About Junk Drawers

There are ways to opt out of junk mail but I have yet to find a way to opt out of junk drawers. No matter how many times a junk drawer is organized the contents morph into junk overnight. Junk drawers I have discovered are essential for a well unorganized kitchen. I have also discovered that in the quiet of the night junk drawers beget other junk drawers and in a fit of passion they will beget junk cabinets. If stringent moral conduct is not imposed a junk household results.

Why a junk drawer? Apparently when one is looking for something smaller than a shoe box it is much easier to go to a single location instead of searching through multiple drawers and cabinets. In baseball parlance a designated drawer is the answer. However there is still a problem. Opening up a junk drawer is like rummaging through a treasure chest. After marveling at and fondling objects cast aside months or years ago one tends to forget what he was looking for in the first place. Even if he remembers, horror sets in when a survey of the junk drawer does not reveal what he was looking for. Junk drawers after all are meant for junk which is rarely useful.

Even though junk drawers are unsightly they do provide a lesson in diversity. Made in China, the USA, Thailand, India, Italy, Germany, the articles all find a home in one household. Here in one place are objects of all colors and sizes living peaceably together. That is until someone in the course of rummaging through them starts to prioritize their usefulness. It is then that a junk drawer emulates the world that we live in. Once declared expendable an article if fortunate finds it way to e-Bay or at the very least a Salvation Army bin. Articles less fortunate are deported to the dumpster. Having declared war on junk one would think it would be the war to end all wars and peace would now reign in the world of kitchen drawers but wars create displaced persons or in this case displaced junk . Peace is short lived as the household struggles to accommodate junk which survived the ravages of organization. What else, a junk drawer.

( Warning! If there is any suspicion that weapons of mass destruction found their way into the junk drawer a preemptive invasion would be warranted so that we can live in peace with our values.)

Epilogue - Superpower or Superleader

My post of 03/09/2007 raised some questions about the future of this country as a superpower. Recent headlines hint of bold challenges to the status of this country as the world's only superpower.

- RUSSIA PLANTS FLAG UNDER NORTH POLE

- RUSSIA, CHINA START JOINT WAR GAMES

- PUTIN REVIVES RUSSIA'S LONG-HAUL BOMBER FLIGHTS

Unfortunately we still have sixteen more months of the Bush Administration - more than enough time to further tarnish the image of the United States as a superpower! We have already squandered our oppotunities to be a superleader.

Incidentally it is reported that Russians are happy with their oil economy and are thankful for President Putin. They really should thank President Bush.

Is pro-life compatible with pro-guns and pro-war?

The Republican candidates fall over each other in their attempts to woo the conservative voters. It appears to center around who is the strongest pro-life advocate. It also appears that they have their pro-life advocacy screwed up. In the same breath that a Republican candidate passionately proclaims he is for preserving life, he also proclaims that he is against gun control, although guns kill people. Furthermore the candidates fervently defend the Iraq War although lives are lost everyday in a senseless war. All I know is that lives were lost at Virginia Tech not fetuses. All I know is that over 3500 American lives have been lost in Iraq, not fetuses. All I know is that woman's lives have been saved because an abortion was available to them. Hypocrisy knows no bounds!

“Rights Given Away Are Not Easily Regained”

The Congress has approved legislation to temporarily expand the government's power to conduct electronic surveillance without a court order in tracking foreign suspects. The Bush Administration badgered Congress claiming the measure was needed in order to protect the nation from attacks that are being planned today to inflict mass casualties on the United States. This is the weapon which is constantly wielded by the Executive branch of government when it wants its way with the Legislative branch. Faced with being branded weak on security legislators take the easy way out, wave the flag and become subservient to the White House. The office of the President is constantly accumulating executive powers which erode the foundations of our democracy. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, a New York Democrat, who opposed the bill issued a wake up call when he said, "Sadly, Congress has been stampeded by fear-mongering and deception into signing away our rights."
"With the President set to sign this bill into law, I do not believe we will soon be able to undo this damage," Nadler said. "Rights given away are not easily regained."