I do not have what I do not have.
I cannot take what is yours.
I may not have what you have.
I would not take what is yours.

I do not have what you lack.
I cannot give you what is not mine.
I do not lack what you lack.
I cannot give you what is mine.

I do not have what you want.
I do not want what you guard.
I do not want what you have.
I do not guard what you want.

You do not have what you lack.
You do not have what you need.
You do not want what you lack.
You do not want what you know.

I will not take what you have.
You have nothing for me to take.
I cannot take what you have.
You have nothing for me to take.

You cannot guard what you have.
You have nothing to guard.
You cannot keep what you have.
There is nothing there to guard.

I do not know what you lack.
I cannot know what is not there.
I do not know what you want.
I cannot see what is not there.

I will keep what I get.
I will take all that I am allowed.
You will keep what you will.
And reap what you sowed.

So, burntbythesun02 and I have been having a little back and forth about the state of modern political science. I commented that The Case for Democracy by Natan Sharansky was the first polisci book I remember to actually posit a falsifiable hypothesis. I have a general disgust for the current state of political science as being the study of who thinks he is more right about why other people are wrong. Burnt believes that there are political scientists who actually do something other than write long diatribes trying to convince others that they know how everyone thinks, even though they couldn't market water in the Sahara.

In any case, I challenged sunny boy to read The Case for Democracy and he said he would, if I read the book The Tragedy of Great Power by an antisemite. Now, doesn't tan so well did not know (as most people who are not Jewish do not) that the author is an antisemite. (I do not throw that word around lightly.) He is an eminent professor who decided to publish the Protocols of the Elders of Zion as a working paper under the Kennedy School's prestigious name. That is a whole other discussion.

Anyway, I would not ignore a book by any Nazi that burnt thought was worthwhile. I got the book, and I started reading it. I will admit I was skeptical from the minute I opened the book. After reading the first footnote, I decided that if I am going to read this and be subjected to another treatise of political "science" then I am getting out my crucible and bunsen burner.

( Smells like smoke.Collapse )
I hope the next 400 pages will be superior. At least, I hope the other footnotes will actually cite facts in the sentences they follow as opposed to giving the impression that a "quote" was actually a quote from some exstant work while constructing a straw man.

Current Mood: cynical

The original can be found here.

SPEECH: ACTION

For Roman Jakobson

          1

Between what I see and say,
between what I say and guard,
between what I guard and dream,
between what I dream and forget,
poetry.

                     It slides
into the yes and the no:
                                    Says
what I guard,
                         guards
what I say,
                         dreams
what I forget.
                            It is not speech:
it is an action.
                         An action
that is a speech.
                                Poetry
speaks as it listens:
                                  it is real.
And as soon as I say
                              it is real,
vanishes.
                    ¿Is it more real so?

Current Music: Policy of Truth by Depeche Mode

A friend of mine has been writing poetry, which has taken me back to when I was in High School and only a 30 year old man. My favorite poems are Decir: Hacer by Octavio Paz and Romance Sonambulo by Federico Garcia Lorca. (Only the second one has a translation. My translation of Decir: Hacer will follow.) This one reminds me of Paz.

( Read more...Collapse )

Current Music: The Great Commandment by Camouflage

Did I mention I thoroughly regret voting for McCain?

Obama backs Bush: No rights for Bagram prisoners

If I only knew he would be more conservative than McCain, so much would have been different.

Current Mood: groggy
Current Music: Lovefool - The Cardigans