Wayward Landlubber

Some of us are obsessive about words. Or obsessive compulsive. That's  fine, delusion is over-used by those who overuse words, why should we not be obsessive or compulsive  about words? The definition of any word is agreed to mean something. Some of us challenge those rules, as we should; it is how we strengthen the boring rules of lexicographers. And we can be criticized for the content of our words. Cynics and humorists need to stretch truths the same way they stretch credulity. Lawyers and politicians must hue closely to those boring lexicographers definition of words. They are either prosecuting, or defending people who have no respect for what those truths represent, or who were prosecuted by elected people who have no respect in those words. And then you know you're screwed. A sign of a healthy polity, is not having to concern yourself with how narrowly the controlling power interprets your words or actions. Or what you possibly might be capable of. Would you want any Re...

I did not serve in the Vietnam War, though my graduating class was the last class to be conscripted into military service. How I escaped the draft is a long story which starts with a handout manual provided by the United Friends Service Committee, and the Selective Service that was a step or two behind the anti-war movement in 1968. That was the existential threat of my graduating cohort, and those that came before. The Domino Theory turned out to be an unnecessary fear and a mere hypothesis. In truth, I have not favored many of the wars and military actions that were to follow, with the possible exception of the war in Kosovo back in the early 1990s. Most of them can be attributed to one particular party. Vietnam can be shared by both party's, but JFK was sacrificed to Mars so that the war could go on and businesses that were riding the big waves of profits could afford vacation homes on the Costa Del Sol. It's ironic, I typed Costa del Sol, autocorrect changed it to Costa Del...

Most nights I sit with my cat in my lap as I scroll through the political offerings on YouTube. I have a TV, but I gave up trying to figure out how it works without cable. Thats how old i am. Like most things media, there are good Podcasts, and there are guys in muscle shirts. There are also historical snippets among the hysterical snippets. Some of them are very good and the narrators successfully run the gamet between professorial and subtle irony. Few are boring. It's not hard to tell the difference. The most disappointing historical snippets are the ones with digitally created voice-overs.  I used to know a fellow who was a pretty good actor, no one you would know, but one who strode the boards of local theater groups with characters that were believable; the aim of every actor. When I met Doug, he had been at it for about 10 years, after mustering out of the airforce at the end of the Cuba missile crisis. He completed his acting career in 2005 when his twenty-year battle with ...

There's an ancient tome studied by military colleges around the world, and by people who study peace. The Art of War was written sometime in the 5th Century--BCE. The author was Sun Tzu. He was a general but not your ordinary kind of general. He was great enough to be studied 2500 years later. One of his stories on proper generalship during war was about a great army, maybe 10,000 strong, marching on the Imperial Palace in Beijing. Great armies make noise, in the 5th Century BC, the noise they made was a distinctive noise to a trained ear. There's of course the rythmic stomp of marching feet on cobblestone streets. The occasional drop of a spear, maybe. The noise of wagons to carry the manual implements of war, and the food to feed them, voices of men commanding, and there was the slap of leather on leather as the soldiers moved briskly through the broad plaza. How do you enter the city undetected was the problem? The solution was to drive gaggles of geese before them. The gees...

I, and some of my Marion County Democratic  colleagues have a table outside the Farmers Market on Saturdays, where we sell buttons and make a strong presence against the most incompetent presidential administration in our entire history. Not surprisingly, this same administration is also massively corrupt. Corruption and incompetence are connected. One accompanies the other as tightly as two snakes mating. It makes sense. Under corruption, where insiders compete to get inside the Boss's colon, people do not last long enough to get experienced. The rewards of our weekly ritual at Saturday Market are personal and gratifying. I love seeing someone crack a smile or give a thumbs-up as they pass by. By contrast, there are the very occasional MAGA. Some are brave enough to express themselves openly. Others say something as they pass by, like squeaking out a fart in the grocery store and quickly disappearing. Sometimes I get a quick word in. This is to the woman who ended her fart salad o...

Are you punching up or punching down? If you're punching up, you are defending from a position of weakness, gravity is working against you. And you are probably not the one who throws the first punch. Punching down, you have a more defensible position. Ukraine is punching up. Russia is punching down. France, and later US, punched down, the Vietnamese punched up. Donold of Orange would like us to believe he is punching up, he's punching down-at your exposed nose, especiall if you might be woke. Some people, usually those who are unable to take a stand effectively can't tell the difference. Whether they have become punchdrunk from too many blows to the head, or from playing Rope-a-Dope with Republicans there're a whole lot of people out there supporting the bully. For some of us  the defensive tactic; lay low and try not to be seen. If you are punching against someone close to your own size and weight you are boxing according to the Marquis of Queensbury rules. A dictator...