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In what is a sign of either America’s complete inability to produce anything but remakes, or a somewhat odd desire by the GOP to re-enact the 1994 election (because, yes, they won… but their hate-figure Democratic president then remained in office for six more years; did they forget that part?), the Greedy Oligarchs’ Party has reintroduced its Contract With Pledge to America.

In response to which I’m sure many people will be taking out the old fish-rifle and blasting away into a barrel, but honestly I don’t even feel like bothering. No one pays attention to rational, mature, nuanced dialogue any more in America, after all. Why not just indulge in some bitterly sarcastic, juvenile mockery instead?

That seems more accurate

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Is it me, or has a sort of gray haze descended upon things of late? There is news, there are things happening, but it all seems to have an air of “haven’t we been here before?”

I did manage a pithy little post last night about corporate bribery and BP’s latest cute little trick, but then this amazing free content management platform which I have done nothing but praise turned on me and ate everything I’d written. Oh well.

Meanwhile congress passed some sort of financial reform bill, which probably should be getting more attention, but most people are probably like me afflicted with serious MEGO syndrome. And it’s awfully hard to feel like it would make any difference if more of us did have a strong, well-formed view of that issue.

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The History Channel has some good shows, these days. I’ve always appreciated History, but back say a dozen years ago we called it “the Nazi channel” and it was not an unfair label. (Not in terms of political content but rather because it seemed like at least nine out of ten programs featured World War II.)

Nowadays, though they may stretch the original concept of History somewhat, they’ve got some good things going on. Iowa’s own American Pickers, the brilliant Pawn Stars and, in its fourth season, Ice Road Truckers.

I do like IRT, a lot. If the show has lost a bit of the raw newness of seasons 1 and 2, well, it has added Lisa Kelly, which is worth quite a bit, in my humble opinion. And paterfamilias Alex’s goofy, barking laugh still brings a smile to my face every time.

Yet, as much as I enjoy the show, I can’t help occasionally considering that all of the daring, the risk-taking, the sheer determination to overcome some of the worst that nature can throw at man, all of that is applied in pursuit of what in the big picture is a really dismally stupid endeavor.

Courage, quick thinking and impressive feats of engineering are combined to maintain an operation up near the frozen top of the world, and for what? For the same thing that similar marvels are harnessed to operate beneath the bottom of the ocean. For the maintenance of an energy supply source which, aside from imperiling human civilization’s future, is simply a dead end.

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