8 Minutes on Prop. 8 (with a soft biblo hook)

Lawrence Lessig is one of my minor heroes. He is a brilliant and creative lawyer (not nearly as common a combination as it should be). He founded Stanford's Center for Internet and Society, is a driving force for both the Software Freedom Law Center and the Creative Commons and is a past board member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. He has also written several outstanding books (see particularly Code and Future of Ideas) and blogs. His brain-time and musings are most often aimed at technology in its many facets...but he has been annoyed, of late, by what he has seen in the oppostion to Prop 8 in California. His annoyance resulted in an extremely well honed analysis...as he is wont..8 Minutes on 8. Enjoy.

You Can Vote However You LIke...

This has been getting a bit of play in the last 24 hours or so...and it is well deserved. Kids are from the Ron Clark Academy...lyrics (quoted below) are a parody of TI's "Whatever You Like". It is outstanding. Not at all bookish at all...but too good not to applaud.

Obama on the left
McCain on the right
We can talk politics all night
And you can vote however you like
You can vote however you like, yeah

Democratic left
Republican right
November 4th we decide
And you can vote however you like
You can vote however you like, yeah

(McCain supporters)
McCain's the best candidate
With Palin as his running mate
They'll fight for gun rights, pro life,
The conservative right
Our future is bright
Better economy in site
And all the world will feel our military might

(Obama supporters)
But McCain and Bush are real close right
They vote alike and keep it tight
Obama's new, he's younger too
The Middle Class he will help you
He'll bring a change, he's got the brains
McCain and Bush are just the same
You are to blame, Iraq's a shame
Four more years would be insane

Lower your Taxes - you know Obama Won't
PROTECT THE LOWER CLASS - You know McCain won't!
Have enough experience - you know that they don't
STOP GLOBAL WARMING - you know that you won't

I want Obama
FORGET OBAMA
Stick with McCain and you're going to have some drama
We need it
HE'LL BRING IT
He'll be it
YOU'LL SEE IT
We'll do it
GET TO IT
Let's move it
DO IT!

Obama on the left
McCain on the right
We can talk politics all night
And you can vote however you like
You can vote however you like, yeah

Democratic left
Republican right
November 4th we decide
And you can vote however you like, I said
You can vote however you like, yeah

I'm talking big pipe lines, and low gas prices
Below $2.00 that would be nice

But to do it right we gotta start today
Finding renewable ways that are here to stay

I want Obama
FORGET OBAMA,
Stick wit McCain you gone have some drama
MORE WAR IN IRAQ
Iran he will attack
CAN'T BRING OUR TROOPS BACK
We gotta vote Barack!

Obama on the left
McCain on the right
We can talk politics all night
And you can vote however you like, I said
You can vote however you like, yeah

Democratic left
Republican right
November 4th we decide
And you can vote however you like, I said
You can vote however you like, yeah

If you are not completely appalled...

you are not paying attention. One of my more favorite quotations and an apt slogan on a political T-Shirt. It is captured, as such, in Judy Seigel's "[Read My T-Shirt] for President... a true history of the political front - and back."

Meeting and chatting...at length...with Judy was one of the better bits of the NY fair I attended last weekend. A photographer, writer and the founding editor of the "leading alternative photography journal", I do not think I am understating it when I say she is a force of nature.. We ended up talking a bit of politics and she told me about the book she had written on the t-shirt politics of the Bush years. I told her I would have to track a copy down as such things amuse me. She said not to worry about it. I just received not one but two copies in the post...signed even. I haven't had time to read it, but have flipped through for some favorites and all are there save one. I predict I will have good fun looking at these with the boys in a few years.
[there should be an image of the cover, but blogger seem disinclined to import images at the moment...I'll try to update later.]

little moments in long-distance fatherhood...

I am strangely fond of moments like this...Thing One just called and said, "Dad, I need your help. I need two factors for 39. I have 1x39, but what is the other?" I offered, "Well, think about it. What times what gets you 39". "Oh," says T1, "3x13. Thanks. I love you." "I love you, too." say I. And he hangs up.

Little things can be so nice...

...because if it is not a Utilikilt, it's crap...

Relatively new from ThinkGeek. I may have just found my favorite new bit of clothing. It is bookish as it is my hope to be wearing this at all bookfair sets into the indefinite future . Get your own here.

From the Revenge of Unintended Consequences file...

So a librarian from a NY school puts a copy of the book his daughter wrote (a manga edition of Macbeth) in his library and displays one with his "Best New Book and/or Best Book Ever Written" reviews. Worse, he gives away free copies when asked about it.

As a reward for being proud of his daughter's work and having some fun promoting it, he was threatened with firing, loss of his teaching license and a $1000 fine. All this under the auspices of the Conflicts of Interest Board of NY City.

While just my opinion, the stupidity of this is epic. Ignoring for a moment that from my understanding of the facts, he was not selling copies of his daughters work, but giving them away (and there is, thus, no "use of the office to personally benefit the employee")...is this really the abuse of office case that NY needs/should pursue? I am guessing it is yet another case of "whack the minor case/"irrelevant" party and thus be able to ignore the complex cases/high profile violators" that is so typical. Clearly the city's building inspectors (and crane inspectors) are fully complaint.

The compromise was a $500 fine. I wish I was in a different place in life as I would dearly like to buy enough of his daughter's books to offset this stupid fine. A nice and less pissed off iteration of events can be found here. Apropos of nothing, feeling really icky and reading about abject stupidity is a bad combination.

Why book fairs are fun...

So after the NY fair I trundled up to Northampton and spent the night with Forrest Proper and family of Joslin Hall fame (who blogs at FoggyGates). Sunday morn we were all off to the MARIAB fair in Northampton. Forrest, et al. to show and me to poke about, visit with the kindred and shop.

The top image was my most entertaining find of the day. I'm in the process of tracking down what war it was associated with...woodblock letters and a hotel noted...I am rather hopeful I will be able to nail it down.

The other is a well-known dealer who shall remain nameless. He amused himself throughout the day by occasionally channeling the Gipper and doing a bit of campaigning. A bit of Theatre of the Absurd performance art brightens nearly any day.

It was a very long few weeks...I am looking forward to a few days of rest and catching up on various dropped balls...

Iron (Wo)man Booksellers - Part Three

Presented here are John and Sonia. Three fairs...on two coasts...over
two weekends. Still smiling. Pretty amazing.

Iron (wo)man Booksellers [part2]

John and Sonia at the end of the NY bookfair. Two weekends, two
coasts, three bookfairs. They drove from NH to Seattle, then drove
back to NY for the fair Fri. and Sat. Shortly after this photo, they
were packed in their van and off to Northampton for the show on Sunday.

I'll be there shopping and will get a final image from their epic
journey.

Breakfast at ""Cafeteria"

Just had breakfast at Cafeteria...a well thought out 24/7 eatery
around the corner from the show. Very good coffee-great service and a
good vibe. Notably, they managed to make me feel incrimentally better
about my notoriously unhealthy breakfast choice, biscuits & gravy. I
ate the greens first to get them out of the way...

How cool are your cabs?

I know this is not new for all, but it is worthy of note. Touchscreen
in the cabs...feed you news and real-time GPS location. Best, when you
swipe you card in the back, you can confirm the amount and add a tip
via the screen. Very cool.

Back in Maine, our Gov. just made the case for Mainers to eat more
lobster to support the local economy.

Friday also Sunday's birthday

Happy birthday to Sunday of B&B Books fame. Also in the shot: the
other B (Josh) and Brian of Appledore Books. We had celebratory
cupcakes after the show. Yum.

Line down the walk for opening

The evening was very nice. Reasonably good traffic. Some sales.
Freinds, old and new, showed up. Ankle was ok until last hour or so.
My fault as I think I forgot my early evening meds. Open at 9am
tomorrow...do people really do anything in NY at 9am on a Sat.? We
shall see.

NY Book Fair - After

Not a great picture, but you get the idea. I hurt more.

NY bookfair - before

The booth before setup... I hurt.

NY bound...made it to Rein's

One of the best parts of trekking to NY is stopping at Rein's for a
meal (or two). Next stop, Swann's.

Have had something emerge in the last 24 hours or so on my heel more
or less at the base of my Achiles tendon. It is stunningly painful
when "touched" and worse when I walk...or limp, as the case may be. It
is going to be a very long weekend.

Back in Maine...waiting for luggage...

We had as good a return trip [thus far, see below]. We had great tailwinds and, as a result, made it back in under 4 hours. When we landed around 430 or so, slightly crippled and achy, I looked at the board to see that our plane was on time *but* that there was another flight leaving for Portland at 520 from the same gate. We decided to see if we might be able to get on it. We got to the gate just as they were finishing up boarding, asked the nice JetBlue human if there was any room and he said that there were two seats, not side by side, but in the same row....OH...and in one of the "pay us an extra $x amount for this row as it has more leg room". He pointed out that we will have to go back to the airport to get our luggage...this is fine as the airport is 5 or so minutes away. It was a lovely, short flight and we were able to have dinner at home.

Now the only question becomes one of luggage. I have shipped a case with books in it because I need them for NY this weekend. As long as TSA hasn't tried to unpack it, all should be just great. I'll post a Seattle wrap-up shortly...and a serious rant if there is a problem with the luggage. At this point, it was possibly the best West to East flight(s) we've had in quite a while.

And we are off...

TopPot just opened. It is now 615am. We are off to the airport. We
will not be home until 1130pm. It is going to be a long day.

Packed up and ready to go...

We are all packed out. The cases heading east are with FedEx. We are going to bring one case (plus our carry on bags) back on the plane so I can have them in NY. We have some meetings tommorow and then fly back east on Tuesday.

We had a really nice dinner with Vic Zoscak (Tavistock Books), Deborah Coltham (D.C. Rare Books), and Michael Thompson (M.T. Rare Books). It was a really nice way to unwind from the show. [links to follow]

Great show and a great weekend. Look forward to visiting some local shops tomorrow and our meetings. Here's to the new week being as much fun as the weekend.

How to break a bookdealer...Part One

Last year John Kuensig (and his long suffering wife, Sonia) did a very silly thing by doing a Fri/Sat show in NY and then a Sun show in Northampton. Apparently John has forgotten how twitchy he was...this year he/they are shooting for a trifecta.

They just packed up and are on the road back east having just finished the show here in Seattle. They are driving back east so as to set up Thur/Fri for NY and *then* will drive up to Northampton.

I will be at the NY fair and plan to shop the Sun fair (but not show). I will take pictures of J and S at each and we will see what doing three shows on two coasts over two weekends does to otherwise sane booksealers.

Quick, overarching apology...

As anyone who reads this regularly knows, I am not inclined to proofread these posts and they often suffer from issues of "mind faster than fingers" and, well, ignorance. This has been heightened by my recent tendency to blog via iPhone...resulting in the refreshing addition of strange typos and a bit of weird formatting...bear with me. I will try to hammer out the problems (technical, not mental).

Wrestling Ken Sanders...

We've been told of a previously unknown ABAA initiation involves wrestling Ken Sanders...the two youngest members in the room, no less. Brian Cassidy and I were very surprised by this previously unknown rule. Who'd have thunk it..

[addendum: have been told by a reliable source (thanks Kent) that such attempts brings nothing but pain and bruises...informer then broke down...twitching at the memory. We have managed to avoid the task this far...for how long, we can only guess...]

Dinner an after...

Dinner was great and a wonderful treat (thank you, again, to our
host). Turkish food and good wine. Afterwards we all trapsed over to
Wessel & Lieberman for drinks, books and hanging out with the
afflicted. It has been a very nice night.

End of day one approaching...

1.5 hours to go. Lots of traffic. Lots of young people (more on this later). Lots of interest and sophisticated and/or curious questions. A good day this far.

Dinner tonight with friends and a wee shop party. With luck, in more comfortable shoes.

After....

To counter the Before. The booth looks pretty good.

Opening soon...

Well, Brian Cassidy and I managed to get things tidied up and we are
ready to go...

Would you buy a book from this man?

Kent missed his taters and possum, but bought drinks after for us, which was very nice. Back before midnight...setup starts at 8am and the show opens at 10am. Hope springs eternal.

Dinner, awards, presentation and good friends...

Dinner was nice. A lot of dealers, collectors and friends and family
in attendance. The awards presentation went well. Ed Nolan, spec. col.
at Tacoma spoke on the paper in and around the Alaska Yukon Pacific
Exposition with many slides. The large head is that of Brian
Cassidy...Kent is noticably absent. Fun had by all.

Set up done...recovering and getting ready for the eve

This is the the booth before setup. "After" image to follow. All set
up. At the Icon Grill eating for the first time since early morn.

Problem spotting 101

Q: Which of these bathroom stalls seems...er...slightly creepy?
A: Yes, indeed. The one with the big clasp lock on the OUTSIDE. Yikes.

Set up, visiting and a bookish dinner in the eve...

Am at Top Pot checking mail, drinking coffee and having *one* doughnut on the way to the show. I've picked up a dozen to share with others at the fair because you have to share the love... Off in moments to set up the booth.

I *love* this set up. No rush at all. 8am-5pm. That I only have 8 cases plus my carry-ons makes it easier. Tonight is the WA Booksellers dinner and the awards for this years Collegiate Collecting Competition. Fun should he had by all.

Sleepy in Seattle...

Arrived safely. Long, painful flight. Checked into the inn. Picked up
cases. Dropped cases in booth at the hall. The hall is on the Space
Needle campus...which is nice.

Photo from our walk from the hall to our inn...along the way we shall
find dinner...then bed. Setup starts at 8am...I will not be there <g>.

Literal truth, air travel and other annoyances...

Please note that this sign states "Free Wireless Hotspot". This is a
true statement on it's face. What it fails to point out is that said
FHS is not, in fact, connected to anything (other than other
frustrated laptop user's machines...potentially fun in itself, but I
am too old to play such games any longer...).

We are killing two long hours at JFK before the flight to Seattle. I'm
pretending to do some db cleanup and recoding some of the site. We
shall see.

I used to fly a lot. I used to really quite enjoy it. Now I am
reasonably certain I would rather pull all my fingernails out with
pliers.

A remarkable private collection (and a geek to boot)

I do not have the time to properly blog this as I am still packing for Seattle. Far too briefly, *this* is what collecting is about: passion and interest and creativity. Simply brilliant. I hope to post more on this later. Enjoy the article. Thanks to Don for the heads up.

RBS announces new Scholarship winners (including my wonderful wife)...

The Rare Book School has announced this years slate of Scholarship Winners. I am very pleased to say that among the winners is my brilliant and wonderful wife. We are *extremely* excited because I won a scholarship last year and deliberately waited a year before signing up in hopes that we could attend programs at the same time (the scholarships are good for two years). Now we get figure out what classes we are going to take and go through it together...taking different classes, of course. I will undoubtedly blog about it during the course(s).

I would also like to thank all those behind this remarkable scholarship program. The programs offered by RBS are wonderful, but it is a real stretch for many...it is a wonderful thing that the scholarship program makes it possible for so many to attend who might not otherwise be able to do so. I look forward to seeing some of you at the classes...

Seattle Book Fair is upon us...come one, come all...

Please consider joining us this coming weekend for one of the great regional book fairs in the country. The Seattle Antiquarian Book Fair will be open from Saturday Oct 11 (10-6) and Sunday Oct 12 (11-4).

There will be approximately 46 ABAA dealers will be exhibiting with an additional 50 other booksellers. All in all, it is a great weekend for books in Seattle. As a side benefit, there is also good coffee and arguably the *best* donuts on earth.

Are books on the shelf better than stock certificates in a drawer...

As things in financial circles get more...er...complex, I've been wondering about the bits of paper on my shelves. As I pondered such things, I discovered the following chart, printed in A Random Walk Down Wall Street (Burton Malkiel, Princeton economist)

Annual Gain of Various Investments 1968-1979
19.4% Gold
18.9% Stamps
15.7% Rare books
13.7% Silver
12.7% Rare coins
12.5% Old masters' paintings
11.8% Diamonds
11.3% Farmland
9.6% Single-family house
6.5% U.S. CPI (Inflation)
6.4% Foreign currencies
5.8% High-grade corporate bonds
3.1% Common stocks

The date range is interesting, as 1968 was the end of a major stock market bubble (3rd behind 1929 and 2000). It is, regardless, an interesting list...N.B. I have absolutely no opinion as to the veracity of the list or its figures. That said, I would love to see some more current analysis and see where things stand for the 2-3 decades after this...

Personally, I'd rather put money into fine books for their own sakes...they are lovely in hand, they contain most of the great ideas spawned from the minds of wo/man, and...well...they do seem to hold up pretty well over time (Trollop notwithstanding). At the end of the day, with a stock cert., you own a bit of a company and the hope that it will thrive. With books on the shelves, you are a steward of history.

In a book curse-y mood...

Book curses, for those who do not know. are wonderfully damning bits of prose promising all sorts of bad outcomes for those who steal/damage/malign the subject book. I am in a foul mood this morning and am in a churlish mood. I offer the following for fun:

For him that stealeth, or borroweth and returneth not, this book from its owner, let it change into a serpent in his hand and rend him. Let him be struck with palsy, and all his members blasted. Let him languish in pain crying aloud for mercy, and let there be no surcease to this agony till he sing in dissolution. Let bookworms gnaw his entrails, and when he last goeth to his final punishment, let the flames of Hell consume him forever" (from a San Pedro, Barcelona monastery library).

or

If anyone take away this book,
Let him die the death;
Let him be fried in a pan;
Let the falling sickness and fever seize him;
Let him be broken on the wheel, and hanged.
Amen."

or

God rot the crook who steals this book.

or

This book belongs to none but me
For there's my name inside to see.
To steal this book, if you should try,
It's by the throat that you'll hang high
And ravens then will gather 'bout
To find your eyes and pull them out.
And when you're screaming
'oh, oh, oh!'
Remember, you deserved this woe.

or

To him that stealeth, or borroweth and returneth not,
this book from its owner,
let it change into a Serpent in his hand and rend him ...
Let bookworms gnaw his entrails.

or

Reader, turn the leaves gently,
wash your hands,
and if you must hold the book,
cover it with your tunic.

or

May the sword of anathema slay
If anyone steals this book away.

not to be confused with

If anyone steal it, let him be anathema!
Whoever finds fault with it, let him be accursed.
Amen.

or

Whoever steals this book
Will hang on a gallows in Paris,
And, if he isn't hung, he'll drown.
And, if he doesn't drown, he'll roast,
And, if he doesn't roast, a worse end will befall him.

or

By him who bought me for his own,
I'm lent for reading leaf by leaf;
If honest, you'll return the loan,
If you retain me, you're a thief.
Neither blemish this book, nor the leaves double down,
Nor lend it to each idle friend in town;
Return it when read, or, if lost, please supply
Another as good to the mind and the eye.

And finally, and more broadly, some thoughts from Christopher Morley:

I give hearty and humble thanks for the safe return of this book, which having endured the perils of my friend’s bookcase and the bookcases of my friend’s friends, now returns to me in reasonable good condition. I give hearty and humble thanks that my friend did not see fit to give this book to his infant for a plaything, nor use it as an ash tray for his burning cigar, nor as a teething-ring for his mastiff. When I loaned this book, I deemed it as lost; I was resigned to the business of the long parting; I never thought to look upon its pages again. But now that my book has come back to me, I rejoice and am exceedingly glad! Bring hither the fatted morocco and let us rebind the volume and set it on the shelf of honor, for this my book was lent and is returned again. Presently, therefore, I may return some of the books I myself have borrowed.

New book from one of a kindred...

My friend Stephen J. Gertz - of David Brass Rare Book fame - has a new book about to debut: Dope Menace: The Sensational World of Drug Paperbacks. To quote the author:

"Shameless self-promotion dept.: $16.47 - 34% off list price. A euphoric read, the visuals will make your eyes dilate, your serotonin level will skyrocket. In short: Happy brain."

I have not read it yet, but will as soon as it is released...preorder now...

The Book of my Enemy has been Remaindered...

Thanks to my mother (and MPBN) for the reminder of Clive James' wonderful poem. Enjoy.

'The Book of my Enemy Has Been Remaindered'

The book of my enemy has been remaindered
And I am pleased.
In vast quantities it has been remaindered
Like a van-load of counterfeit that has been seized
And sits in piles in a police warehouse,
My enemy's much-prized effort sits in piles
In the kind of bookshop where remaindering occurs.
Great, square stacks of rejected books and, between them, aisles
One passes down reflecting on life's vanities,
Pausing to remember all those thoughtful reviews
Lavished to no avail upon one's enemy's book --
For behold, here is that book
Among these ranks and banks of duds,
These ponderous and seeminly irreducible cairns
Of complete stiffs.


The book of my enemy has been remaindered
And I rejoice.
It has gone with bowed head like a defeated legion
Beneath the yoke.
What avail him now his awards and prizes,
The praise expended upon his meticulous technique,
His individual new voice?
Knocked into the middle of next week
His brainchild now consorts with the bad buys
The sinker, clinkers, dogs and dregs,
The Edsels of the world of moveable type,
The bummers that no amount of hype could shift,
The unbudgeable turkeys.


Yea, his slim volume with its understated wrapper
Bathes in the blare of the brightly jacketed Hitler's War Machine,
His unmistakably individual new voice
Shares the same scrapyart with a forlorn skyscraper
Of The Kung-Fu Cookbook,
His honesty, proclaimed by himself and believed by others,
His renowned abhorrence of all posturing and pretense,
Is there with Pertwee's Promenades and Pierrots--
One Hundred Years of Seaside Entertainment,
And (oh, this above all) his sensibility,
His sensibility and its hair-like filaments,
His delicate, quivering sensibility is now as one
With Barbara Windsor's Book of Boobs,
A volume graced by the descriptive rubric
"My boobs will give everyone hours of fun".


Soon now a book of mine could be remaindered also,
Though not to the monumental extent
In which the chastisement of remaindering has been meted out
To the book of my enemy,
Since in the case of my own book it will be due
To a miscalculated print run, a marketing error--
Nothing to do with merit.
But just supposing that such an event should hold
Some slight element of sadness, it will be offset
By the memory of this sweet moment.
Chill the champagne and polish the crystal goblets!
The book of my enemy has been remaindered
And I am glad.

Since when did being well-read and intellectually sophisticated become an anathema?

I watched the debate last night and was more or less pleased with all parties. Gwen was her usually sharp and focused self. Biden kept himself reigned in and exuded the deep knowledge and competence he is known for (and avoided any significant gaffes, that he is also known for). Palin spoke in more or less diagram-able sentences and certainly nailed her talking points, to her credit (and ignoring the much lower bar that was apparently set for her...). It was interesting and I do not feel like I *completely* wasted 2 hours of my life. That said, it further irritated an increasingly sensitive issue for me...

I am *really* tired of "faux-folksy" and the snide condescension being directed at the well-read and...you know..."smart folk". I know the practice(s) has waxed and waned for a long time, but in recent years, it has been rolled out as a major mantra for a small segment of society...to the profound detriment of the whole. The most recent wave was triggered by the "ya'll just don't understand" anti-intellectualism of our Yale College and Harvard Business School educated president. He has spoken with pride of his "C" average at Yale (a genuine feat, as mediocrity must be strived for at the Ivies), of his self-professed dis-inclination to read and has spoken, repeatedly, with contempt for those "ivory tower intellectuals" (cf. Yale, HBS above). He seems to take pleasure in his inability to pronounce certain words and/or speak in complete sentences.

Last night's debate demonstrated that the next generation of national figures are embracing this trend...at least those who don't bring much, you know, education, sophistication, depth and/or knowledge to the table. I really do not think it unreasonable to have national political figures speak in complete sentences and avoid bogus terms of art. I do not want a national figure saying "Doggone it," "You guys," and/or "Darn right". I do not want "you" to be "ya,"... dropping the "g" from any "...ing" word is just sloppy and is it REALLY too much to ask to expect such folk to be able to correctly pronounce "nuclear"? [N.B. I also have an issue with Eye-ran and Eye-raq...but this might be more that it *really* annoys me when my name is pronounced Eye-an. Iraq, Iran, Ian. It is really not that tricky).

If I hear one more person say, "I like her, she sounds just like the girls down at the lunch counter" [this and a close second version heard on various programs this morning], I'm going to start twitching uncontrollably. I also heard more than one iteration of "she's common folk". I do not want "common folk" as the VP (or, god forbid, President). I do not want someone who "talks like the girls at the lunch counter". These are NOT selling points. I find it profoundly disturbing that some people seem to think it is a good thing.

I *want* a Pres/VP to be *smarter* than I am. I want them to have a *more* sophisticated world view than I do. I want them to be able to control their tendencies toward snarky condescension, because they are "better" than that (and me ). I know they are human and I am comfortable with slips...to err is human and all. I am not expecting "perfect" humans, but I do not think it is unreasonable to expect articulate, intelligent and intellectually questing humans. I simply do not understand why people would want national leaders who are anything less.

Thomas Jefferson [and H.L. Mencken] is credited with saying “The government you elect is government you deserve.” It is seldom mentioned by all these "strict constructionist" that voting in this country was restricted (by the oft mentioned Founding Fathers) to young country's equivalent of landed gentry...only educated, land-owning men need apply (though exceptions were routinely made for land-owning widows...). It made a good deal of sense then...and perhaps now. The idea was to vest the vote in those who could make calculated, ration decisions and had a vested interest in "success". I am being facetious, of course...more or less.

And I will not even start on the issue/idea of a national figure who actively investigated removing books from a public library because s/he did not agree with their content. It does not matter as to the success or failure of such an effort...that anyone would consider such a thing should *preclude* office-holding (and library use) for life.

We are suffering, I think, from the "dilemma of the lowest-common-denominator". We seem to have moved away from national figures trying to educate "the masses", of trying to "raise up" their knowledge base. Rather, they "speak the language of the people"...and increasingly such speech is directed toward the *slowest* person in the proverbial room. I know I am an elitist. I know I think reading more, listening more, thinking more and striving to comprehend more is *better* than apathy, ignorance and/or the conscious embracing of mediocrity. It is undoubtedly a flaw. Again, I would just much prefer to have politicians *smarter* than I (and most others) am... [N.B. though, clearly, not smart enough to realize what a thankless, ma