Pretension

Pretension and ambition. One leads to the other. But in which direction? Either and both? In all human endeavors, and in social and political intercourse, not to mention sexual? But always, in every case? Is there any arena where these two "ions" do not play a part? Or are they the basic tenets in the law of survival? The root of all self interest?

Pretentious

In order to be recognized as a serious poet, writer, or an artist or intellectual of any kind for that matter, pretentions often come into play. Is it a prerequisite to pretend at first, for example, and then to pursue the pretensions to be recognzied? Many people write or paint or "create" and may be quite good at it, I think, but remain unknown simply because they don't have the pretensions to pursue the identity, the image, the recognition. But is it pretentious to do so, or does it just appear that way at first, until the pretentions are justified? If not, I suppose we can just pretend, at least at the pretrial proceedings. In any case, pretentions become pretentious when they seem to be inflated.

Amok

The free press finds the bullet hole in it’s own foot now as Miss Run Amok is outed for who (and what) she really is and the run-up to war in Iraq the mainstream media fueled (perhaps unwittingly) is being revealed [see Robert Kagan, The Washington Post, October 25, 2005, A21]. A cautionary tale if ever there was one. The question remains, once again, who was watching the store? The biggest danger in the rush for news is the highly contagious frenzy for the scoop. It starts with reporters and before you can say “fact check” it has infected the editors. And then egg becomes a serious zit, as scribes get sucked in by "sources" and their own fantastic projections (and pretensions).

Energistic

John McPhee’s long piece on trains, “Coal Train—II” [The New Yorker, October 10, 2005], describes some very long coal trains and a startling glimpse at where our energy comes from (or where it goes). For one thing, demand for coal in this country is greater in summer than in winter (the AC in HVAC). McPhee rides a 124-car train, a mile and a half long and weighing 19,000 tons, that eventually unloads at Plant Scherer in Georgia, the largest coal-fired power plant in the Western Hemisphere. (It boils 81 million gallons of water a day in boilers 25 stories tall.) The coal train left a mine in Wyoming five days earlier, [and] “Plant Scherer would burn everything in it in less than eight hours.”

Among other fascinating facts and figures, McPhee reveals:

· As fuel, one million tons of coal equals one truckload of uranium;

· Costs for a million BTUs are $9.00 with oil, $6.00 with natural gas, $1.85 with coal, and 50¢ with nuclear;

· Plant Scherer consumes 1,300 coal trains a year -- that’s 2,000 miles of coal cars with 12 million tons of Wyoming bedrock.

Confronted by these overwhelming volumes, and the fact that the population of the world has doubled in the past 30 years, wouldn’t it be nice if we could harness the energy of bad weather, which seems to be plentiful and continually replenishing, or simply burn political waste, which also seems to be bottomless.

Recriminate

And now the ripple of suspicion, even surprise, begins to seep into the dimwitted crania on "Capital" Hill and in the "Right" House. The war in Iraq actually may be out of our control. This outcome was as clear as the smirk on G.W.'s face the day he announced we were going to invade Iraq to save the world from terrorism. Now he has saved the world for terrorism. Good work George, and thanks to all the other lame supporters on both sides of the aisle in the House and Senate. What were you all thinking? Or were you?