Alan Grayson: Devil Take the Hindmost

Although this piece is at times political, Grayson offers up a good primer of the history of the phrase and concept "the devil take the hindmost," dating back to a 1610 play performed by the Shakespeare's troop The King's Men. As such, it asks if we as a people want to let the least of us fall ... and if that doesn't also threaten the strongest of us as well.

Alan Grayson: Devil Take the Hindmost (Huffington Post)

Humor on Walkabout

Something keeps crossing my mind now and again: what happened to my sense of humor?

I don't think I lost it per se. It's not that my face would break if I smile because it's unfamiliar. Yet I think back to my younger self, before the weight of responsibility and failures and little victories and aspirations the door has closed on, and I think how that person was easier to laugh, much more into comedy and less likely to be mistrustful.

The old me never missed a chance to watch comedians on TV like George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy, Paula Poundstone, and Jim Carrey. But contemporary comics and comedic actors like Will Ferrell, Steve Carell, and Adam Sandler leave me utterly cold. I wonder, though, if it's the comics that have changed or is it me. I don't listen to music at home on a stereo like I used to, either; habits change over time, but so do perspectives.

The world just seems a more serious place than when I was twentysomething. Back then there wasn't much weight in not succeeding, not as much as the weight of failing seems now. When the world seems a precarious place, it's hard not to see humor as a luxury. Kinda like when a child has to finish the vegetables before dessert, I subconsciously feel there's something undone or unearned when there are troubles in life that give me a "not now" feeling about humor and comedy.

Maybe I'm more contemplative than my younger self was. I used to get into all manner of double entendre jokes, never missed the Airplane movies, and so forth. Yet Carlin remains my favorite comedian of all time, and his offerings were as cerebral as they were irreverent. So I've always enjoyed humor that makes one think. I still enjoy Carlin's books. I suspect a book by Tracy Morgan would not interest me in the least. The Plato and a Platypus books are the only ones that I've enjoyed the way I used to.

If I can get to a point where I tell myself it's okay to let myself enjoy a pleasure that now would make me feel guilty, I could embrace the thorough cleansing benefits of the belly laugh. I'm just not so sure how to get there.

Public Split Evenly on Urgency of Debt Limit Debate | Pew Research Center for the People and the Press

The results of this Pew Research poll are disturbing since it shows so many people simply don't understand the grave danger to the world economy of a U.S. default. Perhaps it's a product of our highly polarized political climate, with more people getting their news from Fox News and MSNBC and fewer from CNN. Perhaps it's as Washington Post analysts Chris Cillizza and Aaron Blake wrote, that Republicans don't put any stock in Wall Street or the federal government so the dire warnings coming from both have been seen as Chicken Little saying the sky is falling.

Public Split Evenly on Urgency of Debt Limit Debate | Pew Research Center for the People and the Press

Pornography and the "Marriage Vow" Pledge

There is probably no cultural issue that tests First Amendment freedom of speech protection than pornography. While there were some infamous examples of the need for freedom of speech after the 9/11 attacks (especially Bill Maher being told by then-Press-Secretary Ari Fleischer to "watch what you say"), the enduring attempts to censor pornography are the perennial example of how unpopular speech needs First Amendment protection for there to be free speech for everyone.

The latest public skirmish on this front is the Marriage Vow pledge concocted by an Iowa group called the Family Leader. Presidential candidates Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum have signed this pledge, which includes references to "humane protection of women and the innocent fruit of conjugal intimacy — our next generation of American children — from human trafficking, sexual slavery, seduction into promiscuity, and all forms of pornography and prostitution, infanticide, abortion and other types of coercion or stolen innocence." Bachmann made a point of equating pornography with human trafficking and slavery, according to Larry Flynt (link below). Moralists have long targeted pornography for elimination, and this pledge makes some wild assumptions to link porn with slavery. But if an unpopular form of expression is banned by government, it's that much easier to start curbing or banning less controversial speech (like the Bill Maher example I mentioned) until freedom of speech is largely meaningless.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0711/58591.html#ixzz1RnnfsSYH

Larry Flynt: Shame on Michele Bachmann for Anti-Porn Pledge - The Daily Beast

Obama calls the GOP’s bluff - The Washington Post

Eugene Robinson gently chides President Obama for what wholesome-sounding government programs will be cut if Republicans don't come off their no-tax-increase demand on the debt ceiling negotiations. Nevertheless, Robinson says Obama is right to call out the GOP (finally, I might add) for their intransigence on revenues and spending cuts. "Every independent, bipartisan, blue-ribbon panel that has looked at the deficit problem has reached the same conclusion: The gap between spending and revenue is much too big to be closed by budget cuts alone. With fervent conviction but zero evidence, Tea Party Republicans believe otherwise — and Establishment Republicans, who know better, are afraid to contradict them."

Obama calls the GOP’s bluff - The Washington Post