Onward, Ho

Let's see, Barack Obama takes a vacation in Hawaii to play golf. Rush Limbaugh takes vacation in Hawaii to play..golf. Obama's time on the links gets interrupted by a failed terror attack; Rush's by a faux heart attack. What kind of weird serendipity is that, exactly?

Some are wildly speculating about this seemingly weird symbiosis between the right and left poles, suggesting there was perhaps a secret liaison on the golf course or perhaps even a kind of Indiana Jones-like caper associated with Obama's birth certificate. Actually, I have no idea whether some are doing that or not, it just sounded like something interesting to type. This is a blog, after all.

But in the real world we do know there are some very strange things about the aftermath of flight 253 that may translate into consequences--and not just on passengers via more hideous security measures but on certain bloggers, administration officials and perhaps CIA personnel. Or in other words, everyone under number one, who got the PDB.

But OK, that One is at least blaming the attack on something other than PTSD--it's now apparently crushing poverty. Which would represent a new tactic for AQ, relatively speaking.

We also know that Limbaugh's false alarm triggered a rather predictable reaction from some amongst the reality-based community, folks who normally pride themselves on the virtues of tolerance and diversity, providing even more new show fodder for Rush's stack of stuff (apart from this gem).

Or in other words despite the Hawaiian nexus the year is starting off very much like all the others. Whether it ends like no other may actually depend less on the most important political fork in the road (since the last most important political fork) and more on how the economy recovers under a shaky dollar combined with an increasing threat from the man-causing contingency makers. Unless there's pestilence or locusts.

MORE 1/2/2010 (weird)

Listening to the tone of Obama's voice in his weekly address one would never guess he was talking about serious national security issues. And he just couldn't help himself by getting another Bush/Iraq dig in there, ignoring the extremists terrorists still operating there or the contingent of EIJ members that congregated on Saddam's doorstep before the invasion.

OK yes, I had to criticize him over something despite his willingness to say "terrorist" and take it to them hard in Afghan and Yemen. Tone of voice or not, he's doing the right thing. Now, it would be nice if the left noticed that non-specific presidential briefings should not be held against presidents. We can hope.

As to the year 2010, the sequel to 2001 A Space Odyssey was called 2010 and was released to theaters in 1984 during the first Reagan administration, soon to be second. In case you've never seen it, the story centers around a joint Soviet-United States venture to Jupiter to investigate the monolith and in doing so, investigates the tension between the two countries, with something wonderful occurring at the end to bring everyone together.

Clarke used a sort of linear extrapolation to assume the Berlin Wall wouldn't fall later in the decade leaving him with a Cold War that lasted 20+ years longer than it actually did. I think this might show the tendency of some in academia and the arts to assume the worst in considering the future. It does make for better drama, though.