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Revised expectations

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 18:12:09 -0700

Sabbath eve. July 3, 2009

I’ve had several topics in mind—even went so far as to jot down a line or two in my notebook. Had I written this ahead of time it would have been about something else, but now I sit down with an open mind; another Sabbath eve approaches, and none of the shit I wanted to say seems to matter.

The heat was once again rough this week—the weatherman's numbers were slightly lower, but I can attest to what it felt like out in the sun—goddamned hot. Apparently so hot that a couple of elderly women in San Antonio died from heat stroke.

My chickens and dogs, neither of which can sweat, hide in the shade and pant. A few hens succumbed, even so.

I met a fellow poster today, Old river rat, his handle. We picked tomatoes from the remnants of my garden in Seguin. The sun was hot. I don’t give a shit if you’re raised in a turban and the sands of Saudi Arabia, standing in the direct sun of that garden was hot.

I got a call while we worked. Daniel Pace is buying movie rights to Contrabando. He says he will make a pilot based on the first chapter or two of the book, then perhaps create further episodes if that works out. It does seem like a more suitable format for such a dense body of work. The guy is Argentinean. Somehow that also seems appropriate.

My hands spent the week tearing down and moving greenhouses I bought from a nearby cactus nursery. The owner died a few years back; his wife has watched what once was a multimillion dollar per year business employing upwards of 80 people turn to shit.

I feel like a hyena feasting on the carcass of someone else’s work. I tried to convince my dad to buy the entire place, but it doesn’t look like that’ll happen. Too much distance between what my father thinks is a viable number in today’s economy and the expectations she would have from its considerably higher recent value.

Buying expensive ornamental cacti is not exactly a crucial expenditure in today's climate.

I can’t help but compare that cactus farm to our country. The damage being done to her farm and to our country ensures that we will not be able to rebuild what once was. I’m buying houses that cost her husband $10,500 for $1,000; removal of the houses creates awful eyesores and further degrades the value and potential productivity of her land. It’s sad to watch, but:

I can’t afford to pay $10,500 for a greenhouse and then grow food crops in it. I might be able to make the equation work at the salvage value.

Economic breakdowns destroy existing entities on one hand; our continued needs for survival will create new opportunities on the other. Like the owner of that farm, we as a nation live in a time when we will be required to revise expectations and adapt or slowly and surely perish trying to keep an unsustainable system alive.

Right now, both Democrats and Republicans and the best and brightest economists from both camps are trying to keep the unsustainable alive.

The hyenas wait.

Krugman Is Brutal Today

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 11:27:51 -0700

After reading Krugman today I'm ready to go hide under a rock. I figured it was bad, but sheesh. There's bad and then there is bad.

Great News, If True

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 11:14:19 -0700

This is great news, if true. Yes, the guts of the story have already been posted here at The Agonist, but Harper goes into a bit more detail, worth reading, if you ask me. I do wonder what Ross did to get fired.

Patience

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 09:45:52 -0700

My first week home was, while not exciting, pleasant. Hanging out with my Mom, seeing my sister, old friends, catching up, all a part of the return. After staying at my Mom's the first week I headed out to Williamson County to stay with a buddy until my flat is ready. He's got a wonderful house, spacious, with two dogs that are sweet--if one is a bit to exuberant in the mornings, you know, I just don't like being licked (cue the peanut gallery)--but it's out in sub-urban hell. The last several days after waking up and eating breakfast I drive into town to spend my day writing in a local coffee shop. I greet each morning with a smile, the promise of a new day. But the moment I pull the car out of the subdivision onto Anderson Mill Road, my mood sinks. I look around me. I see blue skies, a warm sun and concrete big boxes in all directions. Home.

"Where is the wonder," I ask myself? I know it's silly. Austin isn't Istanbul. It's not Muscat. It's not even Singapore. And so I drive thirty minutes into town, sit down at a table and fire up my Mac Book Pro. The blank white page and the blinking cursor reflect back on me the emptiness I feel.

More after the jump.

"How can I have gone from being so full of life and feel so empty now," I ask?

Perhaps I expect too much. But as I drive around, I see, keenly, painfully, what Guy Forsyth sings about: "[our streets are] clogged bumper to bumper with stinking SUVs and two-story pickup trucks that can drive over anything except the two-story pickup truck right in front of it. Not even the highways look the same, Starbucks and 711s and Walmarts jam the feeder roads. We don't live around this mess, we live under it."

And so each day is a struggle to climb out of the rubble. A struggle to see the beauty, the wonder here. After a year away I expected to come home with 'new eyes.' And I did. They aren't jaded eyes. But they aren't happy eyes, either.

And there is an uncountable measure of beauty in Austin and the surrounding Hill Country. Clear streams tumble down the limestone hills, Cedar trees, Live Oaks, Pecan trees, and the skyline of Austin? The city has changed. It's a lovely city, now. If I knew nothing of this place and were visiting for the first time I would find inspiration here.

And there's the rub. Each day has been a struggle to find some kind of inspiration. I know my expectations are out of line, unrealistic. After the daily barrage of stimulus I had traveling I should know better. And I do realize I'm 'coming down' from a magical year.

I stare out the window into the glaring sun, wondering, my mind wandering back East. These are the first words I've written in two weeks. A writer who doesn't write?

"Settle down," the voice in my head says, "it'll come. It's only been two weeks."

I miss the world. I knew this would happen. And I'm glad it is happening.

I just have to remind myself to document it. Too many people write excellent books about the journey and yet forget the most important part is the return, how it shapes us, how we adjust and sink back into the compromises that set us off into the world in the first place.

"Patience," I hear, that whisper on the wind that followed me from Toba to Sivas, Istanbul to Nyborg.

Patience is trait I never acquired. Probably never will.

Today I might be able to make peace with the changes. I can feel it, bubbling up, but it's dropping slow. The sinking feeling in my stomach isn't a strong as it was yesterday, and less than the day before. Blue skies and the warmth of friends surround me. I'd forgotten how hard it is to be alone.

Home does have it's rewards.

Friday Cat Blogging

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 07:28:26 -0700

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Pakistani Public Opinion Moving

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:17:56 -0700

They're still not big fans of the U.S., but Barack Obama is a big improvement over W. from the poll:

Most Pakistanis now see the Pakistani Taliban as well as al Qaeda as a critical threat to the country–a major shift from 18 months ago–and support the government and army in their fight in the Swat Valley against the Pakistani Taliban. An overwhelming majority think that Taliban groups who seek to overthrow the Afghan government should not be allowed to have bases in Pakistan.

But given Sharif's numbers, this makes the tie of his to the Taliban important to make:

Asked about the nation’s leaders, a large majority–68 percent–views President Zardari unfavorably (very, 50%), but–unlike the recent past–there are multiple national leaders whom most do view favorably. Prime Minister Gilani is seems untarred by negative views of Zardari and gets favorable ratings from 80 percent of Pakistanis. The restored Chief Justice Chaudry is very popular (82%), and opposition leader Nawaz Sharif is extremely popular (87%). The leader most associated with the Pakistani Taliban, Maulana Sufi Mohammad, is viewed positively by only 18 percent of Pakistanis.

The More Things Change, The More They Don't

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:51:51 -0700

As if there was really any question that our mainstream media wasn't composed entirely of whores--although a whore might be insulted by the comparison, let there be no remaining doubts:

The Washington Post has offered lobbyists and association executives off-the-record, nonconfrontational access to "those powerful few": Obama administration officials, members of Congress, and — at first — even the paper’s own reporters and editors.

The astonishing offer was detailed in a flier circulated Wednesday to a health care lobbyist, who provided it to a reporter because the lobbyist said he felt it was a conflict for the paper to charge for access to, as the flier says, its “health care reporting and editorial staff."

With the newsroom in an uproar after POLITICO reported the solicitation, Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli said this morning that he was "appalled" by the plan and said the newsroom will not participate.

"It suggests that access to Washington Post journalists was available for purchase," Brauchli told The Post’s media reporter, Howard Kurtz. The proposal "promises we would suspend our usual skeptical questioning because it appears to offer, in exchange for sponsorships, the good name of The Washington Post."

I'm speechless.

Unemployment Reaches 9.5%

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:19:16 -0700

Painful acceleration in job losses this month. Economist's expected losses of 365,000, instead they got 467,000.

Here's the killer quote, however:

Consumers are saving 6.9 percent of their disposable income, and spending remains sluggish.

Consumers are still retrenching. 6.9% for American consumers? That's a huge number. An implicit argument in the Times article comes from this quote:

“We have to wait to see where things go,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com. “If we didn’t have the stimulus, the economy would’ve contracted twice as fast in the second quarter and the job losses we’re suffering now would be very similar to the ones we were suffering at the beginning of the year.”

I read this to mean the bounce from the stimulus is, to a certain degree, over. Is it? I can't say. We'll have to wait an see what the July numbers are like.

Still, are you still retrenching? Are you saving more than you spend? How are your neighbors doing? Still unemployed? Or recently laid-off? I know far too many people here in Austin who are unemployed. Another indicator is the sheer amount of homeless people I see on the streets, begging at stop lights and the like. This isn't over.

Dueling Boogey Men: Can Osama bin Laden Save Us From the Mexican Immigrants?

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:04:28 -0700

Some heavy crazyness from the Glenn Beck show:

Michael Sheuer, former head of the Bin Laden unit at CIA under Clinton and Bush, appeared on Glenn Beck's show to criticize Obama's use of unarmed National Guard soldiers to police the Mexican border.

And he dropped this little gem, "the only chance we have as a country right now is for Osama bin Laden to deploy and detonate a major weapon in the United States."

The right really has utterly lost it. They're openly screeching and begging for a new Islamic terror attack so they can clamp down like they did after 9/11 except even more and better. And they feel it must be done to save us from those awful awful brown-skinned hordes.

Utterly surreal.

Honduran Military Isolated But Holding Out

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:46:30 -0700

Cynics like me will tell you that it really doesn't matter that much who's in the White House, but I'd wager to say that the Honduran coupsters and their opposition would tell you different.

Apparently, U.S. officials are talking to with ex-Honduran President Zelaya even as they have led the way on the OAS declaring a 72 hour ultimatum to the coupsters:

Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya met senior US officials on the sidelines of an Organization of American States meeting, on the eve of his departure Wednesday for Panama, US officials said.

The White House and the State Department said that the deposed leader met late Tuesday with Tom Shannon, US assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs and Dan Restrepo, the top Latin America advisor on the national security council.

"Shannon reiterated the US commitment to seeing a return to the constitutional order in Honduras," a US official said, of the meeting on the fringes of the OAS in Washington.

At the White House, spokesman Robert Gibbs noted the 72-hour deadline imposed by the OAS for Zelaya's reinstatement following a coup on Sunday.

The U.S. Ambassador to Honduras
has announced our refusal to recognize any other government of Honduras: "we refuse to recognize any Government of Honduras other than the constitutionally legitimate government of President Zelaya."

As a consequence, Zalaya has agreed to post-pone his return to Honduras for 72 hours.

Rafael Alegria, Via Campesina International leader has spoken about the situation in the rural parts of the country:

LC: Are you experiencing repression?

RA: Yes, there are battalions placed in strategic zones across the country that don't allow protesters to travel, protesters against the coup. In the region of Quebracho, in the eastern part of the country, the military shot out the tires of eleven buses heading for Tegucigalpa.

They are recruiting young people, ages 12-30 for military service. We don't know what the purpose is, but they are inciting people saying there could be a war. They are also calling out reservists and persons retired from the armed forces... This is the situation we are seeing now.

There are some individuals from the military who want to talk to the popular movement but there is a decision on the part of the social movements that as long as constitutional order and democratic process is not reinstated, we cannot support or dialogue with people who form part of the coup in Honduras.

LC: There have been reports that some battalions have broken with the coup: Is this true? What is the position of the army?

RA: There are battalions that are refusing to repress the population and basically are against the coup, but they're not saying this publicly. We believe that it isn't the whole army that is against the people of Honduras, but the military command (Estado Mayor), in complicity with the groups holding de facto power who have carried out the coup. These are the sectors that oppose democratization and citizen participation in the country.

Andrew Sullivan has been running reports from Honduran supporters of the coup. Al Giordano claims these reports are coming from the oligarchy. More from Al in the full entry:

Andrew Sullivan has asked aloud for English-writing bloggers from Honduras to send him their reports. Sadly, what he’ll likely get is a mountain of the upper-class “oligarch diaspora” propaganda from those that are the overwhelming majority of that small minority of folks that speak English in or around Honduras. With the state of siege underway in Honduras, they’re making up every falsehood possible to defend an indefensible coup d’etat. We've beat these types when they've tried it before: reason and fact will prevail again. An all-out information war has exploded on the Internet. So if you’re able to translate important reports from Spanish and send them to Andrew, the very widely read blogger who does have good in him, maybe you can help unspin the propaganda. CC me on your missives if you like.

A lot of it will be from Honduran equivalents of disgraced professional simulator Francisco Toro, the Venezuelan 2002 coup supporter who wrote a decrepitly dishonest essay published by The New Republic today about Honduras. The cockroaches are coming out of the woodwork. Sunlight, now as ever, will be our disinfectant! In 2003, when Narco News was exposing Toro’s undisclosed conflicts-of-interest as a member of the Venezuelan opposition while writing for the New York Times, he abruptly resigned after just one month as a Timesman. Now that there’s a coup to support in Honduras, he’s baaaaaack. Memo to The New Republic: Did Toro disclose his history of undisclosed conflicts of interest when submitting that embarrassingly pro-coup screed?

Today in Honduras, various important things happened. The illegitimate “president,” Roberto Micheletti, convened a rally (see photo above) where he stood side by side with the military general that led the violent coup. So much for the spin that the generals handed over the reins to civilian authorities: the coup has expanded their power vastly. The pro-coup event generated a decent sized – but not all that impressive considering all the power at its command - crowd. Employees of pro-coup businesses were forced to attend, and bussed in. Anyone who saw it on TV could tell it was not grassroots, but Astroturf: they had clean little Honduran flags and very few homemade signs. And compare the lily white gang on that stage with any other photo of the Honduran population! It was the "escualidos" all over again, Honduras chapter.

Meanwhile, watch this video of what his troops were doing to the media while he launched his campaign to deny that he had committed a coup:

Here's a sympathetic account of what exactly Zelaya was trying to do when he was deposed from Alberto Vallente Thorensen:

most reports have stated that Manuel Zelaya was ousted from his country’s presidency after he tried to carry out a non-binding referendum to extend his term in office. But this is not completely accurate. Such presentation of “facts” merely contributes to legitimizing the propaganda, which is being employed by the coup-makers in Honduras to justify their actions. This interpretation is widespread in US-American liberal environments, especially after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that the coup is unacceptable, but that “all parties have a responsibility to address the underlying problems that led to [Sunday]’s events.” However, President Zelaya cannot be held responsible for this flagrant violation of the Honduran democratic institutions that he has tried to expand. This is what has actually happened:

The Honduran Supreme Court of Justice, Attorney General, National Congress, Armed Forces and Supreme Electoral Tribunal have all falsely accused Manuel Zelaya of attempting a referendum to extend his term in office.

According to Honduran law, this attempt would be illegal. Article 239 of the Honduran Constitution clearly states that persons, who have served as presidents, cannot be presidential candidates again. The same article also states that public officials who breach this article, as well as those that help them, directly or indirectly, will automatically lose their immunity and are subject to persecution by law. Additionally, articles 374 and 5 of the Honduran Constitution of 1982 (with amendments of 2005), clearly state that: “it is not possible to reform the Constitution regarding matters about the form of government, presidential periods, re-election and Honduran territory”, and that “reforms to article 374 of this Constitution are not subject to referendum.”

Nevertheless, this is far from what President Zelaya attempted to do in Honduras the past Sunday and which the Honduran political/military elites disliked so much. President Zelaya intended to perform a non-binding public consultation, about the conformation of an elected National Constituent Assembly. To do this, he invoked article 5 of the Honduran “Civil Participation Act” of 2006. According to this act, all public functionaries can perform non-binding public consultations to inquire what the population thinks about policy measures. This act was approved by the National Congress and it was not contested by the Supreme Court of Justice, when it was published in the Official Paper of 2006. That is, until the president of the republic employed it in a manner that was not amicable to the interests of the members of these institutions.

Furthermore, the Honduran Constitution says nothing against the conformation of an elected National Constituent Assembly, with the mandate to draw up a completely new constitution, which the Honduran public would need to approve. Such a popular participatory process would bypass the current liberal democratic one specified in article 373 of the current constitution, in which the National Congress has to approve with 2/3 of the votes, any reform to the 1982 Constitution, excluding reforms to articles 239 and 374. This means that a perfectly legal National Constituent Assembly would have a greater mandate and fewer limitations than the National Congress, because such a National Constituent Assembly would not be reforming the Constitution, but re-writing it. The National Constituent Assembly’s mandate would come directly from the Honduran people, who would have to approve the new draft for a constitution, unlike constitutional amendments that only need 2/3 of the votes in Congress. This popular constitution would be more democratic and it would contrast with the current 1982 Constitution, which was the product of a context characterized by counter-insurgency policies supported by the US-government, civil façade military governments and undemocratic policies. In opposition to other legal systems in the Central American region that (directly or indirectly) participated in the civil wars of the 1980s, the Honduran one has not been deeply affected by peace agreements and a subsequent reformation of the role played by the Armed Forces.

Now That The Democrats Have A Filibuster Proof Majority In The Senate, Will They Use It?

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:57:11 -0700

To My Fellow Canucks:

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:11:49 -0700

from my family to yours:

To view a video that a young couple living in London, Ontario made, click to watch: Canadian, Please

Coleman Concedes, Dems Have 60 Votes

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:44:05 -0700

The Minnesota Supreme Court issued a judgment in favor of Al Franken this afternoon. Norm Coleman has conceded. The Democrats now have a filibuster proof majority in the Senate. Will they use it?

GM Looks Likely to Walk Away From Liabilities from Defective Old Cars

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 10:22:09 -0700

Disclosure: I'm proud to be working with the The Ad Hoc Committee of Consumer Victims of GM & Chrysler.

Today GM's final bankruptcy hearing will determine whether or not they accept liability for harm caused to consumers by defective GM cars built before the "re-launch of GM".

All indications point to no. In response to pressure from consumers, "New GM" has agreed to cover future liabilities from cars built before the bankruptcy ("Old GM"). But they are still walking away from pending liabilities for accidents that have already happened, leaving thousands of victims without recourse.

From the Car Gurus blog:

As part of GM's bankruptcy filing, it's possible it will no longer be liable for injuries or deaths caused by vehicles built by the "old GM." Our friends at Autoblog reported that GM may be reconsidering, but Chrysler set a precedent earlier this month when they emerged from bankruptcy free from such liabilities.

So if you're driving around in an `06 Cherokee or a `94 Lumina, and it suddenly bursts into flames, the folks at Chrysler can just let out a sigh of relief knowing the third-degree burns their vehicle gave you are not their responsibility. Awesome, huh?

News like this doesn't exactly instill the kind of trust GM and Chrysler so desperately need. Why are we supposed to believe that the "new" GM will be run any differently than the old, considering most of the top execs are still in place? At least Chrysler has the advantage of an all-new CEO and top management team.

Multiple state Attorneys General are opposing these provisions in the GM deal:

Attorneys general from Connecticut, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and Vermont filed an objection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York Friday.

Rep. Andre Carson is pushing a bill to force GM, Chrysler to cover future and current liability claims:

Four years after a traffic accident nearly killed him, Jeremy Warriner was just days away from his court date. Jeremy was set to argue that a faulty brake fluid container on his 2005 Jeep Wrangler broke and sparked a fire after the vehicle's impact--a fire that left Jeremy with severe burns and forced doctors to amputate both of his legs.

When Chrysler filed bankruptcy in April, Jeremy's mediation date was cancelled and his case has now been grouped with a number of other pending claims--likely never to see any payout due to the agreement struck in the bankruptcy court earlier this month. The court has absolved "New Chrysler," which emerged from bankruptcy, from any liability for future claims related to vehicles made before the creation of the new company.

To help Jeremy and thousands of future crash victims have their day in court, Congressman André Carson has filed the "Jeremy Warriner Consumer Protection Act," a bill that would require the newly-restructured GM and Chrysler to carry liability insurance and force the carmakers to cover claims made against them for any defective products produced by their predecessor company.

Regardless of what happens at the hearing today, the victims and consumer rights advocates won't be going away. There will be rallies this week protesting Chrysler in San Francisco, more on that as I have details.

The Chicago NBC piece is a must see:

The Ad Hoc Committee of Consumer Victims of GM & Chrysler briefly ran an ad when it looked like GM wasn't even going to accept future liability:

Typically, GM was able to pressure the cable monopolist Comcast into pulling the ad off the air and "presto" -- public debate is over. Pulling the ad at GM's request makes perfect business sense for Comcast, since GM promises to spend around $2 billion in taxpayer dollars on advertising this year.

From AutoBlog:

A group called the Ad Hoc Committee of Consumer Victims of GM and Chrysler put together a commercial to run on Comcast throughout the weekend. The group numbers 460 people, 300 of whom are plaintiffs against GM, the rest against Chrysler, all of whom claim catastrophic injuries or the deaths of relations due to defective vehicles from the two companies.

The ad attacks the issue of New GM not being responsible for such liabilities. The claims, said to add up to about $1.25 billion for just the GM parties, would be addressed by the Old GM and lumped in with every other unsecured creditor's claims. That means that if the plaintiffs received anything at all, it wouldn't be much. ...

GM's attorneys called Comcast, and Comcast explained pulling the ad by saying "We have temporarily stopped airing the ad while we conduct a review of the claims it makes." The commercial only asserts a few facts which could be easily checked, and makes a generalization about claims that won't be reported if people know nothing will come of them. Comcast hasn't given any timeline for that review, though.

Here's some an excerpt from the Committee's letter to Comcast:

Yesterday, we were informed that our television advertisement - which correctly explains to consumers that if they are hurt or killed by a defective General Motors vehicle sold before the bankruptcy, that GM will not take responsibility -- was pulled from Comcast at the request of GM. We certainly understand why GM wants to hide this fact from the public - the very same public that bailed GM out with 50 billion taxpayer dollars -- but that is no justification for GM to leverage its taxpayer funded advertising budget to force Comcast to remove a factual ad from the airwaves.

The fact is, GM's bankruptcy plan sheds the company of any responsibility for injury or deaths caused by defective vehicles sold before the bankruptcy and as our ad states, this "throws consumer safety protections out the window." GM has a direct duty to report claims and lawsuit data to the National Highway Transportation Safety Association under the Tread Act. If consumers can't file claims against GM, then there will be no claims and lawsuit data to report. If New GM can not be sued for defects in cars sold by Old GM then there will be far fewer claims and lawsuit data to report. Without that data, NHTSA's ability to monitor and recall vehicles will be severely hampered which puts public safety at risk. In addition, GM's financial incentive to fix defective cars will be lessened if it is no longer responsible for injuries caused by those cars.

...

We are disturbed by the fact that GM and Comcast are working together to prevent consumers from hearing the facts, particularly when the facts directly impact public safety. Even more disturbing is the fact that GM is now spending its billions of taxpayer bailout money on preventing taxpayers from learning the truth about what will happen if they are hurt or killed by a defective GM vehicle. Meanwhile Comcast is playing along because GM is going to spend $2 billion more of taxpayer money this year on advertising.

Redemption and Rain

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 09:15:49 -0700

It's raining here in Austin today. It's a rather typical rain--at least the kind of rain I've come to know in the last twenty years. Long, parched dry spells followed by brief torrential rains. It's the worst possible kind of rain for local farmers. Crops are parched. Fields are dry, unable to absorb the rain, which destroys the weakened crops and runs off into the rivers, swelling them, causing floods and more destruction further down the watershed.

In the past I would not have noticed this. But after a few years of of reading Don's missives and traveling the world for a year, experiencing agriculture first hand, I've witnessed the devastation we're causing around the globe. From the parched, dusty Deccan in India to the wrecked agricultural lands of Eastern Cambodia and the absolute ecological havoc in Russia it is now rather quite obvious; undeniable is a word that comes to mind.

Don's asks the question about redemption: I don't have an answer, mostly because I think redemption is a bullshit word humans made up to make them feel better about the really stupid mistakes they make and the inevitable bounce-back that occurs from their mistakes, I mean, everyone gets a dead cat bounce in life, right?

That's not to say that redemption is not real. I want to believe that no man is beyond redemption, but I can't say I know it's true quality and I won't pretend I do. I can't give up on the idea, but in my experience it happens far, far less than I was ever willing to believe.