More of a tweet...

...but how weird can it be that even televangelist Pat Robertson thinks the Alabama abortion bill has gone too far?

Ashamed before the blade of grass

The theme at Goat Rope these days continues to be the life and thought of Ralph Waldo Emerson, with a focus at the moment on his famous essay Self Reliance, which is a call for and declaration of spiritual independence.

There is a pretty good bit of irony in today's selection, which involves quoting from a bit of his essay that opposes quoting other people. I beg to disagree with Waldo here. I love finding examples of people who say things better than I ever could. It happens all the time. But the paragraph also contains some good insights into the difficulty we have of living in the present.This is another example of how Emerson's ideas both reflected his interest in Buddhist thought and anticipated elements of it as yet unknown in America. And you can quote me on that.

Here's goes:

Man is timid and apologetic; he is no longer upright; he dares not say 'I think,' 'I am,' but quotes some saint or sage. He is ashamed before the blade of grass or the blowing rose. These roses under my window make no reference to former roses or to better ones; they are for what they are; they exist with God to-day. There is no time to them. There is simply the rose; it is perfect in every moment of its existence. Before a leaf-bud has burst, its whole life acts; in the full-blown flower there is no more; in the leafless root there is no less. Its nature is satisfied, and it satisfies nature, in all moments alike. But man postpones or remembers; he does not live in the present, but with reverted eye laments the past, or, heedless of the riches that surround him, stands on tiptoe to foresee the future. He cannot be happy and strong until he too lives with nature in the present, above time.

A GOOD IDEA. Here's economist Dean Baker with a column on how the US could improve its employment picture with a more extensive use of work sharing, which involves reducing hours rather than cutting jobs and letting affected workers draw partial benefits for the lost wages. El Cabrero and friends have tried to push this idea in WV. It actually made it through one legislative committee this session despite the irrational hostility of the state Chamber of Commerce for a business friendly measure and an equally bizarre attempt at sabotage at the state workforce agency.

ONE MORE LINK JUST FOR FUN. Here's a look at some of the whackiest things televangelist Pat Robertson has said. I'll bet it was hard to whittle it down to 10.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

Somebody needs a handler

In case you were wondering whether televangelist Pat Robertson could top some of his older zingers (such as defining feminism as a "socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians"), the answer is one big YES.

Speaking of the humanitarian disaster in Haiti, he had this to say:

[S]omething happened a long time ago in Haiti and people might not want to talk about it. They were under the heel of the French. Napoleon the Third and whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, "We will serve you if you get us free from the prince." True story. And so the devil said, "OK, it's a deal." They kicked the French out, the Haitians revolted and got themselves free.

But ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after the other, desperately poor...

You can watch it here.

(Actually, Pat, leaving aside the whole foam at the mouth/howl at the moon/whackadoodle devil part, I think the trouble was with the first Napoleon and they handled it themselves with a little help from yellow fever--but that's not the point right now. It might be time you considered getting a little help in the messaging department.)

MEANWHILE, BACK IN REALITYLAND. Many governments and good groups from around the world are trying to come to the aid of earthquake survivors in Haiti. As I mentioned yesterday, the American Friends Service Committee is one of these and you can click here if you want to support those efforts.

TALKING SENSE on politics is E. J. Dionne here. (Sorry about the weird word order thing.)

ANOTHER LATE ANNIVERSARY. Jan. 11 was the date of President Franklin Roosevelt's talk on the need for a "Second Bill of Rights" that dealt with economic issues.

A DEAL has been struck between labor supporters, the White House, and congressional leaders about the proposed tax on high end health care plans in the Senate's health care reform package.

TORTURING THE NUMBERS UNTIL THEY CONFESS. The WV Department of Health and Human Resources wildly exaggerated the costs of Medicaid expansion as part of health care reform.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED