Ginny

Age: 77 Place: Originally Nebraska, now Texas Family: Husband, 3 daughters, 3 sons-in-law, 3 grandchildren Occupation: Retired Education: BA, MA Nebraska; Ph.D. UT-Austin Work On hhe Double (1979-1992); taught: ta Austin, Blinn Jr. College (1993-20015), Kelly Girls intermittently.

Comment on Blogosphere Morning

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Well, this hasn’t worked so well for the Jehovah Witnesses. I’m not sure America is ready for a Great Awakening secular style; perhaps those Awakenings that have followed upheavals throughout our history may help immunize us to enthusiasms like this. Or not. I guess we’ll find out. It does demonstrate just how well we can expect our tax money to Acorn to be used and just how well that whole Acorn taking the census is likely to work out.

My hyperbole before the election to my friends is proving to not be as exaggerated as they (and to be honest I) thought. When I was coding the category, I was caught – does this belong under politics or religion? Fortunately, the poll numbers are down. But how riven is this nation going to be by igniting passions like these? Or should I, as I expect is appropriate, calm down and trust Americans, which is generally the best thing to do.

Later: I might say that my husband voiced an opinion (hope) this is merely a hoax. The comments at Hot Air, however, link to the original, at Organizing for America. Commentary (the obvious written comments) were added by people that were more critical, of course. The core, however, is there.

Our Voluntary Tax System

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I’ve never been a big anti-tax person in the personal sense. I recognize lower taxes are more likely to stimulate both economic growth and personal responsibility. But when one of the paychecks in your family comes from a Land Grant university position and the other from a college supported by regional and state taxes, it is unbecoming to complain too much. Nonetheless, this Reid discussion is irritating. Of course, it was sent me by my brother who has been responsible for creating far more jobs in his lifetime than our household’s academic posts have.

What world do these people live in?

And Then There’s Inflation

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I don’t understand the big issues of economics, so perhaps this is a naive post. And a naive question, perhaps: Isn’t inflation the inevitable result of these policies? Doesn’t that discourage productivity? Besides enabling bad behavior, dissing good, abrogating contracts, and taking property (Kelo), how is the government ensuring a strong economy down the road? As someone who is regularly paying down a mortgage – hoping to pay it off in 5 rather than the original 30 years – I’ve been wondering if that, too, isn’t a chump’s act. Projected inflation is, of course, a good deal higher than the interest. Everyone seems agreed that dollars in, say, 2013, will be worth less than in 2009. Why, then, should we pay it off in 2009 dollars?

The Worlds of Benjamin Franklin & Franklin Raines

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At some point we are likely to go back to looking at the world as we did a few generations back – the virtues of the 1950’s or the renunciatory sense of duty of the nineteenth century. If the Romantics & the French Revolution saw a response in the stiff upper lip, perhaps the disasters of today will bring back that same resolute look – perhaps instead of Sean Penn we will admire laconic heroes like Gary Cooper and self-deprecating ones like Jimmy Stewart. And if we do, perhaps we will value Benjamin Franklin’s advice and have little longing for Franklin Raines’ raincoat – value more what’s in our chests than covers our backs.

Perhaps the current economic crisis will force a re-examination of the assumptions Shannon describes so well. Each semester I ask my students to briefly discuss a variety of passages from early writers. One of my favorites is Benjamin Franklin’s argument against debt, that it tempts man to lie, that it undermines his freedom. Indeed, as he says, it is hard for an empty bag to stand upright. I like it because it counters D. H. Lawrence’s attack in an understated way. Franklin’s is not a romantic sense of self but a belief that protecting our essence, who we are, is important. His sense that the practical, the worldly & mundane, is an important factor seems much more interesting than the sex & melodrama of Lawrence’s dark passions.

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MasterCard & International Relations

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Under the heading of “we’re all in this together” and “there are heroes among us”:

Tonight I phoned MasterCard; they hear from me quite a lot since I’m pretty incompetent. (I lost my purse for about a week; Target wouldn’t tell me they had it even though I kept phoning; when I dropped by they said, sure, and immediately gave it to me.). So tonight I’m pointing out that I can’t figure out a couple of bills I probably got suckered into by filling out something on the net.

The woman was quite helpful and consistently apologetic though I’m pretty sure it was my fault and told her so. As we were about to hang up, I asked her where she was. She said Mumbai. I gasped and offered my condolences. She told me about a friend trapped in an office during the seige. She said they had learned from the incident – learned to be more vigilant, to be more careful. And that people had reached out to others in warm ways. Still, the destruction of the beautiful landmark was disturbing. And, she hoped all of us (I doubt she mean America hadn’t) would take a consistent stand against the terrorists. We spoke of the stories of heroism. She said I made her feel better – certainly, she made me feel better. The virtue of a world economy is that it brings together people like us, over the telephone very early in her morning and in my evening. We share much; of course, we can share much because we speak English. Her Indian accent and my Mid-western one give no trouble. And it is yet another argument that no matter how tragic the loss of languages may be (and I agree, the more we “save” the better), the sooner and more broadly we have a strong, common language the more moments like this will happen.