What is a veteran? People have certain expectations of veterans. They expect them to have a certain set of experiences, a certain set of beliefs. They expect them to react in certain ways to certain prompts.
Veterans come from all over. They are all kinds of people. They join the Armed forces for all kinds of reasons and do all kinds of different things while they are serving, under different circumstances. They leave the service after different amounts of time and for different reasons. Some veterans have been in combat, some have not. Even a lot of veterans don't agree with each other, about what combat is or who is a veteran of it. Some veterans consider themselves to be elite. Some take pride in being a regular old dog face or deck ape.
I think many, maybe even most veterans feel a bond with those they served with. Those they didn't serve with are another matter, especially if there is a big enough age difference to be generational or if there is an officer/enlisted divide. Not all veterans are disposed to like or trust each other.
I'm a veteran but when I think of veterans, I think of the World War II and Korea guys who were adults around town, when I was a little kid. Most of them were great guys, some not. The ones that went to meetings and wore the funny hats, not so much but that's just my opinion. A lot of people seemed to like them fine. I don't think of myself as being like them. To be honest, I don't think they, what few of them are left, see guys of my generation as being like them either. I guess that's the way it always is.
Recent vets, the ones I've met, seem mostly OK to me. I hope now that they are out of the service, they can have good lives. Like I've had. Like a lot of vets have had. I hope nobody puts a lot of expectations on them that don't need to be there. They've already done their part and met the expectations. Wherever it was, whatever they did. That should be enough. They've been who the country needed them to be. Now they can just be themselves.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Maybe Someday, Orrin Hatch Can Come Out Of The Closet
The Mormon Church in Utah has moved to support State legislation that would ban discrimination against homosexuals and bring Gay rights in the State up to the same anything but marriage standard that exists in most other States.
Mormons know what it's like to be an oppressed and hated minority. Just because others believe you are the demonic spawn of Satan, doesn't necessarily mean you get no protection under the law or the right to live your life, out in the open, in the light of day.
Maybe that foully diseased Whore of Rome should take a lesson here. The Pope will never come out of the closet. He likes it in there.
Mormons know what it's like to be an oppressed and hated minority. Just because others believe you are the demonic spawn of Satan, doesn't necessarily mean you get no protection under the law or the right to live your life, out in the open, in the light of day.
Maybe that foully diseased Whore of Rome should take a lesson here. The Pope will never come out of the closet. He likes it in there.
Feel My Gom Jabbar
They executed John Muhammad, the DC sniper, tonight. No problem here. It won't bring his victims back but he deserved it. I hope it brings their families some measure of peace.
I just wish the law treated everyone equal in this country. This guy will never sip the potassium cocktail through a 16 gauge Jelco venous catheter. He'll get a deal for Life. Even if he doesn't, his homeboy, Catlicker buddies on the Supreme Court will see him clear. They are all members of the Culture of Life. They stick together.
I just wish the law treated everyone equal in this country. This guy will never sip the potassium cocktail through a 16 gauge Jelco venous catheter. He'll get a deal for Life. Even if he doesn't, his homeboy, Catlicker buddies on the Supreme Court will see him clear. They are all members of the Culture of Life. They stick together.
Screw Murdoch
I always used to love reading the Wall Street Journal. It was one of America's great newspapers. It was conservative, didn't matter. Rupert Murdoch owns it now. It's a piece of shit.
Rupert wants to block Goggle's news aggregater from the Wall Street Journal. I think that's great. Google should stay away. They shouldn't collect anything from Fox news either.
Stuff from Fox News is fun to read but a person can always go to The Onion site for that kind of thing.
Rupert wants to block Goggle's news aggregater from the Wall Street Journal. I think that's great. Google should stay away. They shouldn't collect anything from Fox news either.
Stuff from Fox News is fun to read but a person can always go to The Onion site for that kind of thing.
New Penises for old
I'm sure you've seen this article or one like it. Soon, if you can pay the freight, a skilled physician will be able to grow you the penis of your dreams. Whoopee!
I don't think it will help me. My problem has always been how to get women to be more friendly and accepting of the perfectly good, if somewhat economically sized, penis I already have. For the last forty five years or so, I have suspected that it doesn't have anything at all to do with the penis but the unsavory nebbish it's attached to. The same problem extends to most of my other peripherals, jobs, schools, friends, even this blog.
Do you think a smiley face tattoo would help? The penis, I mean.
I don't think it will help me. My problem has always been how to get women to be more friendly and accepting of the perfectly good, if somewhat economically sized, penis I already have. For the last forty five years or so, I have suspected that it doesn't have anything at all to do with the penis but the unsavory nebbish it's attached to. The same problem extends to most of my other peripherals, jobs, schools, friends, even this blog.
Do you think a smiley face tattoo would help? The penis, I mean.
Maybe we should all pay our own way
The main reason that there is a big push for a national health care program in this country is that the Medicare system is broke and has been running in the red for many years. The money that younger workers have been paying all of their lives, to fund their own retirement health care benefits is spent. The government wants to raise more money from healthy, younger, working people to fund continued coverage for the old, sick, disabled and poor.
I don't care how it comes out one way or another. On the one hand, everybody needs reasonably priced health care. On the other, the benefits currently provided are obscenely inappropriate. You get old and sick and die. That's the way of my people, baby. The way of everyone's people. Leave'm on a blanket, on an ice flow, with a mouth full of snow, when they can't keep up anymore.
I think it's interesting that the group who are most opposed to a public health care system are the fucking Christers. They want to make sure none of their hard earned money goes to fund birth control, then they whine about abortion. What a bunch of stupid shitheads. I think it's about time religion started pulling it's own weight. Churches use government services, just like anybody else. They should start paying taxes on the property they own and on the income they take in. I don't have any problem with tax exemptions for religion as long as it's on funds that are used strictly for approved charitable purposes. Most of the loot they take in goes for other stuff. Why should they get a tax break on money used to pay off sodomized alter boys? I'm tired of the greasy, hippocrite Christers riding on my dime. Fuck'em, just like they fuck those little boys.
I don't care how it comes out one way or another. On the one hand, everybody needs reasonably priced health care. On the other, the benefits currently provided are obscenely inappropriate. You get old and sick and die. That's the way of my people, baby. The way of everyone's people. Leave'm on a blanket, on an ice flow, with a mouth full of snow, when they can't keep up anymore.
I think it's interesting that the group who are most opposed to a public health care system are the fucking Christers. They want to make sure none of their hard earned money goes to fund birth control, then they whine about abortion. What a bunch of stupid shitheads. I think it's about time religion started pulling it's own weight. Churches use government services, just like anybody else. They should start paying taxes on the property they own and on the income they take in. I don't have any problem with tax exemptions for religion as long as it's on funds that are used strictly for approved charitable purposes. Most of the loot they take in goes for other stuff. Why should they get a tax break on money used to pay off sodomized alter boys? I'm tired of the greasy, hippocrite Christers riding on my dime. Fuck'em, just like they fuck those little boys.
Do You Own Tech Stocks?
A lot of people have been buying budget net books with dirt cheap Atom Intel processors that, with a few tweaks, can load and run Apple's new Snow Leopard operating system just fine. Imagine that, a functional $300 Apple laptop that fits in a ladies handbag and holds an eight hour battery charge. Apple just issued a patch that, among other things, disables Atom processors.
What does this tell you? No matter how much you like Apple hardware, Apple is primarily a software company, that produces a line of operating systems, not a hardware company, whose products are indispensable to the computing experience. Their stuff is good but has shortcomings and is overpriced.
Once you understand this, you will realize that the stock is way overpriced. I'm sure that somebody will figure out a way around Apple's interdiction of non native hardware and that they will then issue another lockout. The beat goes on. I'm also sure that there are really smart guys, maybe even in a garage somewhere, working to create a better operating system than either Apple or Microsoft provides, that can be run on any cheap, throwaway machine you can buy down at Radio Shack, on sale for a couple of hundred dollars. When that happens, both Apple and Microsoft are going to be quickly ushered off the stage. They both have their devoted partisans but most of us are ruled by our wallets.
Think about that when you buy their stock. It could be a more costly purchase than any chi-chi Mac Book Pro you might be lusting after.
What does this tell you? No matter how much you like Apple hardware, Apple is primarily a software company, that produces a line of operating systems, not a hardware company, whose products are indispensable to the computing experience. Their stuff is good but has shortcomings and is overpriced.
Once you understand this, you will realize that the stock is way overpriced. I'm sure that somebody will figure out a way around Apple's interdiction of non native hardware and that they will then issue another lockout. The beat goes on. I'm also sure that there are really smart guys, maybe even in a garage somewhere, working to create a better operating system than either Apple or Microsoft provides, that can be run on any cheap, throwaway machine you can buy down at Radio Shack, on sale for a couple of hundred dollars. When that happens, both Apple and Microsoft are going to be quickly ushered off the stage. They both have their devoted partisans but most of us are ruled by our wallets.
Think about that when you buy their stock. It could be a more costly purchase than any chi-chi Mac Book Pro you might be lusting after.
Monday, November 09, 2009
Partisan Disarray
I'm not opposed to the use of well publicized lies as a political tool, as long as they are creative and effective in swaying people to the cause. It's a respected tradition as old as time.
One of the big Republican talking points emerging today is that pro choice Democrats are at each other's throats over the addition of the Stupak amendment to the House health care bill. This isn't anything more than political masturbation. Nothing wrong with it but doing it in public isn't going to win any votes for Prom Queen. There may be some Democratic disarray around but it isn't over this. Democrats want health care legislation. They're willing to do about anything to get it.
You want partisan disarray, lie about it all you want, the NY-23 Congressional election last week was disarray for all to see.
One of the big Republican talking points emerging today is that pro choice Democrats are at each other's throats over the addition of the Stupak amendment to the House health care bill. This isn't anything more than political masturbation. Nothing wrong with it but doing it in public isn't going to win any votes for Prom Queen. There may be some Democratic disarray around but it isn't over this. Democrats want health care legislation. They're willing to do about anything to get it.
You want partisan disarray, lie about it all you want, the NY-23 Congressional election last week was disarray for all to see.
Up The River
In a couple years, Sirhan will celebrate this 50th year in prison. He'll still have time to do another ten or fifteen years. Lucky him. I wouldn't have wanted to do that kind of time but all things considered, he's had it pretty good.
I'm not a big fan of humane incarceration or rehabilitation. The French always used to do a good job of prison management and they never put away too many people who weren't guilty. I think that's an important consideration. You can't get away with that kind of brutality today, even if it is well deserved.
The Japanese probably do about as good as anybody in the developed World today with incarceration. You just sit alone in a silent, tiny, windowless room for however long your sentence is. A couple of times a day they give you a small portion of unseasoned rice and cabbage. It's pretty economical too.
I'm not a big fan of humane incarceration or rehabilitation. The French always used to do a good job of prison management and they never put away too many people who weren't guilty. I think that's an important consideration. You can't get away with that kind of brutality today, even if it is well deserved.
The Japanese probably do about as good as anybody in the developed World today with incarceration. You just sit alone in a silent, tiny, windowless room for however long your sentence is. A couple of times a day they give you a small portion of unseasoned rice and cabbage. It's pretty economical too.
Sunday, November 08, 2009
Never Another Like Him
My grandfather was born on a farm outside of Kokomo, Indiana, in 1896. The family moved from there to central California about 12 years later. By that time my grandfather was an adult. He was through with school and had been for a few years. He was the oldest of three sons and a daughter, the hardest worker and never complained. This sealed his fate. He worked for his father until he was almost fifty. His father said he needed him to. That was that.
My great grandfather would buy distressed and foreclosed farm properties, the cheapest available. My grandfather would fix them up and put them on a paying basis. There was no property too remote or mean, no ground too hard, that my grandfather could not put it right. He decided on the improvements needed, the order in which they were needed, the type of agriculture that would be most profitable and the cheapest way to make it happen. Then he set to work, one man, before dawn to after dusk, seven days a week. Machinery cost money. He used hand tools, cast offs mostly, repaired in his own forge. For work too heavy for a man, he had a mule. He made rundown outbuildings right and weatherproof. He put up fencing, laid out, dug and plumbed irrigation ditches, planted, cultivated and harvested crops, put down silage for winter fodder, milked the cows twice a day and put the milk out for pickup.
My grandmother tended the house, raised the children, kept the chickens and books. She produced or made almost everything the household needed. She canned fruit and vegetables and made soap. From cast off rag bags donated in the church basement, rugs were weaved and clothes were sewn. Good times or bad, didn't matter, not an unnecessary penny was spent.
The last thing my grandparents did before a farm was sold, was fix up the house so it would look as nice as possible and bring a better price. Houses with dirt floors would get jacked up and foundation and floors added, plumbing and electricity brought in, glazed windows, weatherproofing and paint. No use in having a nice house when they were the only ones living there. Didn't add to the bottom line.
The farms my grandfather tended brought good prices and a nice profit, even better during the Depression than before. To people watching their savings dwindle away, a small farm seemed like the way to go. My great grandfather prospered. People that bought his rehabbed farms were often bankrupt and foreclosed on in a year. Small farms, as a rule, don't pay out. They never did and never will. Not one in a thousand farmers is anything like my grandfather was and even if they were, that kind of farming isn't worth the effort. It's a man killer.
My grandfather was not a handsome or impressive looking man. He was short, with a face like a bulldog and had no discernible neck. In his overalls he looked fat. Never was even an ounce on him, though he weighed two hundred and forty pounds. You never see hands like his anymore. They were naturally small but hugely swollen with muscle. His fingers were as big around as polish sausage links. Tens of thousands of hours, working with a pick and shovel, over the course of forty years is what did it. He could crack walnuts between the tips of his thumb and fore finger. Try it sometime.
There never were many men like my grandfather. No one should be nostalgic for those days or that kind of life. It wasn't the kind of life anyone would choose, not him, most of all. His father said he needed him and it was true. If it was me, I'd a told the old man to go fuck himself and signed on a freighter to China.
My great grandfather would buy distressed and foreclosed farm properties, the cheapest available. My grandfather would fix them up and put them on a paying basis. There was no property too remote or mean, no ground too hard, that my grandfather could not put it right. He decided on the improvements needed, the order in which they were needed, the type of agriculture that would be most profitable and the cheapest way to make it happen. Then he set to work, one man, before dawn to after dusk, seven days a week. Machinery cost money. He used hand tools, cast offs mostly, repaired in his own forge. For work too heavy for a man, he had a mule. He made rundown outbuildings right and weatherproof. He put up fencing, laid out, dug and plumbed irrigation ditches, planted, cultivated and harvested crops, put down silage for winter fodder, milked the cows twice a day and put the milk out for pickup.
My grandmother tended the house, raised the children, kept the chickens and books. She produced or made almost everything the household needed. She canned fruit and vegetables and made soap. From cast off rag bags donated in the church basement, rugs were weaved and clothes were sewn. Good times or bad, didn't matter, not an unnecessary penny was spent.
The last thing my grandparents did before a farm was sold, was fix up the house so it would look as nice as possible and bring a better price. Houses with dirt floors would get jacked up and foundation and floors added, plumbing and electricity brought in, glazed windows, weatherproofing and paint. No use in having a nice house when they were the only ones living there. Didn't add to the bottom line.
The farms my grandfather tended brought good prices and a nice profit, even better during the Depression than before. To people watching their savings dwindle away, a small farm seemed like the way to go. My great grandfather prospered. People that bought his rehabbed farms were often bankrupt and foreclosed on in a year. Small farms, as a rule, don't pay out. They never did and never will. Not one in a thousand farmers is anything like my grandfather was and even if they were, that kind of farming isn't worth the effort. It's a man killer.
My grandfather was not a handsome or impressive looking man. He was short, with a face like a bulldog and had no discernible neck. In his overalls he looked fat. Never was even an ounce on him, though he weighed two hundred and forty pounds. You never see hands like his anymore. They were naturally small but hugely swollen with muscle. His fingers were as big around as polish sausage links. Tens of thousands of hours, working with a pick and shovel, over the course of forty years is what did it. He could crack walnuts between the tips of his thumb and fore finger. Try it sometime.
There never were many men like my grandfather. No one should be nostalgic for those days or that kind of life. It wasn't the kind of life anyone would choose, not him, most of all. His father said he needed him and it was true. If it was me, I'd a told the old man to go fuck himself and signed on a freighter to China.
A Sad And Desultory Mission Statement
It doesn't bother me too much because it's always been mostly true but I am a little disheartened that I am becoming even more out of step politically and philosophically, with mainstream America. I've never cared about the law or social convention and never even attempted to stay within their bounds. Why should that change just because I am becoming old and sadly pathetic.
I am an unrepentant social liberal. I am past the point in my life when abortion has any personal relevance but I believe strongly in Women's reproductive rights. I don't frankly care whether abortion is murder. Society condones the intentional deaths of many types of people. Some of them we revile and some we call heros. So what? I am unilaterally heterosexual but don't give a shit how other people want to live and believe all should have the same freedoms and opportunities under the law. I am married but only because it causes too many complications not to be. I don't care whether other people choose to be married or not, who they marry or for what reason. I don't think the government has the right to make end of life decisions for people but that people themselves absolutely do deserve to be able to make those decisions for themselves. In all of these areas, the country seems to me moving against me. I'm becoming somewhat apathetic about agitating for these issues because they don't really affect me and how I live my life. I am confident that when the time comes I have the will and the resources to end my life on my terms and in my time.
I am a fiscal conservative. Nowhere in America do I see any real resolve to control government spending across the board. Different factions are interested in gutting spending that benefits their opponents but nowhere are there strong voices calling for the real austerity needed to save the system. It will surely fail.
I believe that overpopulation and inequality of resource consumption are real problems in the World and that pollution and global warming are more than hippie propaganda. These are not popular views especially in this country. I do not believe governmental bodies have any will or impetus to address these issues in any serious way and will not in the foreseeable future.
President Obama has staked out a centrist niche for himself as our political leader. He mostly stays silent on social issues and embraces big government spending and wars of foreign aggression. It is the exact opposite of what I would have for the country. Obama may be less my President than any other in recent history although I understand his motives and do not condemn him as I have others in his job.
I do not find any value in the shrill and dogmatic voices on the right or left. They leave me tired and disgruntled. Too many seem more interested in cramming their own life choices and beliefs down the throats of others than insuring they will be able to live their lives the way they choose and that all others will as well.
I like writing this blog. It's therapeutic. I don't care if nobody much reads it. That isn't the point of it. I will continue to write about anything and everything I feel like. I probably will focus on things I like, criticism, cynicism, satire, the bashing of authoritarianism wherever it lives, shameless embrace of doom saying and unabashed gold buggery are always favorites of mine.
I am an unrepentant social liberal. I am past the point in my life when abortion has any personal relevance but I believe strongly in Women's reproductive rights. I don't frankly care whether abortion is murder. Society condones the intentional deaths of many types of people. Some of them we revile and some we call heros. So what? I am unilaterally heterosexual but don't give a shit how other people want to live and believe all should have the same freedoms and opportunities under the law. I am married but only because it causes too many complications not to be. I don't care whether other people choose to be married or not, who they marry or for what reason. I don't think the government has the right to make end of life decisions for people but that people themselves absolutely do deserve to be able to make those decisions for themselves. In all of these areas, the country seems to me moving against me. I'm becoming somewhat apathetic about agitating for these issues because they don't really affect me and how I live my life. I am confident that when the time comes I have the will and the resources to end my life on my terms and in my time.
I am a fiscal conservative. Nowhere in America do I see any real resolve to control government spending across the board. Different factions are interested in gutting spending that benefits their opponents but nowhere are there strong voices calling for the real austerity needed to save the system. It will surely fail.
I believe that overpopulation and inequality of resource consumption are real problems in the World and that pollution and global warming are more than hippie propaganda. These are not popular views especially in this country. I do not believe governmental bodies have any will or impetus to address these issues in any serious way and will not in the foreseeable future.
President Obama has staked out a centrist niche for himself as our political leader. He mostly stays silent on social issues and embraces big government spending and wars of foreign aggression. It is the exact opposite of what I would have for the country. Obama may be less my President than any other in recent history although I understand his motives and do not condemn him as I have others in his job.
I do not find any value in the shrill and dogmatic voices on the right or left. They leave me tired and disgruntled. Too many seem more interested in cramming their own life choices and beliefs down the throats of others than insuring they will be able to live their lives the way they choose and that all others will as well.
I like writing this blog. It's therapeutic. I don't care if nobody much reads it. That isn't the point of it. I will continue to write about anything and everything I feel like. I probably will focus on things I like, criticism, cynicism, satire, the bashing of authoritarianism wherever it lives, shameless embrace of doom saying and unabashed gold buggery are always favorites of mine.
Saturday, November 07, 2009
Not One God Damn Thing
Governments around the World used to be in the business of accumulating gold. A large gold reserve enhanced status and indicated the financial health and security of a regime.With ample gold reserves, a country could threaten or make war, sustain itself when taxes fell short, even feed the people if crops failed. During times of political upheaval, the faction that could keep control of the gold reserves always had the upper hand in keeping control of the country. If a deposed faction could get the gold reserves out of the country, the new ruling faction faced a much more difficult time maintaining control.
For a long time now, governments have been pretending that gold reserves didn't mean much. Not many but some governments have sold off substantial portions of their gold reserves. Almost no governments have added to their gold reserves in many decades. Apathy towards gold made it difficult for miners to sell their production, even to just cover costs. The value of gold stagnated and even decreased relative to purchasing power.
Things may be changing. The Chinese are the largest producers of mined gold in the World. The Chinese government is accumulating virtually all of it into its reserves. Russia is also a big producer. They are doing the same. The Indian Government just bought 200 tons of gold from the International Monetary Fund and was willing to pay almost double what gold was worth last year. The Indians are supposedly the shrewdest and most knowledgeable gold traders on the face of the Earth.
Investors around the World are accumulating gold. Individuals are purchasing gold coins and ingots, knowing they will have to pay a steep premium to buy and endure a discount if they sell it back to a dealer. Even so, the wait to buy gold is long in many places.
Gold gets a lot of bad press. All the touts, advisers and analysts say it's a bad deal, in a bubble formation and will crash soon. Here in America, people have other things to worry about. Almost nobody is buying gold except the affluent, who are worried about proper diversification.
I understand that I only have two choices. I can have my money in gold or some countries currency. For now, I'll keep the gold. I may lose money with gold. I don't think so but even if I do, my downside risk is limited. If all you have is the dollar, there is no downside limit. With gold there is also a potential upside, which is non-existent, at this point, with most currencies.
You never know. Gold could continue to increase in price, as the Treasury prints huge amounts of money to fund spending deficits, in anticipation of inflation. At the same time the contracting economy may experience perceived deflation as demand for goods, services and assets shrink. If I'm nimble, I could get out of gold at the right time with a big paper profit, buy up distressed but still ultimately valuable assets that are in decline and die rich. Do I think my chances of that are good? Nah! I'm just a little guy. I don't have much and will likely lose it in any case but what the fuck have I got to lose?
Not one God damn thing.
For a long time now, governments have been pretending that gold reserves didn't mean much. Not many but some governments have sold off substantial portions of their gold reserves. Almost no governments have added to their gold reserves in many decades. Apathy towards gold made it difficult for miners to sell their production, even to just cover costs. The value of gold stagnated and even decreased relative to purchasing power.
Things may be changing. The Chinese are the largest producers of mined gold in the World. The Chinese government is accumulating virtually all of it into its reserves. Russia is also a big producer. They are doing the same. The Indian Government just bought 200 tons of gold from the International Monetary Fund and was willing to pay almost double what gold was worth last year. The Indians are supposedly the shrewdest and most knowledgeable gold traders on the face of the Earth.
Investors around the World are accumulating gold. Individuals are purchasing gold coins and ingots, knowing they will have to pay a steep premium to buy and endure a discount if they sell it back to a dealer. Even so, the wait to buy gold is long in many places.
Gold gets a lot of bad press. All the touts, advisers and analysts say it's a bad deal, in a bubble formation and will crash soon. Here in America, people have other things to worry about. Almost nobody is buying gold except the affluent, who are worried about proper diversification.
I understand that I only have two choices. I can have my money in gold or some countries currency. For now, I'll keep the gold. I may lose money with gold. I don't think so but even if I do, my downside risk is limited. If all you have is the dollar, there is no downside limit. With gold there is also a potential upside, which is non-existent, at this point, with most currencies.
You never know. Gold could continue to increase in price, as the Treasury prints huge amounts of money to fund spending deficits, in anticipation of inflation. At the same time the contracting economy may experience perceived deflation as demand for goods, services and assets shrink. If I'm nimble, I could get out of gold at the right time with a big paper profit, buy up distressed but still ultimately valuable assets that are in decline and die rich. Do I think my chances of that are good? Nah! I'm just a little guy. I don't have much and will likely lose it in any case but what the fuck have I got to lose?
Not one God damn thing.
Yurts and Fermented Mare's Milk
I remember before we had a TV. Some people still just had radio. A lot of the radios were the big, old console models, with glowing vacuum tubes in the guts. They could often receive short wave through an outside antenna. You could turn the dial and pick up foreign language and funny music along with eerie howling noises and static. Sometimes you could guess where the signal was coming from and sometimes not but you knew it was far away. For me, it was exciting.
Blogging can be like short wave signals in the old days. I never get a lot of hits but I get them from all over. They aren't all from huge population centers but they tend to be from relatively developed areas because that's where they weave the interwebs.
I got a hit a couple days ago from Ulan Bator. I remember reading a National Geographic article about Mongolia and Ulan Bator fifty years ago. It was pretty bleak but definitely the farthest place you could get away to and still be on Earth, except for maybe the Poles. The people seemed more alien than exotic, the streets were mud and there were yurts and herds of ponies, right in the middle of town. The People all looked like Korean dwarfs and dressed like Robinson Crusoe. I'm sure it's more developed now, almost everywhere is. It's still about as far away from here as you can get, in every imaginable way.
Somebody from Ulan Bator looked at my words. Cool.
Blogging can be like short wave signals in the old days. I never get a lot of hits but I get them from all over. They aren't all from huge population centers but they tend to be from relatively developed areas because that's where they weave the interwebs.
I got a hit a couple days ago from Ulan Bator. I remember reading a National Geographic article about Mongolia and Ulan Bator fifty years ago. It was pretty bleak but definitely the farthest place you could get away to and still be on Earth, except for maybe the Poles. The people seemed more alien than exotic, the streets were mud and there were yurts and herds of ponies, right in the middle of town. The People all looked like Korean dwarfs and dressed like Robinson Crusoe. I'm sure it's more developed now, almost everywhere is. It's still about as far away from here as you can get, in every imaginable way.
Somebody from Ulan Bator looked at my words. Cool.
Are Polititians Crocodiles? 'Cuz They Cry The Same Tears
It's only been two days but already a pilgrimage of politicians has begun to Ft Hood. Just like the fuckin' Hajj. They want to honor the soldiers killed and wounded there and help the community "heal" from the recent atrocity. George W Bush has already been there, to spend time consoling the victims and their families. What a nice guy.
I wonder why these same politicians never gave a second thought before committing young American soldiers and their families to what will soon be the longest and most costly War in the nation's history? A War embarked upon for no apparent reason, that has destroyed the countries invaded and benefited our nation not at all. These people have lost family members, limbs, blood, mental health and time, a lot of time, out of the best years of their young lives. For too many, it was all the time they had left. Many more who have not yet, will experience these same losses in the years ahead. For nothing. Is this how we respect and honor the members of our armed forces, by selling their lives so cheaply?
Nidal Hasan was crazy or maybe a religious fanatic, the same thing, really. He shot innocents who bore no blame for the war which he was loath to fight. More senseless death in a conflict that has already caused enough. It makes him as bad as those who are responsible for the War, maybe worse and that's very bad indeed. The Army should have left him in Washington DC, where there are so many worthy objects of his psychotic bloodlust.
I wonder why these same politicians never gave a second thought before committing young American soldiers and their families to what will soon be the longest and most costly War in the nation's history? A War embarked upon for no apparent reason, that has destroyed the countries invaded and benefited our nation not at all. These people have lost family members, limbs, blood, mental health and time, a lot of time, out of the best years of their young lives. For too many, it was all the time they had left. Many more who have not yet, will experience these same losses in the years ahead. For nothing. Is this how we respect and honor the members of our armed forces, by selling their lives so cheaply?
Nidal Hasan was crazy or maybe a religious fanatic, the same thing, really. He shot innocents who bore no blame for the war which he was loath to fight. More senseless death in a conflict that has already caused enough. It makes him as bad as those who are responsible for the War, maybe worse and that's very bad indeed. The Army should have left him in Washington DC, where there are so many worthy objects of his psychotic bloodlust.
Meat on the hoof
I was cooking for awhile at a roadhouse in Southern New Mexico, many years ago. One of the local, severely inbred, ranching scions came to the back door one day and called me outside. He had a full grown buffalo bull out there tied to a tree by it's nose ring. Really big.
Seems he had been reading in one of his stock breeding magazines about the saleability of hybrid beefalo meat. He thought he would save money and instead of buying frozen sperm, just turn this big fella loose in his herd. He bought him someplace up North. He was transporting it home in a horse trailer behind his pickup. Fuckin' buffalo got restless and totally demolished the trailer. He was lucky to get as far as our place. He didn't have another trailer and didn't think anybody would loan him one to haul an unhappy buffalo bull the rest of the way home.
He wanted to sell me the buffalo's meat, cheap. The idea was he would shoot it, skin it and cut off it's head for trophies and leave me the meat. It was a good deal and we could have made some money off it. Serving buffalo meat would have been a definite attraction and we could have charged good prices. The problem is, news travels fast in sparsely populated areas like that. Plus, we would be buying seriously less meat from our regular FDA certified supplier in Roswell for awhile. Somebody would have narc'd us out for sure and you can't legally serve meat in a restaurant, that you kill and butcher in a sand lot outside your back door, from a buffalo that some guy passing through sold you. No deal.
He found another trailer somewhere and got the thing the rest of the way home. I don't know whether he got beefalo out of the deal or just a lot or gored cows. Likely, his father just made him take it back where he got it from.
Seems he had been reading in one of his stock breeding magazines about the saleability of hybrid beefalo meat. He thought he would save money and instead of buying frozen sperm, just turn this big fella loose in his herd. He bought him someplace up North. He was transporting it home in a horse trailer behind his pickup. Fuckin' buffalo got restless and totally demolished the trailer. He was lucky to get as far as our place. He didn't have another trailer and didn't think anybody would loan him one to haul an unhappy buffalo bull the rest of the way home.
He wanted to sell me the buffalo's meat, cheap. The idea was he would shoot it, skin it and cut off it's head for trophies and leave me the meat. It was a good deal and we could have made some money off it. Serving buffalo meat would have been a definite attraction and we could have charged good prices. The problem is, news travels fast in sparsely populated areas like that. Plus, we would be buying seriously less meat from our regular FDA certified supplier in Roswell for awhile. Somebody would have narc'd us out for sure and you can't legally serve meat in a restaurant, that you kill and butcher in a sand lot outside your back door, from a buffalo that some guy passing through sold you. No deal.
He found another trailer somewhere and got the thing the rest of the way home. I don't know whether he got beefalo out of the deal or just a lot or gored cows. Likely, his father just made him take it back where he got it from.
Republicans Shed A Bitter Tear
The Democrats are going to try and pass a national health bill in the House today. My feeling is that they wouldn't be attempting to do this if they didn't have the votes in their pocket.
It doesn't matter if the bill they pass has everything they want. It doesn't matter what concessions they have to make. Once a comprehensive national health bill is passed, it can be modified in the future. The one thing that is pretty much guaranteed is that once passed, universal health coverage will never be rescinded. It will be a huge victory for the Democratic party. In generations to come, when national health care is an established entitlement, it will be remembered that not a single Republican voted for it. Opposition to national health may turn out to be a liability for the Republicans in the long run. I think that it will.
Republicans are unhappy about the situation. Tough shit.
On to the Senate.
It doesn't matter if the bill they pass has everything they want. It doesn't matter what concessions they have to make. Once a comprehensive national health bill is passed, it can be modified in the future. The one thing that is pretty much guaranteed is that once passed, universal health coverage will never be rescinded. It will be a huge victory for the Democratic party. In generations to come, when national health care is an established entitlement, it will be remembered that not a single Republican voted for it. Opposition to national health may turn out to be a liability for the Republicans in the long run. I think that it will.
Republicans are unhappy about the situation. Tough shit.
On to the Senate.
Right Tool For The Job
Nidal Hasan, the Ft Hood shooter picked the right weapon for his spree. The FN Five-Seven is a great semi automatic pistol. It shoots very small bullets with a very high muzzle velocity. With proper ammunition it defeats commonly used body armor and penetrates deeply, with a damaging tumbling action. It has minimal perceived recoil and the weapon can stay on target better between shots. The shooter's wrist will not tire as much or develop a tremor after sustained firing. You can get an extended magazine that holds thirty rounds. It can be reloaded in seconds and three preloaded extra magazines of this type, tucked unobtrusively in a back pocket under an unbloused shirt, would have given him a total of one hundred twenty rounds, more than even he needed. The Five-Seven represents the biggest advance in hand gun design in over a hundred years. FN, a Belgique firm and one of the premier weapons producers in the World, none of which are now American, makes a machine pistol based on the same system that puts anything the American military has, in the way of a close combat weapon, to shame. If I became psychotic or religious and was going to buy a hand gun for a high density, sustained fire shooting spree situation, the FN Five-Seven is the one I'd buy.
I'd bet money that all of the damage he did, he did with the FN. He was also carrying a .357 magnum of some kind. I suppose he wanted to be ready, in case he needed to penetrate any engine blocks or was attacked by a bear. I guess it always pays to be prepared.
I remember when this gun was introduced several years ago, many jurisdictions in America banned it before it even went on sale. California, where I live is one of them. I'm not sure but it still may be unobtainable there. Probably Washington DC, where Nidal is from, as well. Nidal was lucky he was in Texas when he went crazy. Personal handguns are like a religion in Texas and firing them is like worship. If he had been smarter he might have gotten away with it. He should have had a few drinks first and he shouldn't have done it on a military base. They're really strict about that kind of stuff in the military. I heard of this old drunk in Texas, who shot his friend point blank in the face with a shotgun after a hydraulic lunch and was never even charged. I'm not sure anyone ever even reported it to the police.
I'd bet money that all of the damage he did, he did with the FN. He was also carrying a .357 magnum of some kind. I suppose he wanted to be ready, in case he needed to penetrate any engine blocks or was attacked by a bear. I guess it always pays to be prepared.
I remember when this gun was introduced several years ago, many jurisdictions in America banned it before it even went on sale. California, where I live is one of them. I'm not sure but it still may be unobtainable there. Probably Washington DC, where Nidal is from, as well. Nidal was lucky he was in Texas when he went crazy. Personal handguns are like a religion in Texas and firing them is like worship. If he had been smarter he might have gotten away with it. He should have had a few drinks first and he shouldn't have done it on a military base. They're really strict about that kind of stuff in the military. I heard of this old drunk in Texas, who shot his friend point blank in the face with a shotgun after a hydraulic lunch and was never even charged. I'm not sure anyone ever even reported it to the police.
Friday, November 06, 2009
The Big One
During the Cold War era, the idea of nuclear war went hand in hand with the doctrine of mutually assured destruction. The Cold War is over. It's a new game.
Whether they publicly acknowledge it or not, a lot of countries have nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them. Within the next few years, many more will. Some of the countries that have or will have nuclear weapons are run by people who are not known for mental stability. Many nuclear equipped countries are not politically stable. Many do not have full control of their military. The doctrine of mutually assured destruction doesn't have the currency that it once did. Sale or trade of nuclear weapons to countries that do not have the technology to produce them is not an unlikely prospect and may have already happened. During episodes of regime change or political upheaval, ownership of nuclear weapons has become unclear. Not all weapons known to have been produced have been reliably accounted for. The Afrikaners disposed of their very excellent, Israeli designed nuclear weapons and delivery systems, before they turned their country over to Mandela. Who's to say some of the military custodians, soon to be out of a job and a country, didn't sell a few off to ensure a comfortable retirement in exile? No one even pretends to know what happened to all the USSR's nukes. There never even was a reliable inventory.
I was expecting an Indian/Pakistani nuclear engagement in the early-mid '90s. So far, it hasn't happened but still remains a strong possibility. There are several countries which might attack Israel with nuclear weapons and Israel would certainly respond or even carry out a preemptive strike if they had good intelligence that an attack was coming.
There has never been an effective weapon invented that wasn't used and used often. I think it's only a matter of time before any number of small nuclear wars and perhaps even a big one or two break out.
What do you think? Who will attack who? Who will win? Or will anybody?
Whether they publicly acknowledge it or not, a lot of countries have nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them. Within the next few years, many more will. Some of the countries that have or will have nuclear weapons are run by people who are not known for mental stability. Many nuclear equipped countries are not politically stable. Many do not have full control of their military. The doctrine of mutually assured destruction doesn't have the currency that it once did. Sale or trade of nuclear weapons to countries that do not have the technology to produce them is not an unlikely prospect and may have already happened. During episodes of regime change or political upheaval, ownership of nuclear weapons has become unclear. Not all weapons known to have been produced have been reliably accounted for. The Afrikaners disposed of their very excellent, Israeli designed nuclear weapons and delivery systems, before they turned their country over to Mandela. Who's to say some of the military custodians, soon to be out of a job and a country, didn't sell a few off to ensure a comfortable retirement in exile? No one even pretends to know what happened to all the USSR's nukes. There never even was a reliable inventory.
I was expecting an Indian/Pakistani nuclear engagement in the early-mid '90s. So far, it hasn't happened but still remains a strong possibility. There are several countries which might attack Israel with nuclear weapons and Israel would certainly respond or even carry out a preemptive strike if they had good intelligence that an attack was coming.
There has never been an effective weapon invented that wasn't used and used often. I think it's only a matter of time before any number of small nuclear wars and perhaps even a big one or two break out.
What do you think? Who will attack who? Who will win? Or will anybody?
Killing
What do you think about this Muslim army captain that killed and wounded so many at Fort Hood yesterday? It's a terrible thing. Nobody knows yet what if any motivation he had for this act. Whether he had some fanatical religious or political motivation or was just bug fuck crazy, the question will be why nobody in authority figured it out beforehand and did anything about it.
Normally, people in the military develop a bond with others in the community that precludes them from committing this sort of act. It's one of the major ways that the military socializes its denizens. They do it in formal ways and informal. Its going on all the time. Its no big secret. Its not hard to figure out why they do it or why its a good thing. This guy didn't get his dose or it didn't take. He'd been in the military a long time and it had provided him with a life of privilege, status and affluence compared to most in the life.
This guy isn't dead. He's going to spend the rest of his life sitting alone in a little room. He's not going to be covered by any Geneva convention or have any rights. He'll be a member of the US military who is a prisoner of the US military. They can do anything they want to him. Hopefully experts will spend several years taking his head apart to find out how it works, what went wrong and how to spot guys like him in the future.
I'm seeing where a lot of people don't think we should allow people of Middle Eastern background or Islam in the military. I'm not sure that's such a good idea. I think they can be very useful.
Normally, people in the military develop a bond with others in the community that precludes them from committing this sort of act. It's one of the major ways that the military socializes its denizens. They do it in formal ways and informal. Its going on all the time. Its no big secret. Its not hard to figure out why they do it or why its a good thing. This guy didn't get his dose or it didn't take. He'd been in the military a long time and it had provided him with a life of privilege, status and affluence compared to most in the life.
This guy isn't dead. He's going to spend the rest of his life sitting alone in a little room. He's not going to be covered by any Geneva convention or have any rights. He'll be a member of the US military who is a prisoner of the US military. They can do anything they want to him. Hopefully experts will spend several years taking his head apart to find out how it works, what went wrong and how to spot guys like him in the future.
I'm seeing where a lot of people don't think we should allow people of Middle Eastern background or Islam in the military. I'm not sure that's such a good idea. I think they can be very useful.
Thursday, November 05, 2009
Who Is The Scary Republican Leader?
In American politics, the scariest leaders on the other side are those that have a chance to poach your voters. For the Republicans, the two scariest leaders on the other side in the last half century have been Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton. Both were populist, Southern and very appealing to middle American, middle of the road, family oriented voters of modest means.
The Democrats have had a much worse time of it. Republicans have come up with leaders who are very attractive to a wide spectrum of voters. Ronald Reagan was the best. Everybody loved Reagan. I didn't because I lived in California while he was Governor but most Americans weren't paying attention to Reagan in the '60's. George W Bush was very scary. It wasn't too hard to see what an asshole he was but he had an undeniable appeal, in a lowest common denominator, let's admit we all pee in the shower way, to a broad spectrum of American voters.
I'm assuming that Barry O will be the Democratic nominee in the 2012 Presidential race. Right now the scariest candidates that I'm seeing on the Republican side are Rick Perry and Tim Pawlenty. I hate both of them but can easily see how they could get elected. Huckabee doesn't worry me, neither does Palin. They wouldn't stand a chance. Romney doesn't worry me because he might make a pretty good President, for all the people. The Republicans would never run anybody like that.
Who do you think could win the Presidency for the Republicans?
The Democrats have had a much worse time of it. Republicans have come up with leaders who are very attractive to a wide spectrum of voters. Ronald Reagan was the best. Everybody loved Reagan. I didn't because I lived in California while he was Governor but most Americans weren't paying attention to Reagan in the '60's. George W Bush was very scary. It wasn't too hard to see what an asshole he was but he had an undeniable appeal, in a lowest common denominator, let's admit we all pee in the shower way, to a broad spectrum of American voters.
I'm assuming that Barry O will be the Democratic nominee in the 2012 Presidential race. Right now the scariest candidates that I'm seeing on the Republican side are Rick Perry and Tim Pawlenty. I hate both of them but can easily see how they could get elected. Huckabee doesn't worry me, neither does Palin. They wouldn't stand a chance. Romney doesn't worry me because he might make a pretty good President, for all the people. The Republicans would never run anybody like that.
Who do you think could win the Presidency for the Republicans?
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