I, Atobe, am loath to be the bearer of bad news (which comes aplenty in Bay State politics), but I have yet another reason to feel ashamed of my home away from home. Crusader can barely keep his head above the surface of schoolwork, whilst I am busy with AC tennis (despite a few still-to-be-posted star performances by yours truly, 6 games to love as we say, the men's team hasn't been doing so hot. But there is always next year). But woe are we, for our candidate for governor, Christy Mihos, has been disqualified before we even got a primary vote! A paltry 11% of the Republican State Convention delegates voted for him; the minimum to appear on the primary ballot was 15%. Though I'm a rightist politico, I guess it shouldn't annoy me too much; Mihos was way down in the polls, and I can't vote here anyway (we have our own election in early July; while I'm glad that our liberal PM Hatoyama may go down in the polls for failing to accomplish the one things the Left is good for, opposing the US base in Okinawa, it's rather unlikely that my party will get a majority in the upper house). Crusader? He may end up voting for Baker, but the anti-family insurance CEO is certainly not worthy of even a blog endorsement.

Is it just I, Atobe, or does the world simply seem ruined en générale? Kinda makes me wish I were king; yep, that'd fix everything. As I was helping this blog's other writer with a reflection paper for his Rousseau class, I showed him an amusing passage from the Second Discourse. See, even though J. J. Rousseau is often made out to be no more than the inspirer of the French Revolution and the intellectual precursor to Marx, in many ways, he was even more reactionary than Les and I. Part II, ¶ 20, read it and weap:

For the Poet it is gold and silver; but for the Philosopher it is iron and wheat that civilized men, and ruined mankind.


No iron, no division of labor; no wheat, no serfdom. Naturally I, Atobe, am not a Rousseauian since I believe human inequality is natural, and agrarian life most salutary to virtue, but it is fun to think, maybe that was man's downfall. Think of that the next time you chow down a bowl of Frosted Mini Wheats!

Be awed at the sight of my prowess!