Around the World Wide Web 60

"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedies."  --Groucho Marx

I always knew our politicians were Marxists.

1. The worst songs of the '80s.

(HT: Big Blue Wave)

2. Poor Obama. He is befuddled on the campaign trail and at times doesn't know where he is or what month it is. He seems to be a little overwhelmed. Critics noted that he looked tired in his denunciation of Reverend Wright. He made that waffle comment. Worst of all, he won't debate Hillary Clinton again.

And Obama’s the youngest candidate in the race. He’s the one who should be showing energy, enthusiasm, and presence. Instead, Hillary Clinton and John McCain have shown more of all these qualities, especially of late. If Obama can’t stand the demands of the road as well as the other two candidates, what does that say about his stamina if elected President?

My impish side thinks that is exactly what we need in a President: a midget too incompetent and passive to get anything done. Remember, our standard these days is to elect the candidate who will do the least harm to American liberty. By this standard feebleness and mental sluggishness are nothing to sneeze at.

3. Miley Cyrus, 15, posed topless (sort of).

Although I wonder if some of the hysteria over this reflects the neo-puritanism of both the feminist left and the religious right, I have to agree that 15-year olds should not be used in sexually suggestive photographs. Were I father to a teenage girl, I would insist she keep her clothes on for pictures until her 18th birthday.

Since the pathbreaking success of Madonna, I suspect there has been pressure on pop singers to adopt a "bad girl" image. (I wonder if that pressure had anything to do with Britney Spears's mental illness.)

Acting the whore is not a repudiation of religious values, but like Satanism is a perverse acceptance of them. Religion devalues worldly pleasures such as sex; promiscuity -- indiscriminate sex unconnected to serious values -- does the same. One of Ayn Rand's great insights is that sex is too good and important to be taken lightly or approached as a mindless slut. One's sexuality should be treated with the serious reverence that the religious reserve for the supernatural realm (that does not exist).

4. Questions about elections in the internet age.

How is the internet changing elections? Does the New York Times still set the agenda, or do blogs?

Another question: Could the homely Abraham Lincoln, who was once called a "baboon," have been elected in the television age? Does our modern process deliver better politicians than we had in the 19th century?

5. On HB List Jim May notes this harbinger of inflation -- consumer electronics prices will rise.

Inflation is the politicians' favorite tax because, due to the abysmal ignorance of economics, they don't get blamed for it. Moreover, they can blame business and use inflation as an excuse to meddle further in the economy and increase the power of the state.

I excerpt Henry Hazlitt's explanation of inflation in this post.

6. For your entertainment pleasure, I link to this clip from Kiss Me, Kate. The song is one of Cole Porter's best, "From This Moment On." Unless my hearing is mistaken (as it sometimes is when I analyze melodies in my head), the melody shoots up an octave from fifth to fifth then bounces back and forth between that high fifth and a fifth sharp. It is an expression of ecstatic joy, and it fits the lyric perfectly.

Bob Fosse, one of the dancers, created a style of his own. Interesting to note that Noel Coward's first response to this musical was that Porter's lyrics were too dirty. Coward was old school -- Edwardian old school.