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January 3, 2005:
Ma:
There are a certain class of humans who demonstrate a degree
of maudlinness that makes me want to puke. I speak of the ones
who write those pap filled sappy poems and songs like my Old
Kentucky Home and Mammy. One that I find particularly nauseating
is M-O-T-H-E-R by Morse and Johnson. "M is for the many
things she gave me, etc." I doubt there is a mother like
that anywhere in this universe. If there is, I have never seen
or met her. As long as we are taking extreme departures from
reality here is another take. Which one resonates with you?
M is for the Mean names that she called me.
E is for the Evil in her stare.
A is for the Awful food she gave me.
N is for the Noogies in her hair.
M is for the Mind games she pulled on me.
A is Anti-love she laid on me.
Put them all together they spell MEAN MA;
The one who did it all to me.
Wars:
Twice in recent history we have had the war to end all wars.
Twice we failed in our goals. Is it not clear that we must do
something else? I believe we have two choices. One is to attempt
to dominate the world by force as Rome did. The other alternative
is to export democracy. Rome's solution ultimately failed, but
we could try it again. I think it would be better to take the
long way round and gradually export democracy while we hold the
madmen at bay. It may be difficult to hold the madmen in the
White House at bay. It is probably impossible unless some decent
people step up and run for office. It is a dream after all.
Penalties:
I do not believe the penalties we provide are severe enough to
prevent crime. This is especially true of so-called white collar
crime. The penalties should be so serious that only crazy people
would try to get away with it. A fine of a couple of grand for
a person who steals millions is not enough.
China's Law:
Their law is one baby per marriage, no exceptions. So, what does
it cause? Abandoned babies for one thing. People still procreate
and then they abandon the babies to avoid penalties. Mrs. Gaffer
and I got in an argument about it. She says the law is stupid
and inhumane. I agree, but what can they do? I pointed out that
China does not produce enough food to feed all of its people.
They are trying to reduce the population. What is the solution?
There is no good solution that I know of.
Some people are working to get the babies adopted into American
homes. That is very humane, but not particularly viable considering
the magnitude of the problem. There are a very small number of
American families that want to take on that kind of responsibility.
It's kind of like spitting in the ocean. There is no discernable
change. Mrs. Gaffer just folded her arms and looked at me askance.
That is her ultimate argument and it means I had better shut
up which, of course, I did.
Reading About Hemingway:
When does courage become insanity? It seems, in his later years
especially, Hemingway actively courted death. I wish I knew why.
So long as you can find ways to do some good in the world you
should want to avoid death if possible. It cannot be just about
success and failure. Perhaps alcohol played a role in Hemingway's
situation. He did drink a great deal according to those who wrote
about him. So, when does courage become insanity? I believe it
is when the courage serves no higher purpose, when it becomes
a macho childish game like Russian Roulette.
Our Idiot Government:
We are still thinking we can go around the world rigging things.
We learned nothing from Cuba or any part of South America. We
learned nothing from Russia's experience. We are pretending Afghanistan
is okay, after we rigged an election there. It's not okay. Now
we are trying to rig a jackleg election in Iraq. It won't work.
We have not done the groundwork. Those people have had nothing
but the rule of savages in the entire history of that region.
From its role as the cradle of civilization on, savages have
always ruled that region. That will not change overnight. Having
a hokey election may help us to get out of there, but Iraq will
not have a democracy. The people must first be conditioned to
self rule. That will take decades, not a few months.
Bank Robbers:
We noticed on the TV news a story about non-violent bank robbers.
The number of robberies has increased, but the violence has decrease.
I suppose that's a good thing in a way. A local police authority
noted that the robbers almost always get caught and the penalty
is very severe. It's a ten year felony. Unbelievable when we
compare that to the penalty the K-mart executives got for stealing
billions. They got small fines and no prison time. The bak robbers
are clearly in the wrong business.
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