Nothing Like the Sun
Nov. 9th, 2008 06:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
saavedra77Over four and a half years ago, I created this journal as an outlet for (among other things) ranting about the 1,001 ways in which the world at the time seemed to have gone nuts. I christened the journal "Kingdom of the Wicked" as a comment on the hubris, hypocrisy, and venality of American politics in the Bush era. And as I noted on my profile page, I subtitled it "res publica conquassata!” because that’s what Cicero wrote despairingly as his country was about to undergo a Ceasarian section.
Ultimately, however, the Bush administration's arrogance, shortsightedness, incompetence, and corruption collided with intransigent military, economic, and political realities. To return to favored classical metaphors, hubris was met with nemesis, pride came before a fall, and W is now poised to leave office as an historic failure.
The constitution has taken a beating during the past eight years, but the res publica has not been conquassata (John Cleese is about to come over and force me to conjugate my Latin verbs properly ...). I'm cautiously optimistic that constitutional rights will experience a full and speedy recovery under the care of the former constitutional law professor about to take over the Oval Office.
Consequently, it's clearly time for some changes around here, too: The icon of Nero strumming his lyre while Rome burns will no longer be my default. And I'm ditching the journal title "Kingdom of the Wicked" and the associated subtitle. Going forward, I've decided to call this blog "Nothing Like the Sun," in honor of my favorite rainy emerald city, the sonnet, the Anthony Burgess novel, and whatever else thou wilt.
After all, political complaint was never intended to be this journal's sole purpose: It's also a place to post my thoughts about all kinds of news, books, movies, about family and various other goings-on in my life, a place to share photos, etc. And it's important to me to have a place to post longer-form thoughts on these topics than I can over on Facebook or Twitter.
Of course, I still have things like the Proposition 8 debacle to mutter darkly about ...
Ultimately, however, the Bush administration's arrogance, shortsightedness, incompetence, and corruption collided with intransigent military, economic, and political realities. To return to favored classical metaphors, hubris was met with nemesis, pride came before a fall, and W is now poised to leave office as an historic failure.
The constitution has taken a beating during the past eight years, but the res publica has not been conquassata (John Cleese is about to come over and force me to conjugate my Latin verbs properly ...). I'm cautiously optimistic that constitutional rights will experience a full and speedy recovery under the care of the former constitutional law professor about to take over the Oval Office.
Consequently, it's clearly time for some changes around here, too: The icon of Nero strumming his lyre while Rome burns will no longer be my default. And I'm ditching the journal title "Kingdom of the Wicked" and the associated subtitle. Going forward, I've decided to call this blog "Nothing Like the Sun," in honor of my favorite rainy emerald city, the sonnet, the Anthony Burgess novel, and whatever else thou wilt.
After all, political complaint was never intended to be this journal's sole purpose: It's also a place to post my thoughts about all kinds of news, books, movies, about family and various other goings-on in my life, a place to share photos, etc. And it's important to me to have a place to post longer-form thoughts on these topics than I can over on Facebook or Twitter.
Of course, I still have things like the Proposition 8 debacle to mutter darkly about ...
