Okay, so this is my new favorite song, "Wildcat" by Ratatat.  I don't know anything about the band or why the only way I could find the song on YouTube was mashed up with a Nine Inch Nails video, but the good news is that the audio on this clip is great and the song, well…listen for yourself.  I loooooove it.  It has no words whatsover (unless you speak bobcat), but somehow it says everything that needs to be said.

There is a certain way to walk to this song.   Some of you will know what I mean.

So, I am utterly empty-headed tonight.  Jane called me earlier and asked what I was doing.

"Online shopping," I said.

"STOP AT ONCE!" she cried, "They have support groups for that!  You don't know what you're getting into!  It's worse than online gambling, TRex!  We really don't want to have to do another intervention on you.  Have you already bought anything?"

"Yes," I meekly admitted.

"How much have you spent?"

"Thirty-five dollars with shipping."

"Oh, really?  Is that all?" and then her curiosity got the best of her, "What did you get?"

Yes, it's Friday night, the first Friday in October, and one of the first genuinely cool evenings we've had this fall.  I've got the windows open wide and I can hear crisp drifting leaves skating across the sidewalks and down the street.  The clock in city hall is chiming ten and I have nothing more pressing on my mind than how silly it is that you can't get a wish-list at Gap.com like you can at Amazon.  Someone really should look into that.  

Well, and this.

From Merriam-Webster On Line:

responsibility

One entry found for responsibility.

 

Main Entry: re·spon·si·bil·i·ty
Pronunciation: ri-"spän(t)-s&-'bi-l&-tE
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -ties
1 : the quality or state of being responsible : as a : moral, legal, or mental accountability b : RELIABILITY, TRUSTWORTHINESS
2 : something for which one is responsible : BURDEN <has neglected his responsibilities>

Now, the crucial phrase here to me is "moral, legal, or mental accountability".  Your mileage may vary, but what that says to me is that, say, when I get the sweater and t-shirt that I ordered tonight, I am then obligated to pay the credit card bill when it comes.  I was responsible for these purchases.  I made them of my own volition, ergo, they are my responsibility.  If I decide that I don't want to pay that bill, but want to keep the stuff, there's going to be a problem.  The credit card company is expecting me to honor my obligation to them.  I can't call them up and say that I ordered those things when I was drunk so it doesn't count.  Nor can I call them and tell them that my parish priest stole my favorite sweater when I was five so I clearly can't be expected to pay for this one.

Visa is expecting me to take responsibility for my purchases.  In this case that means pay up or face the consequences.  It does not mean dodge and evade and try to come up with reasons why it's someone else's problem.

So, I don't know about you guys, but I'm finding myself a little unsatisfied that this week Denny Hastert has "taken responsibility" for the egregious mismanagement of Representative Mark Foley's serial sexual advances toward underage boys and then waddled away from the microphones and cameras as if that's the end of the matter.  It isn't.

But clearly, the phrase, "I accept full respnsibility" has a different meaning in the Republican lexicon.  Take this particular nugget of vintage hooey, for example:

"Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government and to the extent the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility," Bush said during a joint news conference with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani.

Or how about this from back in the era of the McClellatron 3000:

QUESTION: Regardless of whether or not there was pressure from the White House for that line, I'm wondering where does the buck stop in this White House? Does it stop at the CIA, or does it stop in the Oval Office?

Scott McClellan: Again, this issue has been discussed. You're talking about some of the comments that — some that are –

QUESTION: I'm not talking about anybody else's comments. I'm asking the question, is responsibility for what was in the President's own State of the Union ultimately with the President, or with somebody else?

Scott McClellan: This has been discussed.

QUESTION: So you won't say that the President is responsible for his own State of the Union speech?

Scott McClellan: It's been addressed.

QUESTION: Well, that's an excellent question. That is an excellent question. (Laughter.) Isn't the President responsible for the words that come out of his own mouth?

Scott McClellan: We've already acknowledged, Terry, that it should not have been included in there. I think that the American people appreciate that recognition.

QUESTION: You acknowledge that, but you blame somebody else for it. Is the President responsible for the things that he said in the State of the Union?

Scott McClellan: Well, the intelligence — you're talking about intelligence that — sometimes you later learn more information about intelligence that you didn't have previously. But when we're clearing a speech like that, it goes through the various agencies to look at that information and –

QUESTION: And so when there's intelligence in a speech, the President is not responsible for that?

Scott McClellan: We appreciate Director Tenet saying that he should have said, take it out.

QUESTION: But it's the President's fault.

Scott McClellan: In fact, if you look back at it, I mean, we did take out a different reference, a reference based on different sources in a previous speech because it was said — the CIA Director said, take it out.

Or Don Rumsfeld on the looting of thousands of years' worth of historical treasures in the early days of the War in Iraq?

"Freedom's untidy, and free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things," Rumsfeld said. "They're also free to live their lives and do wonderful things. And that's what's going to happen here."

Looting, he added, was not uncommon for countries that experience significant social upheaval. "Stuff happens," Rumsfeld said.

So, when a Republican tells you, "I am responsible", that means, "I can't find anyone else to pin this on, so I'm going to make a symbolic show of concern, but then I'm going to walk away from this and never think about it again." 

I think we, the American people, are entitled to a little bit more than that, don't you?

ROWR!!