, the failings of your heart.
Gambling, for example, is tedious and boring. Giving money to someone else very slowly.
Alcohol numbs, and numb is boring.
Highly addictive drugs destroy your entire life and make it all about drugs, which is boring.
I once heard someone say that porn was boring because anyone with half an imagination could do better.
Cigarette smoking, however, is wonderfully enjoyable, but it's terrible for you, which really is a shame.
Lips that hold a cigaroot will never part beneath my snoot.
"Any ideas for a bad habit that I coukd enjoy. I can’t even think of one."
https://gtslivingfoods.com/offering/enlightened-kombucha/multi-green-enlightened/
+
high-end coconut macaroons w/ chocolate
Something about that combo = I'm addicted. Average six days a week, for about a year and a half. No signs of quitting.
IMHO.
I was also hooked on fermented beet juice for about six months.
Red stool is bad.
Excessive alcohol, burning marijuana and other plants, psychoactive drugs, and "humanitarian" porn, are psychogenic materials that enable temporary departures from reality. Then there is sex and Choice, an esoteric blend of social and criminal delight.
Our hostess blogged: "(By the way, the most racist thing in my family that I know is that my maternal grandmother, back in the 1950s, used to say to me, if I wasn't nice about appreciating something, that she "knew a little colored girl" who would like it.)"
That's not racist by any definition.
It may have been parlance of the times or perhaps a simple, prejudiced view --- but not racism. For someone who seems up on language, you jumped on the common vernacular trolley.
Most often our virtues are only vices in disguise.
~ La Rouchefoucauld
...waiting for rhhardin to deride that with some Deridda
Well, Ann, I'm happy to read you reviewed one day in your life and pronounce yourself free of any 'bad habits'. But I also have to say if you make one more post like the one at the bottom, I'll declare you a nest of bad-habits hidden behind your "dark side". I do agree the narrative re Kavanaugh got a bit overlong, BUT....
In retrospect, does your search declaring yourself a "paragon" make you feel any more sympathetic toward paragonic Kavanaugh?
"Why should we Americans accept this man's power over us? He's been portrayed as a super-human paragon, and I don't think that can be the standard for who can be on the Supreme Court. It's dangerous to go looking for paragons. Maybe they've got a hard-to-detect dark side that has driven them to a life of saintly good works."
"Any ideas for a bad habit that I coukd enjoy. I can’t even think of one."
Let's try deductive reasoning.
Smell issues (or lack of olfactory sensitivity) suggests that food, drink and flowers are out.
I won't get into your sex life with Meade, but ... there are possibilities. However, we all have rules that greatly reduce the possibilities.
You seem to be a moderate exerciser. I have friends who have morphed (late in life) to triathlons and extreme long distance running (e.g., double marathons). That seems like a bad habit to me because it really screws up your body for the sake of a few endorphins. It seems to be a really bad habit.
"A really bad habit that I enjoy, is eating sunflower seeds with the shell whole"
I used to do that when I was a kid. No one told me. Also I ate the whole shrimp. The tsils are good
Ann, part of whose appeal is her somewhat scattershot thinking -- maybe that's why she digs the prez - here asks about what bad habits she should adopt since she doesn't have any. But her first post alludes to the extremely positive aspects of habit, how the adoption of a hobby or skill like carpentry or playing the piano seems hard at first, but with time and practice it becomes in the end very hard not to do it, because of the gradually increasing powers the habit gives.
And practicing something like that can change the way people with other bad issues deal with things: Hamlet, reasoning with his mother on the topic of dropping a bad habit and substituting a good one, said "For use can almost change the stamp of nature."
But I do have an idea if you want to try something that some people might think is bad, but that you might find enlightening: drop LSD once a month for a year and keep a journal and see what you find.
"I won't get into your sex life with Meade, but ... there are possibilities."
Apparently "soaking" makes men better at sports v the men in Madison.
Gridiron math.
Feminism is the ultimate bad habit, particularly if you're Miss Richie Rich from Wayne, NJ, home to corporate campuses and palatial estates.
Claiming to be oppressed under these circumstances is a very bad habit, indeed.
Really, Althouse, did nobody ever call you out on your lifetime of lying and pretending about this shit?
Well, no, because you live in academia among a brigade of fakers pulling the same damned stunt.
"drop LSD once a month for a year and keep a journal and see what you find."
She needs to go through one of those so-called "guides" (usually so-called-rogue psychiatrists/psychologists) to do the pre-test stuff.
Seems like red flags may exist. She hints at family connections to mental issues. And, she's obviously compulsive. Duh.
Well, .....if no one else is going to say it...
1. Take your tea at three.
2. Have the meat you eat for dinner hung up for a week.
3. Shoot water rats, and feed them to geese.
Nasty habits, from the finest authority. Of the twentieth cent-your-eee.
she "knew a little colored girl" who would like it
Today, that girl would be identified by her diversity class: black, white, brown, orange, or as a half-breed: Asian-American, African-American, European-American... a colorful clump of cells. #NoLabelsSelective
"That's not racist by any definition."
That's right, the word is so overused we don't know what it means anymore.
I can tell you about real racists. My dad's family hails from the south, and my ancestors fought on the Confederate side of the War of Northern Aggression (as they called it). Way back in the day, they had been a wealthy family, and probably owned slaves before the war.
Grandpa used to go on about the dirty n-----s ruining the country, and he was just bitter about it. He grew up in a house in North Carolina that had been bombarded by northern ships that sailed up the river, and cannonballs had come through the roof. I don't think they ever really forgave my dad for moving north and marrying a Yankee.
The first time I really understood what that meant was when we all visited Niagara Falls with Grandpa. We took the ride on the Maid of the Mist boat, where they hand out raincoats so you can stay semi-dry. They gave Grandpa a raincoat that had a distinct body odor problem. He made a fuss, refused to wear it, and complained loudly that "some n----- wore it." I was just a kid, but I still remember being embarrassed.
Grandpa was certainly a racist, by any definition. Using out of date terminology for other people groups is a benign social error, at worst.
-O
Scalia was a chain smoker.
Scalia had a good sense of what should be normalized, tolerated, and rejected. He would not welcome political congruence, conflation of logical domains, and diversity. As for smoking, rights and responsibilities. I wonder if he ever puffed the hallucinating dragon.
Racism a prejudicial perspective that is a subset of diversity or color judgments.
I knew a bit about Kavanaugh before the hearing and read some of his decisions. Good enough, though he's over-rated as an intellect and has worked as an enforcer for Conservative INC against the real conservative grassroots for decades. And as Ann righty observes, he is pure ambition, a lobbyist as much as a judge. No Scalia, nor Thomas, nor Ginsburg (much as I despise her, she's brilliant). Plus he played pure identity politics with his absurd accounting of his multiculti gender super balanced clerks, etc.
We have enough grotesque careerists on the court with Kagan and enough identity politics garbage with Sotomayor. Yet I also found I actively grew to dislike him because of the creepily personal and triumphant, David French-esque emphasis he placed on his virtuous hobbies -- coaching girls' basketball and teaching. The former is just pandering while slapping non-elite Americans who can't even get to their kids' games because of work. Thanks Republicans for being utterly tone-deaf again. The latter is the usual sleazy double-dipping reserved for judges and professors and other special people. They get paid to teach and make cash on the side consulting or get paid to judge and get paid on the side to teach when they're supposed to already have a 9-5 job.
It's an ugly and ubiquitous racket. The Clintons, the Obamas, and pretty much everyone in law schools and nonprofits and government play this game, and the rest of us who are subsidizing it rightly hate them for it.
It is theft. Also, weaponized elitism. Monarchism without the obligations.
I have no idea how these charges will play out, but the Republicans really stepped in it by having Kavanaugh behave as if the hearings were a coronation instead of a representational process. It makes all of this worse now, no matter the unspeakable behavior of the Democrats. The consequences of hubris will be the same no matter which side wins, which makes this, definitionally, Greek tragedy.
Also, this is about drinking. How many times did Kavanaugh mention beer in his statements? More often than he cited the law. There is a problem here. The accuser was allegedly a drinker -- so were Mike Judge and Kavanaugh. Why are there no grownups in the GOP actually handling this stuff in advance? They're like dogs who avoid fights by putting out at the dog park
"Any ideas for a bad habit that I coukd enjoy."
Ahem.
Freeman Hunt said...
Most vices are boring.
Life, friends, is boring. We must not say so.
After all, the sky flashes, the great sea yearns,
we ourselves flash and yearn,
and moreover my mother told me as a boy
(repeatingly) ‘Ever to confess you’re bored
means you have no
Inner Resources.’ I conclude now I have no
inner resources, because I am heavy bored.
Peoples bore me,
literature bores me, especially great literature,
Henry bores me, with his plights & gripes
as bad as achilles,
who loves people and valiant art, which bores me.
And the tranquil hills, & gin, look like a drag
and somehow a dog
has taken itself & its tail considerably away
into mountains or sea or sky, leaving
behind: me, wag.
John Berryman, Dream Song 14
Back in my school days, a teacher admitted to have once watched a porn movie called The Nun's Bad Habit.
Samuel Johnson, writer of the great dictionary, used to anger himself by his bad habit of doing chemistry experiments. It was procrastination and he well knew it.
I can list a few of your bad habits.
You claim to be “cruelly neutral”. You first made that claim *after having cast a vote for Obama* in the primaries.
You demand apologies from people who mock you, yet mock others yourself. Pick one.
You react emotionally to a lot of trigger words. The bad habit is not getting a grip on the reaction before posting.
"Meade said... "Any ideas for a bad habit that I coukd enjoy."
Ahem."
You owe me Meade.
Smoking is disgusting but, thanks be to God, I’m a Cracker so I don’t have to smoke to receive the blessings of nicotine. Wakes you in the morning, stimulates your mind and calms any agitation, aids digestion, relaxes you in repose. Truly a wondrous thing. I may die of cancer, but my teeth are nearly perfect and my disposition benign. Let’s hope for the best.
"I don't want the judiciary limited to bizarrely squeakily clean, ultra virtuous people. Too many good candidates won't make the cut."
How does this square with the Democratic party?
Althouse has, seemingly, bought into the "wise Latina" BS.
This bad habit is fun - I learned it in college. At least once a week decide on an important virtuous thing to do with a block of time - reviewing Anglo-Saxon verbs was always good. Reading Middlemarch. Finding out where James Comey is and what he's doing. Change the oil. Then sit around talking and drinking instead. Or staring vacantly out the window. Use up all the time unproductively. Make a habit of this.
Mark Twain tells of his lady friend who has just taken ill:
She had run down and down and down, and had at last reached a point where medicines no longer had any helpful effect upon her. I said I knew I could put her upon her feet in a week. It brightened her up, it filled her with hope, and she said she would do everything I told her to do. So I said she must stop swearing and drinking and smoking and eating for four days, and then she would be all right again.
And it would have happened just so, I know it; but she said she could not stop swearing and smoking and drinking, because she had never done those things. So there it was. She had neglected her habits, and hadn't any. Now that they would have come good, there were none in stock. She had nothing to fall back on. She was a sinking vessel, with no freight in her to throw overboard and lighten ship withal. Why, even one or two little bad habits could have saved her, but she was just a moral pauper. When she could have acquired them she was dissuaded by her parents, who were ignorant people though reared in the best society, and it was too late to begin now. It seemed such a pity; but there was no help for it. These things ought to be attended to while a person is young; otherwise, when age and disease come, there is nothing effectual to fight them with.
Promiscuous use of the word actually is a bad habit.
wildswan- hahahahha!!
"I want a real person, who can understand real people and make good judgments about human activities, which are full of bad behavior that a goody-2-shoes might assess priggishly."
Forgiveness of a few misdeeds is an option? Youthful indiscretions?
"Promiscuous use of the word actually is a bad habit."
You joke. But, there was a time when Althouse was writing a lot of words in all caps. It was hideous. If she's looking for a bad habit, she could go back to that. Very, very bad.
**shudder**
Bad Habits:
We don't smoke or drink, beyond very occasional wine. No soda for me.
-Staying up too late after baby is finally asleep. We're so happy to get some adult time. But we need to Go To Sleep While We Can.
-Following the news & reading blogs & twitter. We don't have time for it. The news cycle has got the life of a fruit fly. Too much news. News on Sunday after church. News on Saturday family day. News on weekdays while we're trying to get stuff done. News in July & August. It's ridiculous.
This last Sunday was the last draw. We're taking a news break. We'll get a weekly summary or something.
Suggested Bad Habit for Althouse:
Find a fun show to binge watch. The Crown? Rome?
Or a fun mystery series to binge read.
If your nose doesn't work, you might as well shove cocaine up it.
Everyone has bad habits- they just don't know it.
"I said a month ago that I have no bad habits"
What an interesting topic!
A bad habit is a self destructive practice one won't give up. But a lack of self reflection...that would be more in keeping with a character flaw, yes?
And internal biases which keep one from logic and rational thought...that's not a bad habit, but a refusal to question one's first principles. Will the Republic fall if abortion becomes a state issue? If it becomes an issue that women other than blatant feminists get a voice in deciding? God forbid that men get any input into how devastating decisions by women change the very face of the nation.
That kind of power monopoly isn't a bad habit as much as it goes to a selfish character. "No voices but mine. No decisions I don't like."
Does anyone doubt for a moment that if Kavanaugh was significantly pro-abortion that the posts by Ms. Althouse would not be about finding justifications for his prevention as much as attacking anyone who opposed his nomination because of 'that is just a single issue'?
And yet Ms. Althouse, who implies the potential of horrible character in Kavanaugh, is that same one note whistle to justify her own SC opposition.
Just as a question: Does she think, if she allows this character assassination to go unchallenged, that a) she will get a BETTER candidate and b) that such tripe won't be used against Democrats from now on, essentially gutting the SC process because 'abortion'?
On most other issues, Ms. Althouse is worth listening to because she tries, usually successfully, to see the other side.
Here, not so much.
"We're all human."
Yeah, but, clearly, we define these things differently. You seem to accept liars as a given of being human. I didn't grow up around liars - I grew up with black people coping with living with liars. We're coming out of slavery. I've seen black people grow into liars - when in Rome - but I don't see that as the same. Over time, there doesn't seem to be much else a person can do here.
It's corruption, more than anything else.
"(By the way, the most racist thing in my family that I know is that my paternal grandmother, back in the 1950s, used to say to me, if I wasn't nice about appreciating something, that she "knew a little colored girl" who would like it.)"
Oh, that's cool - you got it instead (kidding).
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