June Week 1, 2005

"Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices," The quotation is sometimes rendered with different wording: "As long as people believe in absurdities they will continue to commit atrocities."

Deep Throat, Buchanan called him a traitor... If he worked for Nixon I guess you could twist your mind into thinking it was a betrayal to his boss but not the country and definitely not treason, if you believe he worked for the United States then he was a courageous hero who risked his job and his future

Mrs. M. came up to pick up Calie and Christy to go shopping for a graduation dress. The lady down and across from the Old Fart stood out in the middle of the road with a whip telling Mrs. M to slow down. She is apparently from the Valley and is under the impression she can get away with being an the Horse Nazi. There is a sign down there that says:

Perhaps in the valley it is permissible to post speed limits any where you want to suit your own own preferences but out here the speed limit on dirt roads is "proceed at a safe speed" we have Teenagers, Police Fire, emergencies of one sort or another, Old drunk Rednecks and middle aged yuppies on amphetamines running up and down the road and every one of them has their own idea what "Safe Speed" means.

She said "Didn't you see the 12 year old boy out in the arena working a 1000lb horse." Now, the boy and the horse were in a fenced arena 20 feet from the fence, four feet from the arena fence was a 5' high chain link fence and that fence was another 25' from the road.

My question back to her would have been, why is a 12 year old boy in an arena with a horse that is spooked by cars? Perhaps we could call Child Protective Services and ask them if they could come out and provide, some literature on the responsibilities of a parent in this County.

I can identify with her situation to a point but where I differ is my conviction that she has the right to ask but not demand.

Bought a truck today, all together too easy to do these days... We traded in Christy's Taurus, the one with the crappy transmission. We got doodily-squat for it but I wanted it gone... I am glad to be rid of it.

"All conservatives are such from personal defects. They have been effeminated by position or nature, born halt and blind, through luxury of their parents, and can only, like invalids, act on the defensive."
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Went shopping for stuff for the graduation tonight... Calie is making out like a bandit... We bought her a 5 Megapixil Olympus D-595.

My daughter is beautiful, I am very proud of her... I am not anxious for her to be going away to school next year, I feel very anxious for her future.

I enjoyed most of the ceremony, there were lots of pictures and the kids were embarrassed by their baby pictures and that's the way it should be. The underlying religious theme running through the the whole affair but that comes with the territory, it is an Adventist School after all. I was not too tuned into the speechifying, both of the speakers were Ministers and they did what they do best... just my cup of tea... I took lots of pictures and sort of shined all that stuff on.

Numerous politicians have seized absolute power and muzzled the press. Never in history has the press seized absolute power and muzzled the politicians.

We went to Mike and 'B's school for awards ceremony, Baldo was a little proud of his award but Mike couldn't care less.

Christy and I went to lunch at The Macaroni Grill, Pretty good, little to yuppie for me to be completely comfortable but the food was above average... still prefer The Spaghetti Factory.

I have always been proud of the fact that we (The people and the Press) could bring down a corrupt president. To be able to stand up to a tyrant like Nixon and send him into oblivion was one of the crowning achievements of the Century. Mark Felt finally took his obligation to the country and the Constitution seriously enough to do the 'right thing. I am disgusted by the cadre of sycophants insulating the President from the responsibilities of his job. Just as Mark Felt finally took loyalty to the country and put it ahead of his loyalty to the President and the FBI... no matter what his ultimate goal was. (I suspect it was vengeance, he was passed over for Directorship by Nixon) The outcome was an eye opener and ultimately cleansing

I took Baldo and Cindy to see Star Wars III, It was OK... I guess... The kids liked it...I am just not very fond of prequels... that and the fact that the glib humor of the first one was completely supplanted by so much dour melodramatic emoting and the interminable light saber duels... I just got a little bored with it.

How can an ordinary citizen ever hope to know the truth about what's going on in the world. There just seems to be no way to get through the 'spin'. The short article below is just one tiny example. Except for the irredeemably apathetic, everyone has a bias, everyone has an opinion and everyone has prejudice toward one version of reality or another. In just the article below you can see two contrasting versions of the truth, to the Conservative World where anything is permissible in our efforts to protect the country and punish our 'enemies' and the Liberal World where lowering our morals and standards by justifying or rationalizing torture and inhumanity is tantamount to selling our souls.

Amnesty International Continues Calling Cuban Prison a 'Gulag'

President Bush's characterization of Amnesty International's criticisms of United States human rights abuses as "absurd" is ironic (news article, June 1).

If our reports are so "absurd," why did the administration repeatedly cite our findings about Saddam Hussein before the Iraq war? Why does it welcome our criticisms of Cuba, China and North Korea? And why does it cite our research in its own annual human rights reports?

No amount of spin can erase the myriad human rights abuses committed by United States officials in the "war on terror." The United States cannot simultaneously claim that it "promotes freedom around the world" while detaining tens of thousands at Guantánamo Bay, Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan and in Iraq and other locations without charge or trial and allowing those civilian and military officials responsible for orchestrating a systematic policy of torture to escape accountability.

Instead of attacking us, President Bush should insist upon a truly thorough, independent investigation of those who tried to circumvent global prohibitions on torture, and he should open all detention centers to scrutiny by independent human rights groups.

Only then will the world be able to judge whether it is Amnesty International or the president whose perspective deserves to be called "absurd."

William F. Schulz
Exec. Dir., Amnesty International
New York, June 1, 2005

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/04/opinion/l04amnesty.html

People, myself included I suppose, want to believe they are capable of recognizing the truth when they read, hear or see it... but you can't... trust me, just think of the e-mail hoaxes you passed on because you thought they were true. Think about the stuff you were told in school about American History, do a little research on what you believe about Bush or Kerry... Look them up in resources that aren't blatant shills for one side or another. Use Snopes or Wikipedia, Truth or Fiction, or Fact Check.

Amnesty International was the sacred crucible of truth when this administration wanted to condemn Korea, Iraq, Iran, Bosnia or China for abusing their citizens but suddenly when they publish a report accusing America of doing the same thing it attacked Iraq for all of a sudden A. I. is "Absurd" to GW and it "Disgusts" poor Dickie Cheney.

ARTICLES

Giggle

GOLF TRAGEDY

Joe is teeing off from the Back Tees. On his downswing he realizes that his wife Mary is teeing up on the Red Tees directly in his way. Unable to stop his swing he nails it and hits her directly in the temple and kills her instantly. A few days later Joe gets a call from the coroner regarding her autopsy.

Coroner: "Joe, your wife seemed to have died from blunt force trauma to
the head. You said you hit a golf ball and hit her in the temple, is that correct?"

Joe: "Yes sir, that's correct"

Coroner: "Joe, I also found a golf ball wedged up her ass"

Joe: "Was it a Titleist 3 ?"

Coroner: "Yes, It was"

Joe: "That must have been my mulligan"