Wet Blanket

Drying a wet blanket in the hot Hawaiian sun saves money on dryer expenses and is environmentally virtuous. (We noted the benefit of using clotheslines ten years ago and again in 2017.)

In enlightened California drying clothes in the sun has not been widely accepted. For example a homeowners association in a new development near Sacramento explicitly forbids clotheslines in its bylaws:

Sure, make people turn off their air conditioners and suffer in the heat, ban cheap, sturdy, moisture-proof plastic bags in favor of unsanitary reusable containers, but clotheslines? They make Californians look lower-class, even Third-Worldish.

Hawaii is far from perfect, but here appearances matter much less. Hang 'em high.

They Didn't Think This Through

Washington, DC (abc.net.au)

Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser has renamed a street leading to the White House "Black Lives Matter Plaza" and had the slogan painted in huge yellow letters on it.

"Black Lives Matter" murals and street signs are springing up all over.

I wonder if politicians have thought this through. The understanding that overt political messaging is forbidden on public property has been resoundingly overturned by officials who created the well-meaning signage.

Is "Black Lives Matter" spray-painted on a a fire-station wall still a crime? The graffiti artist was just emulating the example of the mayor.

If it isn't a crime, what about painting "All Lives Matter?" Any attempt to criminalize "All Lives Matter" counter-signage will be viewed as more liberal hypocrisy, i.e., free speech for me but not for thee.

People are already resentful of being scolded and even arrested for gathering in crowds while public health officials make an exception for politics they support.

It strains credulity that police defunding, dismantling, and disbanding is seriously being discussed when riots have destroyed city blocks across America.

Like the super-volcano under Yellowstone, I sense an anger building quietly beneath the surface. It will explode in November, and not in the direction that the headline writers hope for.

Concluding note: your humble blogger has long ago ceased to be angry about hypocrisy, injustice, and unfairness. Getting worked up about politics--or anything that I have no control over--is injurious to health.

Once this blows over, and it will in short-attention-span America, I will work toward improving the lives of the less fortunate as I have been doing for a while.

The People Disappoint Again

Baker Beach, SF, on Saturday (Chron)

For all their talk of caring about others, many San Franciscans showed it was just talk. In the first weekend of sheltering in place

The crowds that swarmed Bay Area beaches, parks and other natural areas over the weekend created fury among residents and others fearful of the fast-spreading coronavirus, prompting some parks to issue closure orders while local leaders wondered how to keep people away from one another.

Dolores Park after City parks were closed Monday (Chron)

Closing playgrounds and parks would just move the problem elsewhere:

“Being forbidden to go to your neighborhood park seems draconian, especially for people who have children,” said Leslie Alden, co-founder of Marin Climate Action Network in Corte Madera.

“If our parks are closed, the question would be, doesn’t that then push more people into smaller recreation spaces, whether on streets or on multi-use paths? I don’t have an answer.”

The answer for many, after this is over, is to move to the suburbs, where you can drive your car rather than ride a filthy train, live in a townhouse with safer social distancing, and walk or jog without fear of bumping into someone else.

Because there will be a next time.

One is Condemned, the Other is Praised

33 wealthy parents were charged with breaking the law in getting their children admitted to the colleges of their choice. The illegal actions took two forms: [bold added]

to bribe coaches and administrators to designate their children as top recruits in such sports as football, water polo, soccer, track and volleyball at universities including the University of Southern California, Georgetown and Wake Forest. Some parents also allegedly paid Mr. Singer as much as $75,000 for test-cheating services.

Yale was worth a million bucks to one parent. He should have saved his money (WSJ graphic)

Parents on the list, like actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin, have lost jobs. Business executives have been suspended and also may eventually be fired. Sole proprietors and highly paid professionals have had their reputations impaired, perhaps permanently. The obloquy has been visited from across the political spectrum, as no one can defend cheating by the already-wealthy and privileged.

I can't condone (and I solemnly swear that I never did) what those parents did, but I understand it. And why so much outrage?

1) One source of anger is the belief that those admitted would not have gotten in based on "objective" criteria like SAT scores, but why is it okay for the bar to be set lower for affirmative-action applicants, some of whom also come from wealth and privilege? The latter don't have to cheat to raise their scores, because a low score is good enough if they happen to be in the right group.

2) The parents broke the law in a misguided attempt to give their children a better life. In contrast those crossing the southern border illegally are lauded for doing the same. Of course, there's a big difference; trying to sneak into USC, Stanford, or Yale doesn't put kids' lives in jeopardy like marching across Mexico with no food, water, or money.

The former is condemned, but the latter is praiseworthy. As is often the case, how one reacts to the story is a big story, too.

We Are Wiser and More Believable Now

Sen. Gillebrand (NY Daily News)

Senator Kirsten Gillebrand (D-NY), a staunch long-time supporter of both Clintons, now says President Clinton should have resigned 20 years ago during the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

The comment drew immediate fire from Philippe Reines, a top aide to Mrs. Clinton, who was first lady at the time of the affair. “Over 20 yrs you took the Clintons’ endorsements, money, and seat. Hypocrite,” he wrote on Twitter. “Interesting strategy for 2020 primaries. Best of luck.”

After decades of silence, Democrats are finding it advantageous to denounce sex-abuse and sex-crimes committed by members of their own party (during this period there's been no such reticence about pillorying Republicans), though it means throwing the Big He and She under the bus.

Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others.--Groucho Marx

Do As I Say

Cottons dried in a couple of hours in the Hawaiian sun.

In 2011 we were hopeful that the green elite would eventually embrace carbon-saving measures like drying laundry on clotheslines or forsaking non-business jet travel, but six years later we remain perplexed at the slow adoption of carbon-saving actions by these progressive leaders.

In the tony Bay Area, homeowners’ associations, which dominate new construction, continue to ban clothes lines.

If we didn’t know better, we would think that elites rather talk about virtue rather than act with virtue. They don't want to do good if it means looking bad.

Rules of a Peninsula homeowners' association.

In Hawaii, as home prices escalate and wealthy newcomers move in to neighborhoods, we are pleased to confirm that residents continue not to be embarrassed about hanging their laundry outside. It’s a small step toward saving the planet, yet it’s a step that seems to be too much for the much wealthier Bay Area to allow, if not encourage.

Respite from Their Harangues

Admonitions against self-righteousness ("pot calling the kettle black", "people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones") go back centuries or longer:

And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? [Matthew 7:3]

The first European colonists brought strict moral codes to the New World, and the Puritan tradition held sway for hundreds of years.

Burt Lancaster won Best Actor in 1961 for
his portrayal of a con-man evangelist.

The philosophical revolt began in literature, then continued in film. Morally compromised clergy became so commonplace in fiction that nowadays it is unusual to read the story of a man of the cloth who is not consumed by lust, avarice, and/or ambition. Real-world revelations of child abuse, adultery, and financial chicanery contributed to the erosion of Christianity's moral authority.

By the end of the 20th century the status of Christianity was so undermined that few clergy had the temerity to pontificate upon the evils of society, preferring to minister to the needs of their congregation and focus on individuals' spiritual health. (To be sure, some issues like late-term abortion did rouse conservative Christians from their torpor, but those occasions were rare.)

There was a strain of Christianity--endemic in my Episcopal Church--that embraced progressivism (Marxism rechristened) and gave full-throated advocacy to identity politics, the denunciation of "structural" racism/sexism/economic inequality, and the use of State power to rectify perceived injustice.

Academia, Hollywood, and mass media merged with progressive Christianity to create a new priestly caste, the educated philosopher-kings who marched on the right side of history. After Donald Trump was elected in November, the outrage from these morally superior beings has been broadcast unceasingly over all TV, radio, print, and internet channels.

Until last Sunday, that is, when the deeds of Harvey Weinstein came to light. He was one of their spiritual ringleaders, and his crimes--moral and social, if not legal---were far more severe and extensive than any Donald Trump might have committed.

The priestly caste will not be shaken from their worldview by the actions of one, two, or ten Harvey Weinsteins, but here's hoping that for a little while we will be granted respite from their harangues.