September, 2004 Week 3

Monday   September 13 , 2004

The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves to its children.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, theologian (1906-1945)

The car is still in the shop in Lynchburg, Virginia... we will know what's wrong by tomorrow afternoon ... I'm not a happy camper... for $2k a transmission rebuild should last more than three days... and if it breaks it should take less than a week and a half to get it fixed.

Bush is apparently under the impression that by hiding the bodies returning from Iraq somehow Americans will not be as pressured to see the stupid war end.

Tuesday   September 14 , 2004

Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of stupidity.

Frank Leahy

I took Mike to the dentist today, I got there a few minutes late... while in the waiting room Mike asked me; "hey Dad, when will they send out the new phone." I said "Which new phone," he said "The replacement phone for this, it's broken." he showed me his cell phone, the glass on the front was broken and the display didn't work, the inside is OK and he can still call with it. I aid "They don't just send out phones." He said, rather disillusioned like "I thought they sent you new ones once a year." I said; "Nope, that's why you're supposed to treat them carefully. How did yours get so trashed?" It looked like he had drug it behind him on a leash. He said, "I led a girl hold it for me when I went on a ride at the fair, she put it in her hip pocket... and I dropped it a few times."  He has no concept of what it's going to take to survive.

There was a report on a suicide bomber, he seemed unable to comprehend how someone could do that, he called them crazy and stupid... I tried to explain 'Black Widows', people with no hope and nothing to lose, martyrdom and religious beliefs so strong that it was more important than life itself. He didn't get it. I said that for you your reli8gion is your appearance, you have what seems to me like a totally unreasonable fixation

I'd like to see Limbaugh in jail for defamation of character and libel! He's a entertainer playing to his audience, his opinion is as reliable as a whore's in bed.

Wednesday   September 15 , 2004

Porridge: Thick oatmeal rarely found on American tables since children were granted the right to sue their parents. The name is an amalgamation of the words Putrid, Horrid, and Sludge.

I talked to Tim at the Transmission Shop in Lynchburg, he says that they drove it and it looks like something is not 'dropping into place when it should.'.  I didn't get to call him back but Grandpa and Reverend Roy went down to the shop... they are still 'looking into it.'

I worked on the house... did some real cleaning... the floor looks good... I can't believe how scummy it was. the kids spilled stuff on the area rug and don't clean it off, the floor had... awww never mind... trust me... it was disgusting. I cleaned the dining room table and the chairs too. I have to tale them outside and sand them down... the whole set... there is no varnish on them any more... I will do that when Christy gets back.

I will try to put the kitchen floor down tomorrow... not looking forward to it...

Christy is really getting indoctrinated, she can't wait to get back and feed us all that vegetarian... stuff. I like fruit and vegetables, what I don't like is when they try to make it taste like chicken or hamburger... most Vegetarian Meals are awful, About one in twenty that Christy tries is edible... I am not looking forward to this. They made her drink Activated Charcoal today, they mixed it with apple juice to "make it taste better" gimme a break... Activated Charcoal is like sludge, there is no way to make it taste good. Apple juice... that's like putting chocolate syrup on a cow pie and calling it pudding.

Thursday   September 16 , 2004

The first forty years of life give us the text; the next thirty supply the commentary on it.

Arthur Schopenhauer, philosopher (1788-1860)

It is just inconceivable to me to read that Kerry is losing to Bush in the polls... it's like watching Wiley Coyote dining on the Roadrunner or reading that the Grand Dragon of the KKK getting elected Pope. Is America really that self serving and mean spirited? Is what we have done, are doing and plan to do in Iraq really perceived by the majority of my fellow Americans as a good thing. Is the Country being in debt and getting deeper in debt something to be rewarded. Is the net loss of 3.4 million jobs in 3 years to be commended, is a floundering economy something we should reward?... what is wrong with this country. Nothing Bush has done has made things better in education, the military, veterans, the elderly health care... nothing... Why is Kerry losing!??

Maurine Dowd was asked:

You have been elected president. What is your exit strategy for Iraq? I will never be president. Trust me.
 

"If I were president, I wouldn't need an exit strategy, because I wouldn't have made up evidence to go in there, because I wouldn't have felt the need to kick around a dictator we'd already kicked around, and who was contained, with no WMD's or nuclear capability, just to prove I was not a wimp. I don't fret about being a wimp the way the Bushes do. Saddam was being lied to by his scientists and was sort of delusional, sitting around writing romance novels, bodice rippers, or, as they say in Iraq, chador rippers. He was a lab rat for all the various old subterranean neo-con agendas, and Cheney agendas and Rummy agendas and W. Oedipal loop-de-loop agendas."

Friday   September 17 , 2004

Everything secret degenerates, even the administration of justice; nothing is safe that does not show how it can bear discussion and publicity.

Lord Acton, historian (1834-1902)

Long day today, no fun at all. I worked on the floor most of the day, a tedious affair. The planks are a super hard composite, the are one foot by 4 feet, they fit together almost seamlessly if you do it right. Each row has to be cut at least twice, the ones along the cabinets and where the floor on the hall merges with the kitchen and then with dining room aren't difficult but they need to be cut precisely. The pain in the butt is that you have to get down on your knees to measure then get up again and go out in the shed to the table saw and cut it and then do the same thing for the next one until you have a row ready to be joined then you bang it into place with a special tool... My knees were in bad shape to begin with but today they are really wrecked. It hurts to get down and it hurts to get back up again...

The flatterers of our infallible leader have at various times compared him to Churchill and to FDR.

My first reaction to that was, "Say what?"

But now I see the basis of the comparison: GWB in fact incorporates the thinking of both of those great men. Churchill, after all, said that he had "nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat." Roosevelt said that the nation had "nothing to fear but fear itself."

Mr. Bush, masterfully combining their thinking, has nothing to offer but fear itself.

Apparently Congress has the Amendment to make 'desecrating the American flag illegal by Constitutional Amendment. I looked, there are exactly six cases where the American Flag was burned in protest, apparently Congress feels this is sufficient reason to amend it. Incidentally 5 of those instances were between 1968 and 1972... The flag of the United States is a symbol of freedom throughout the world, at least it was 3 and 1/2 years ago. An amendment to restrict what it can be used for demeans it and undermines the whole concept of freedom. One of the most powerful images of the Vietnam antiwar movement was symbolically burning the thing cherished most in the hearts and minds of the protestors.

Saturday   September 18 , 2004

We the willing, led by the unknowing, are doing the impossible for the ungrateful. We have done so much for so long with so little, that we are now qualified to do anything with nothing.

Anonymous, but classic...

I finished laying the floor back down yesterday, it looks pretty good, there were a few nicks in the planks so I fixed them this morning and reinstalled the dishwasher, finished folding the cloths and did the dishes, I told the kids that if they helped me I would take them to Albertsons to cash their check and get some pizza.

They didn't really do much but they did try to clean a little.

Sunday   September 19 , 2004

Truth is not determined by majority vote.

Doug Gwyn

I watched the last outdoor motocross race of the year, Ricky Carmichael went undefeated for a whole season and James Stewart lost one race in the 125 class because of mechanical problems or he would have been undefeated too. Amazing. These two guys are just amazing. They don't just win, they annihilate. They win by almost a full minute over second place, Ricky has lapped riders up to 6th place and so has James... in the pictures James "Bubba" Stewart is on the green bike and Ricky is on the red one.

I got my VVAW membership number today, it's 30725 I presume that that is the number of members they have, or have had. Vietnam Vets range in age from early to mid sixties like me to very late 40's. Many of these guys are very sharp, I have been impressed by the letters they post and the comments they make. Very little haranguing, the things they choose to talk about are wide ranging but somehow connected to Veterans or to the War in Iraq and Afghanistan...

I am not a hardcore vet, by that I mean I am not defined by it, or, I hope, by anything else. I am a product of genetics and environment. I believe and act the way I do because of the life I have lead and the things that I have seen, I interpret the world through a filter of past experience and instinct. I read a lot and try hard to look at both sides.

I hate being scammed, I hate being lied to and manipulated. I wish I could sit down with Bush and ask him some questions, same with Kerry... I have a sinking feeling that I would not be particularly fond of either one of them. Kerry is actually the one I would like most to talk to. I'd like to spend an evening at dinner and just talk. I feel sure that he could explain why he has said and done the things that the media has called flip flopping. The media likes things in black and white. they want simple answers to complex questions and sound-bite solutions to the worlds problems.

Apparently the country wants a single-minded crook to run the country, someone they can pretend to relate to. If they would just use their brains they would know that they have as much in common with G W Bush as they do with Queen Elizabeth. George is a phony, his religion is contrives and worn like an ermine robe, his down home accent is put on, he is a multi millionaire, his whole cabinet is made up of Millionaires, they will bleed this country dry to put money in the coffers of their big business pals.