Like Michael Steele, I like the word kerfuffle. Unlike Michael Steele, I know how to pronounce it:

Yes, as a matter of fact, I am a pedant.

I wasn’t surprised to hear that Richard Dawson had died.

I have been surprised up until now that he had managed to live longer than almost everyone else in the cast of Hogan’s Heroes.

To quote a bad movie, “There can be only one!” And that one is Robert Clary.

At 5’1″, Clary shows that it really is best to be short. And French. And look absolutely fabulous in a beret.

I used to have a friend—a smart and funny guy. He is kind of an archetype to me, however. Because of his emotional unavailability, people really wanted to be around him. It was often commented that wherever he was around, you could tell he was calculated whether he might be having a better time somewhere else.

We often had arguments about art. He hated anything that had the faintest whiff of sentimentality. During one conversation he told me that he hated Pete Townshend’s third solo album, All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes. It took me years to figure out what he didn’t like. It was songs like this:

And The Sea Refused No River.

The truth is that over the years, I’ve become very much like my friend. I think it is all about fear—the fear that people might see into your soul and know what you do: you’re a wreck. Over time, it becomes easier to live with yourself as you are, because you just don’t have the energy to hide. But as an artist, the temptation to hide yourself in clever craft and intellectual flourishes is strong.

This is why All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes is so important. It reminds me that I not only can be utterly naked but that in order to do great work, I must be. Of course, that doesn’t mean I am able even to succeed with the first part of this equation.

I’d like to believe that.

Liberals can be silly; I’ve written about this recently. But conservatives are really the kings of talking out their asses. I’ve been amazed by the recent attacks on funding for solar panels (Solyndra) and electric cars. The argument seems to be that the government should only invest in sure things—like it is a very conservative venture capitalist. A big argument on Fox News has been that electric cars are not ready for prime time, so the government shouldn’t be investing in them. These kinds of arguments show a shocking ignorance of how the government has traditionally invested in science and technology.

Media Matters has an excellent article about this newest line of conservative talking asses. The arguments being used to attack electric cars are the same as the arguments that were used 15 years ago against hybrid cars:

I’ve thought about this a lot. In fact, it seems I am forever writing about conservative amnesia: they seem to be totally unaware of the opinions they held 20 years earlier. When reminded of past conservative opinions, it is always the same: yeah, those conservatives were wrong but this time—This time!—the liberals have gone too far and the conservatives are right. Sure, it was wrong to stop African Americans from voting before, but these new voter ID laws really need to be done! Sure, it was wrong to oppose the Clean Air Act before, but this global warming stuff in nonsense! Sure, it was wrong not to give the elderly health insurance before, but, oh, wait…

As Corey Robin argues, ’twas ever so. Conservatives always think that things are just perfect the way they are, and fight against any improvement. I know that liberals have loads of blind spots in their view of the world. I know that, as a radical, I do. What distinguishes liberal minded people from conservatives is that the liberals don’t know what their blind spots are; they at least are trying to make the world more perfect as far as they can see. It must be strange to be a conservative, knowing that not only will history prove you wrong, but you yourself may look back and wonder, “Why was I so foolish?”