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2006 Archives
July 31, 2006:
An Interesting Aside:
Most writers do not earn enough to pay their rent, let alone
buy groceries or take their friend to lunch. Some things in writing
do pay well. The best paying is smut. The second best is religious
twaddle. They both have huge markets and neither requires a great
deal of writing talent. If I wanted to be an intellectual whore,
I could choose either one and do well. It a damn shame I have
a conscience. See! I told you so. It's my mothers fault. Freud
was right!
Pretensions:
We all do it. We pretend we know things we really don't know.
We pretend, for example, to understand how electricity works.
All most of us know is the light usually goes on when we flip
the switch. The rest is magic. Just so with automobiles. We don't
really know how our car works. Most of us know how to start the
car, how to point it, how to make it go, and usually, how to
make it stop. We don't always get that last part right. That
is how those things we call accidents happen. Most of them are
not accidents at all. They are caused.
Hillary was Right:
Back when Bill was president... You remember Bill don't you?
He was Hillary's husband. Back then, Hillary said we needed a
national health care system. I think we still do. Piecemeal is
not getting to the real issue. Health insurers continue to defraud
the public. We constantly hear of new cases. There is more than
adequate evidence. People are being allowed to die by these profiteering
bums. Meantime, too many people are not insured at all and the
drug plan is a debacle. We need a comprehensive federally funded
health plan run by human beings, not politicians or government
employees. In a country as wealthy as the United States, health
care should be an entitlement for every citizen. We have enough
money to do it. All we really need is honest people in our government.
They are stealing enough money to finance a health care plan.
Every day we hear of some bum like Mike Leavitt bleeding the
system. I do not believe there is a single person in government
who did not take something that did not belong to him.
Mobs:
The mobs that followed Martin Luther King around were no different
than the mobs who followed Gandhi around, were no different than
the mobs who followed Jesus around. They were unenlightened rabble
who would never be anything else. They were hoping to have some
kind of magic personal victory without making any personal effort
at all. What fools these mortals be!
Economy:
Michigan's economy is in the toilet. It is there because we are
almost completely dependent on the Auto industry. In Michigan
that means we are dependent on Ford, GM, and that German firm.
So long as that is true we will remain in the toilet. It turns
out that foreign companies have outsold the big three in the
American market for the first time in history. Of course it had
to happen. They make better Tauruses than Ford. Let us offer
kudos to William Clay Ford and Wagoner. What a legacy they have
created for themselves.
Granholm does not have a clue. DeVos does not have a clue.
The managers of GM, Ford, and that other firm do not have a clue.
Without a major breakthrough in automotive engineering, the industry
will remain flat. For a major breakthrough they need creative
scientists and engineers. Those outfits don't have what I would
call engineers and they certainly don't have any scientists.
They have "Team Players!" Duh!
About Fields:
He is the guy who was supposed to turn Ford around. It's too
soon to say he has failed, but it don't look good. So far, the
vaunted Ford's turn around plan didn't. An article in the July
22 Detroit Free Press by Sarah Webster gives the Ford excuses.
They are blaming everything but themselves. They continue to
make those huge gas hog trucks and cars. They still have it in
their heads that they can turn Ford around by closing plants
and laying off people. They still have it in their heads that
they can sell cars and trucks with hype. They continue to confuse
words with deeds. They seem to think using the word, innovation,
will fool the public. It won't. A new gill and a Tinkertoy®
take apart put together truck will not do it. They need real
innovation and they have no people who even know where to begin.
It's the same old, same old.
Perennial Problems:
We have the West on fire again. There is a drought across the
country. The floods are ongoing. No one is prepared. The hurricane
season is upon us and FEMA is not prepared. The power grid in
California is obsolete and is guaranteed to fail under the high
demand. We have know that for years. Still, no one is prepared.
Spy On Your Kids:
Now, thanks to new technology from fascist minded entrepreneurs
we can spy on our kids on line anytime from anywhere. Ain't that
swell? What kind of message is that sending to the kids? "I
raised you, but I am so inept I messed you up morally and now
I cannot trust you." What will the kid do? Most kids, if
we expect them to misbehave will act to satisfy that expectation.
It's a natural reaction. Might as well have the game if we already
have the name. Mistrust will eventually backfire. The kids will
find a way around the spy machine. Count on it. They are younger,
more flexible, and smarter than you are. They won't trust you
and they will not confide in you when they fid out you have spied
on them. You will be in a black hole as far as your kids are
concerned. Who could blame them?
I don't Understand:
I have met many men who are angry about and very resistant to
Woman's Liberation. I just cannot get with that idea. Woman's
Liberation is the best thing that ever happened to me. Now, in
addition to cleaning house, doing laundry, and cooking, my wife
also mows the grass, takes care of the garden, changes the oil
on the car, paints the porch, takes out the garbage, and fixes
the washing machine when it breaks. I cannot understand how anyone
could be opposed to that.
Rumor:
I heard the market went down 500 points when it was discovered
George had remained in the bathroom ten minutes longer than normal.
It turned out to be nothing serious. They think he was just playing
with his rubber ducky. For sure, he must have been playing with
something.
Looking back:
I used to think a great deal of my life had been wasted. That
was because I had not done some of the things I thought I could
or should have. From a different perspective, not one day of
my life has been wasted. I cannot recall a day when I did not
learn something or have some kind of unique experience. It turns
out, every day was special in one way or another, even those
days when I had to go into surgery. Experience is never wasted.
Some examples are in order. The first time a woman responded
to me spiritually, emotionally, and physically. Seeing my wife
receive her diploma as a Registered Nurse. Watching my daughter
cross the stage to receive her Doctor of Philosophy degree. Standing
naked in a deluge of icy rainwater from a disconnected downspout.
Finding the special line of code that makes my program work elegantly
instead of just work. Figuring out the perfect fifth line to
my limerick. There are many more, but I wont belabor the point.
Think back, you have the same kinds of things in your memory.
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