8/30/10

Blocked Box Sequel

On 8/27 I wrote about the trials and tribulations of a blocked mail box - no mail!

This morning 8/30, the mailbox was again blocked, this time by a moving van. Blocked box - no mail? Lo and behold later in the morning I noticed that the mail man had stopped his truck , got out and walked to the blocked box to deposit my mail. So what? Just that the USPS motto apparently is a matter of choice for mail carriers. Neither moving van nor miserable hot weather deterred this morning's mail courier from his appointed rounds.

8/28/10

Patriotism Gone Astray

Thousands of white faces, some toting The Stars And Stripes, have gathered this morning to desecrate the memorial to perhaps our greatest President. Their intent ostensibly is to take back the civil rights movement. Take back from whom? African-Americans of course! They forget that the civil rights movement is all about rights; rights that belong to all Americans , regardless of  color or ethnicity. There are no rights to take back. They were never lost. These "patriots" have been corralled by a  con artist, Glenn Beck, who has a political toilet for a mouth. If this is patriotism I feel sorry for the future of this country. The worse of America is on display at the Lincoln Memorial. Shame on Glenn Beck! Shame on the Palinistas who have joined him! As someone once said, " and this too shall pass".

8/27/10

Blocked Box

The motto,"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds" is associated with the United States Postal Service. It conjures up visions of a dauntless mail carrier overcoming all sorts of obstacles to get your mail delivered on time. So why on 8/26 did I get a bundle of mail with a handwritten note - "Blocked Box - 8/25". Apparently there was a vehicle parked too close to my mailbox. Delivery of the mail would have involved the mailman stopping his truck and walking about five feet to the box. I suppose the excuse is that he would be leaving the mail in his truck unprotected ( Jesse James has been rumored to be lurking in the neighborhood). Oh well, I must admit my bills did get here on time so I won't miss the due date. In my best interests I think I'll use on line bill paying; my creditors mail box might be blocked.

8/25/10

Games I Remember

Recently the high primal and I treated ourselves to dinner out at a local restaurant. While waiting for our dinner to be served I couldn’t help but notice a family of four sitting at a nearby table. It was a fascinating scene. The mother and father were busy jabbering away on their cell phones and the two children, oblivious to the hamburger and french fries on their plates were clicking away at what was obviously some computer game. While mumbling a few choice epitaphs, I couldn’t help but reminisce about the primitive games which were available to me in my youth.

The 1930’s meant that money was scarce , especially so for games. Football? A salt sack filled with autumn leaves served nicely as a football. Baseball? A broomstick for a bat, a ball heavily taped with electrician’s tape to keep it from unraveling and Woolworth Five And Dime store gloves were all we needed. Basketball? An old bushel basket, with the bottom knocked out, nailed to a telephone pole and a Woolworth bouncing ball did the trick nicely. Flipping baseball cards at a wall was a game of skill. The owner of the card closest to the wall won the other cards. To get a "standard" ( the card resting upside against the wall) was the ultimate flip. The most skillful players probably graduated into professional gamblers. Then there were pocket knife games.

Yes, knife games and no, the objective was not to harm anyone. Having a pocket knife was probably the equivalent of having some exotic hand held computer game today. Hours could be spent playing with a pocket knife.

One of the knife games was a game of skill. Memory failed me in recalling some of the intricacies concerning mumblety-peg but Wikipedia came to the rescue with this description. “ Some versions of the game involved a series of about a dozen progressively more difficult trick tosses. For example, after first tossing the knife right and left for a 1/2-turn in the air from the open palm of each hand, the next step is to toss it similarly from the closed fist of each upward-turned hand. The third turn, with the knife laying on the back of the hand pointing away from the player, is to flip it up 270 degrees and down into the dirt. Fourth was "Spank the Baby": holding the blade flat between the first two fingers of one hand, the knife handle was "spanked" with the other hand causing the knife to flip up 270 degrees and stick into the ground. The knife had to always stick into the ground securely enough to put two fingers (or a beer can) under it. "Tip of the fingers" was another turn, with the knife being required to stick in the ground after doing a somersault off the tip of each index finger (and thumb, to hold the tip), and a subsequent turn was "Tony Chestnut" where the knife was similarly flipped off the toe, the knee, the chest and the forehead (nut). Another turn was "Over the fence". The knife was just barely stuck into the ground, leaning over to the right or left. The player's free hand made a "fence" and the knife was slapped up and "over the fence" with the other hand. It had to flip completely at least once, then come down sticking in the ground with the accepted "two fingers" clearance. In some versions, this turn was last, called "Over the Fence is Out" and the winner was the player who got "over the fence" first. Another trial was standing with the knife in one's hand, tip pointing away, then throwing the knife over one's head backwards and having it stick in the ground.”


By far the knife game that held the most interest in our neighborhood was “ baseball”. I vaguely remember the rules for this game. It involved flipping a two bladed knife up in the air. How it landed on a tree stump or porch determined what kind of a hit it was or whether it was an out (a detailed description of the pocket knife baseball game can be found with this link - Pocket Knife Games Were Popular Pastimes by Glenn Tunney).

Knives for youngsters are taboo these days. Anyone going thru a security check at school with a pocket knife in his pants is game for suspension. Carrying a fancy cell phone with all kinds of apps is perfectly OK. That’s probably the way it should be. I daresay that many youths carrying a pocket knife have something other than mumblety-peg or baseball in mind. For old geezers, its still fun to remember the good old days when a pocket knife , if you were lucky to have one, provided hours of enjoyment. If I could find a tree stump I might give "baseball" a try again with my vintage Swiss Army Knife.

8/23/10

Food For Thought About The "Mosque"

This Slate article by William Saletan speaks volumes about the controversy over the Ground Zero mosque.  As Saletan  concludes, " Its the wrong fight. Let it go." Good advise, which I'll take!

Freedom To Hate

Implicit in the Bill of Rights is the freedom to hate. How else can one justify the hate spewing demonstrations on the proposed Islamic center in Manhattan. The Bill of Rights gives us the freedom of speech and the exercise thereof includes hate demonstrations.

Whether it be religious issues, racial issues, immigration issues and more, we tend to exercise our lungs by shouting out epitaphs. We warm our bodies by wrapping ourselves with the stars and stripes. We would tear apart the fabric which gives us the right to demonstrate. We demonstrate to the world that we can be as stupid as any other nation. We prove to the world that our leadership can be suspect and even hypocritical.

We can hate and ask God to bless America at the same time. Our religious leaders stand idly by as hatred takes its course , except to fan the flames as they start to ebb. Our political leaders can't help since hate is so much a part of their agenda.

Perhaps our founding fathers should have been more explicit when they guaranteed us the freedom of speech. Then again, how could they have foreseen such a dysfunctional United states of America.

Oops! As the high primal informs me , this country was dysfunctional at its founding. It was also much easier to manage (as Obama has found out).

So where does that leave me? I must conclude that we are in a mess and hope that there is a God,  Allah, or some other supreme being  to help us rise above the crap of patriots who would have us embrace hate as a means of solving issues.

(Was this post hateful! Probably, but it is my right. The founding fathers said so.)

8/21/10

My Facebook Plunge

I'm on Facebook! I know that I have questioned the advisability of joining the Facebook community in the past ( see my Facebook label) and to be completely honest ( is there such a thing as incomplete honesty), I still do. I'm not a fan of small talk so I predict I will fall on my face in my Facebook wall writing. Incidentally, when did writing on the wall become acceptable. I've noticed that it has all but disappeared on bathroom walls; Facebook and Twitter seem to have taken over. I have no desire to connect with my high school or college friends. We have ignored each other for decades. Besides connecting with most of them at this point would probably involve a one way trip to the hereafter. I would also have to decide between heaven and hell and that gets too complicated for me. I could also try connecting with some of my work friends but that presents the same challenge. Not having a business , I have no need to promote a business ( now that was a no brainer). My granddaughter Jenny told me that Facebook is fun. OK, I'll keep trying. When it stops being fun I'll opt out.

8/20/10

Hold Your Fire!

The United States has persuaded Israel that there is no imminent danger of a nuclear strike by Iran. Apparently any preemptive attack on Iran's nuclear activity sites will be delayed at least a year. Too bad that Israel did not do the same for us back in 2003 when we took preemptive action against Iraq.Did Israel know that Saddam did not have weapons of mass destruction? How can we know with any certainty that Iran is a least a year away from producing a nuclear device? Our intelligence must have improved dramatically in the past eight years. All things considered, its encouraging to see the United States on the side of sanity.

8/19/10

" That Government Is Best That Governs Least"

No, dementia has not set in and I have not joined the Tea Party or registered as a Libertarian. I do wonder if those political entities might be interested in taking aim on a form of government which relishes in damning the Jeffersonian theory  of government: namely, "that government is best which governs least". I'm speaking of condominium associations with their overly restrictive by-laws and governing boards populated with residents whose mission in life is to apply these by-laws in a way which makes other residents miserable. Condominium boards like to govern. The one thing they detest is to be ignored and that in the long run is the best defense as long you have a good attorney. Of course the other side of the coin is not to get involved with condominium associations but that's like cutting off your nose to spite your face. So what to do? Take over the board, and be sure to rule with a light and sensitive hand.

( None of these conclusions necessarily apply to our local, state and federal governments.)

8/15/10

Obama And The Mosque

Obama has mellowed his original remarks about the building of an Islamic Center next door to Ground Zero. He strongly defended the freedom of religion on Friday but on Saturday said this was not to be interpreted as an endorsement of the Mosque project. Its almost like saying that he is all for freedom of religion but in this instance he does not  endorse the exercise of that freedom . Better had he said ( to quote some Republicans) that the decision to build the Mosque close to Ground Zero is insensitive.

The exercise of our freedoms is not the carte blanche right to ride rough shod over our neighbors. As with gun control, the exercise of our freedoms demands responsibility. It is on this point that the Mosque project must be debated. The Muslims have a right to build  their Center. Why two blocks from Ground Zero? Only the developers and Allah know the answer. If they can pass muster on all  the building codes,they have the right to build no matter how ill advised it may be.

8/14/10

American Work Ethics Are Just Fine

Roofers hard at work
Our area was hit by a violent hail storm last May. Since then we have been deluged with roofers and siding contractors. Out have the mess, one thing became very apparent. There is nothing wrong with American work ethics. In sweltering, humid weather with the temperature in the 90's, an army of roofers showed up for work each day at 8 and never stopped working until 5. It was all business and the choreography of roof replacement was impressive. Best of all, these were young people who are often much maligned as far as work ethics are concerned.

 There is nothing wrong with this country that more jobs will not cure. Unfortunately we cannot and should not rely on hail storms. Our corporations are missing a big bet when they opt for outsourcing.

8/11/10

Bombings And Recovery

If I have my history straight, we were in the midst of a plateau in recovering from The Great Depression when Japan gave us the opportunity we were looking for . The arrogant Japanese leaders decided to bomb Pearl Harbor. Bingo! Its war! The factories start to hum, people go to work and the economic recovery begins.

In 2008 we enter into The Great Recession. In 2010, recovery from The Great Recession plateaus. Where's the stimulus? Maybe a war? We are already in a war. We are in two wars. Both have their roots in Al-Qaeda's decision to bomb The Twin Towers way back in 9/11/2001. Arguably, this time war got us into an economic meltdown rather than providing a stimulus for economic growth.

Povero Obama, his options are limited. He's trying to wind down the wars and also get some steam behind  an economic recovery with limited success. This time around he may well have to come up with tax increases in order to pay the piper. I doubt that his handlers will allow such courageous action. Maybe Iran or even North Korea will do something stupid like bombing Israel or South Korea. An opportunity for Obama? Hope not, but it is not to be dismissed lightly. The piper can wait if China is willing.

8/9/10

Rocking Chair Voter

How lazy can I get? Very lazy when it comes to voting. On September 7th an important primary is being held to select candidates for a new fangled County government brought about because of an old, corrupt County government. I will not be at the polls on that date. Its not necessary to be there, since I will have already voted. My ballot is sitting on my desk. All I have to do is open the envelope , relax in my favorite chair with my favorite black ink pen, follow the instructions and fill in the oval next to the name of my favorite candidate. No messing with long lines. No messing with voting machines, or more properly voting contraptions, which are forever changing. No messing with poll workers. No messing with a sticker being pinned on me proclaiming 'I Voted Today'. I can do my civic duty while watching a TV show. I won't be tuning CNN even though they are the self proclaimed super best political pundits. If " All The Kings Men" is playing on one of the movie channels I might tune it in. It might help in sorting out the candidates. All that remains is to decide just when I will open the envelope and go about my voting. It would be unseemly to vote too early. If I wait until the last minute I might miss the filing deadline. Actually I'm bored about the primary, and the candidates I'm being asked to consider. It appears that we'll be swapping one form of corruption for another. All things considered, I must vote. I'll give it another two weeks, then I'll ask the "high primal' for her choice of candidates and mark my ballot accordingly. It will be good to get this frustrating task over with from the comfort of my rocking chair but how do I get the ballot to the mailbox? Guess I''ll have to get my ass in gear, put my Toyota in gear and drive to the post office. Who said that voting is easy!

8/4/10

Cherry Picking The Bill Of Rights

The Second Amendment to our Constitution has the words " the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed". Our society prefers a strict interpretation of these words and with the aid of the powerful NRA , thwarts all attempts to implement any meaningful gun control legislation. The First Amendment has these words, " Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof". Many in our society prefer to ignore the words " the free exercise thereof" when it comes to Islam. Specifically protests are being raised concerning plans to build a mosque close to the 9/11 Ground Zero site.

 In one case we stoutly defend a freedom. In the other, we are quick to deny a freedom. If we are going to cherry pick the Bill Of Rights, a stronger case can be made for allowing a place of worship to be built, than allowing the proliferation of guns in our society.

I hate guns and the loss of human life that they cause. I do not hate Islam. The loss of human lives in the 9/11 attack was not due to the Muslim religion ; it was due to some demented religious leaders. I prefer not to exercise my so called right to bear arms and I do not respect those who bear arms with mayhem in mind. I prefer not to be a Muslim, but I do respect the right of others to be Muslims. I do condemn the gun bearer and the Muslim who chooses to abuse the laws of human decency.

8/2/10

Mission Accomplished?

President Obama has reaffirmed that the Iraq War will finally be over at the end of this month, as least as far as our combat mission is concerned. Mission accomplished? Yes, in terms of Obama's pledge to end the War. Probably no, as far as the stability of Iraq is concerned. As Obama once said , "it is a stupid war". Not only was the war stupid, those who brought it about were stupid. He might have added that whoever thought that stability in Iraq could be achieved through the loss of over 4000 American lives must have been smoking some of that Afghan poppy.

By the end of this month, the American force in Iraq of about 50,000 troops will consist of “advise and assist” brigades. I hope the advice is " learn to take of yourselves. We're getting completely the hell of out of here". I doubt this will have much effect, with Iran just waiting to be the savior of Iraq. Of course, the hawks are already circling, waiting to pounce on Iran.

I hope Obama gets the credit he deserves for ending our involvement in Iraq! If he finds a way to end that quagmire in Afghanistan and finds a way to bring Iran to its senses he will truly be worthy of another Nobel Prize.

8/1/10

Idle Thoughts For An Idle Sunday Afternoon

- Much ado is being made about the bucks spent on the Clinton wedding. Isn't that what trickle down economics is all about. Its their money and its nice to see it come back into circulation.

- The Anti Defamation League has come out against a mosque being built close to the 9/11 Ground Zero site. Is it time for the ADA to adopt a name more in keeping with its protest.

- I keep getting e-mails requesting funds for Obama's birthday. I never met the man. Its unseemly to send him a birthday present.

- From the According To Marge blog - Afghanistan is not a place you should go into. It's a place you should get out of! Worth repeating over and over!

- Nation building at the expense of weakening the builder is just plain stupid!

- Living in Ohio's Cuyahoga County is exciting in a perverse sort of way. A corruption scandal every week. I can hardly wait for this week's headlines. Trying to pick an honest candidate for office is like looking for the proverbial needle in a hay stack. Even if you found it , it probably wouldn't be very sharp.