Java Zen:Thinking Out Loud Saturday, 2026.01.10 
"All bad poetry springs from genuine feeling," wrote Oscar Wilde, and I would
like to suggest that the same can be said for bad politics...

It seems to me that the politics of liberal reform, in recent years, shows many
of the same characteristics as amateur poetry. It has been more concerned with
the kind of symbolic action that gratifies the passions of the reformer rather
than with the efficacy of the reforms themselves. Indeed, the outstanding
characteristic of what we call "the New Politics" is precisely its insistence on
the overwhelming importance of revealing, in the public realm, one's intense
feelings—we must "care," we must "be concerned," we must be "committed."
Unsurprisingly, this goes along with an immense indifference to consequences, to
positive results or the lack thereof.

		Irving Kristol, Symbolic Politics and Liberal Reform, Dec. 15, 1972

2005.08.01

Little Big Man Drops His Body

This is turning into a banner year for transitions here at the Engel homestead. First Janet and now Oscar has jetted on out of here. The little dude has been fighting so hard for so long. He has been seriously sick almost as long as Janet. I think his first serious brush with death was when his liver darn near quit on him close to 8 years ago. Since then it’s been major respiratory problems (kennel cough set this off), an enlarged heart and a murmur, kidney problems and finally three years ago he flipped diabetic. Turns out, true to his stubborn character, he is highly insulin resistant. Rather than needing 3 units of insulin with each meal for a dog his size, Oscar needed 15 units. By the time the vet figured out the proper dose, Oscar was pretty much blind due to cataracts. As with all his ailments, he simply adjusted and moved on. A powerful little package of inspiration in his own right. (more…)

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