On the Ending to Mass Effect 3 (SPOILERS)

The Twleve Days of Mythos

On the First Day of Mythos my True Love Gave to Me, A God Sleeping Under the Sea

On the Second Day of Mythos my True Love Gave to Me, two kings in yellow, and a God Sleeping Under the Sea

On the Third Day of Mythos my True Love Gave to Me, three shoggoths, two kings in yellow, and a God Sleeping Under the Sea

On the Fourth Day of Mythos my True Love Gave to Me, four black goats, three shoggoths, two kings in yellow, and a God Sleeping Under the Sea

On the Fifth Day of Mythos my True Love Gave to Me, five for-got-ten tomes, four black goats, three shoggoths, two kings in yellow, and a God Sleeping Under the Sea

On the Sixth Day of Mythos my True Love Gave to Me, six mi-go going, five for-got-ten tomes, four black goats, three shoggoths, two kings in yellow, and a God Sleeping Under the Sea

On the Seventh Day of Mythos my True Love Gave to Me, seven cities sunken, six mi-go going, five for-got-ten tomes, four black goats, three shoggoths, two kings in yellow, and a God Sleeping Under the Sea

On the Eighth Day of Mythos my True Love Gave to Me, eight cultists praying, seven cities sunken, six mi-go going, five for-got-ten tomes, four black goats, three shoggoths, two kings in yellow, and a God Sleeping Under the Sea

On the Ninth Day of Mythos my True Love Gave to Me, nine voids a-howling, eight cultists praying, seven cities sunken, six mi-go going, five for-got-ten tomes, four black goats, three shoggoths, two kings in yellow, and a God Sleeping Under the Sea

On the Tenth Day of Mythos my True Love Gave to Me, ten Deep Ones deeping, nine voids a-howling, eight cultists praying, seven cities sunken, six mi-go going, five for-got-ten tomes, four black goats, three shoggoths, two kings in yellow, and a God Sleeping Under the Sea

On the Eleventh Day of Mythos my True Love Gave to Me, eleven hybrids hiding, ten Deep Ones deeping, nine voids a-howling, eight cultists praying, seven cities sunken, six mi-go going, five for-got-ten tomes, four black goats, three shoggoths, two kings in yellow, and a God Sleeping Under the Sea

On the Twelfth Day of Mythos my True Love Gave to Me, twelve dreams a-dreaming, eleven hybrids hiding, ten Deep Ones deeping, nine voids a-howling, eight cultists praying, seven cities sunken, six mi-go going, five for-got-ten tomes, four black goats, three shoggoths, two kings in yellow, and a God Sleeping Under the Sea!

Happy Holidays, Everyone!

Let Me Show You What the Jesuits Taught Me: Jared Lee Loughner as Gordon Pratt

Jared Loughner has proved somewhat impervious to political analysis, but that hasn't stopped all sides of the blogosphere from weighing in on his possible partisan motives. Right-wingers point to the presence of the Communist Manifesto among his favorite books as evidence that he's a liberal. In some odious homage to ahistorical nonsense, they also cite the presence of Mein Kampf as additional evidence, but somehow manage to overlook the presence of Ayn Rand's We the Living.

Saner observers point out that Loughner's rants on secret mind-control grammar are more associated with the outer fringes of the Right Wing, and that his obsessive bimetallism is an article of faith to actual elected Republicans on the state and national level. They also note that the gunman targeted a Democrat who voted for the Affordable Care Act, a fact which the wingers only take to mean that even Democrats are murderously enraged over Obamacare.

A third faction argues that Loughner's possible mental illness depoliticizes his murder spree entirely. But this is simple evasion. The mentally ill have politics, just as the physically ill do. Loughner was politically obsessed, even if his commitments were somewhat opaque to others. He went to a political event, and targeted political figures.

That said, the combination of communism, Nazism, Randism, and existentialism, along with goldbuggery and other obsessions makes me think that looking at a list of favorite books isn't going to tell us much about him. Such a motley assortment of mutually exclusive philosophies seems more like padding than it does an actual foundation for political commitment. Most of all, it reminds me of this:

Bait and Switch: NYT edition:

It's true that any actor in a Broadway show has a tremendous opportunity, and that might be worth taking a risk. Even if that show is less a play than a "Ponzi Scheme with Costumes." And even if the risks are less "bombing with the critics" than "never walking again."

Still, I'm not sure this front-page link from the 12/26 New York Times entirely reflects the tone of the story it leads you to:

Sometimes I think they do this just to spite me.

Mailing the Knife

In high school, perhaps some of you wrote letters to your future selves. Maybe you told futureyou not to forget about the importance of rocking out or keeping it real. Or maybe you wondered if you ever met someone you could love as much as (choke) the one who broke your heart (sob sob sob). It’s a cheesy exercise, but it has its charms, as well as its cringing embarrassments at what a melodramatic little crapsocket you were.

I was reminded of that exercise this morning when I read about the tax deal Obama is negotiating with the Republicans. Democrats got outplayed at every turn on this issue, and now the wealthiest will get budget-busting special tax breaks over and above the cut everyone else gets.

It would be bad enough if that were all. But the worst of it is that the Republicans' ostensible concession-- a 2 year extension, rather than a permanent one. So come election time 2012, we can now count on another round of this exact same demagoguery. It's like putting those words in a time capsule for our future selves to enjoy. Except the letter isn't to ourselves. It's to the GOP. And it's not a letter. It's a knife. And not even one of those decorative knives engraved with words on it. Just a plain old stabber.

I'm not averse to compromise, or even to our side taking a few wounds at the knife fight. But do we have to give them the knife?

Obviously, Too Much Time on My Hands

Sentence of the Week: 7/24/2010

"After all, life, for all its agonies of despair and loss and guilt,
is exciting and beautiful, amusing and artful and endearing, full of
liking and of love, at times a poem and a high adventure, at times
noble and at times very gay; and whatever (if anything) is to come
after it, we shall not have this life again. " --Rose Macaulay, The Towers of Trebizond,1956