Memorial Day - A day For Remembrance and Reflection

Struggled to come up with a post for Memorial Day until I realized that the following beautiful words say all that needs to be said.

In Flanders Fields

By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army

 

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Thanks to the Arlington National Cemetery Website

The Price Of Tea In China

I recently found myself using the expression “ what’s that got to do with the price of tea in China “. Afterwards , I realized I was dissing a statement based upon something I knew absolutely nothing about - the price of tea in China. I decided to find out just what the price of tea was in China. The best I could come up with was that good quality, black Chinese tea is priced between $13 - $45 (US dollars) per 100 grams. Quite a variation in price. On the other hand, given China’s manipulation of its currency it probably goes with the territory. Upon further thought, it occurred to me that tea was not one of my favorite drinks, so why should I be concerned about the price of tea in China? The bottom line is that tea is cheap in China and more importantly we should not be concerned with the price of tea in China, especially if you could care less about tea. In conclusion, if one truly feels that what is being said is irrelevant, it is perfectly logical to use  the retort “ what’s that got to do with the price of tea in China”. The person whose statement is being dismissed cannot possibly answer your question with any certainty. If this post  results in confusion, remember, it has a lot to do about the price of tea in China which cannot be said about previous posts in this blog.

We Are Ginormous????



Your guess is as good as mine

As if Toyota did not have enough troubles with sticky accelerators, tsunamis and nuclear disasters, it has now chosen to attack the English language. A Toyota dealer in the Cleveland area saw fit to proudly announce that “WE ARE GINORMOUS”. When I first typed “ginormous’ into my word processor , it reacted violently and promptly changed the word to ignoramus. I’m sure that would be more apropos, but not even a car dealer is ignorant enough to proclaim that they are ignoramus. Still , could the car add be in error. Maybe they meant “ WE ARE GENEROUS”. That’s a laugh. I doubt that generous is in Toyota’s vocabulary or any other car maker's. How about “WE ARE ENORMOUS”. That would be a viable alternative but hardly a good sales pitch. I must conclude that whoever wrote the add was sending a message - "if you believe we are ginormous then you are an ignoramus with whom we do not need to be generous". At this point, my word processor has given up and is sending a message that my typing errors are enormous and that I should try being ginormous when I write about Toyota. Did it mean generous? That will be the day!

Shhh! The weather outside Is delightful.

The weather outside has been delightful. The Indians kicked ass and swept the Reds. My new Weber cooked up a delicious steak. My flowers hastily planted a week ago look as though they may survive. My finch diner is doing great.  To top it all off Obama got back at that asshole, NetanYAHOO, in a speech before a pro-Israel lobbying group.  Oh, as for the Rapture, it looks like the "chosen ones" will have to put up with the likes of me awhile longer.

The weather outside is sh##ty !

Oh the weather outside is sh##ty and the fire is a cracklin. And since we've got places to go, it will rain on our parade. Stop the rain! Stop the rain! Stop the rain!

 The middle of May and the furnace is running. Two days of sunshine and five days of rain, Temperatures drop and  depression rages. Four letter words about Mother Nature abound. What kind of a sadistic mother is she anyway?

 Hold on Mr. Blogger. Your home is not sitting in water up to your rooftop. There are no wildfires anywhere near your home. The earth isn't rumbling.  Mr. Blogger, you live in Paradise as imperfect as it may be.

The weather is  shitty in Paradise!

Nothing ventured, nothing gained!

I published an  uncomplimentary post about Ohio and its love affair with guns on Thursday. Within a few hours Blogger crashed. Gone was my post! My first reaction was that the N.R.A. had recruited some commandos to take down Blogger in revenge for my gun control posts . I relished the thought that my humble post had attracted an attack by the N.R.A. My elation turned to disappoinment when further research revealed that the Blogger crash was some sort of a software glitch and had nothing to do with gun toting nuts. The thought that one of my posts was responsible, was nothing but a daydream.  As for Blogger, it's nice to know that their engineers are not afraid to to make changes for the sake of improvement. That's what engineers do. Nothing ventured, nothing gained!

Welcome to Ohio, The Wild West Heartland

Gus Chan, Plain Dealer file

When I moved to Ohio from the Empire State in 1971, I was perplexed why Ohio was viewed as Mid-Western state. Everyone, with a few exceptions, appeared to be as normal as the people I had left behind. . It never occurred to me that Ohio was masquerading as an enlightened state. The term Mid-Western should have been a giveaway.

This morning I picked up The Plain Dealer and there in bold print was the real story of Ohio. Ohio is poised to abandon it's masquerade as an enlightened state. In fact , Ohio is poised to become a Wild West State. No more mid-west, no more "heartland"! Ohio is a signature away from becoming a playground for gun lovers.

 From The Plain Dealer this morning:.
"Ohio lawmakers on Wednesday moved a step closer to allowing gun owners to carry their concealed firearms into bars and restaurants.

The Ohio House approved House Bill 45 by a vote of 56 to 40. The Senate passed its own version, Senate Bill 17, last month. Because the Republican-controlled legislature can only send one bill on the same issue to Gov. John Kasich, they must pick a bill to work from then iron out any differences.
House Speaker Bill Batchelder, a Medina Republican, said the Republican governor has already assured him that the bill will get signed."

Not only can a gun lover carry a gun into a bar or restaurant but he or she can sport it in a stadium. Cleveland hasn't made any sports headlines in awhile ( except for the fast start of the Indians this Spring). Can't wait for the headlines when some one gets "offed" for looking at a gun toting , drunken, "sports fan" with a disapproving look.

I wonder if there is any chance that the proposed legislation can be dumped on the grounds that it is discriminatory. The bill discriminates against those of us who oppose anything that further erodes civility in our society. Interested A.C.L.U.? Just kidding A.C.L.U. - Iknow you have bigger fish to fry. By the way , do my dues entitle me to the fish fry?

After all these years , I don't intend to move back to the Empire State. Much too much trouble. Besides my Empire State passport elapsed.  Actually, living in the Wild West State of Ohio should be interesting.I,ve got a bid in on E-Bay for a bullet proof vest

Whats With The Chief

Has Chief Wahoo given up thoughts of retiring? More importantly has he lifted the curse on the Cleveland Indians. Holy Mollie, the Indians are in first place with the best record in baseball. Hope the Chief is not playing games with us. I have it on good authority that the Chief  thinks a lot of the Indian's manager, Manny Acta, and has lifted his curse.  Manny is making all the right moves and needs the Chief in his corner. Great job, Manny! GO TRIBE!

About Mother's Day

Buddha Had A Mother

I didn't realize that changing the name used for my posts carried a responsibility which will be a challenge to my blogging. Museful is usually applied to someone who is extremely thoughtful or pensive. That being so, the bar has been raised on my blogging and I'm not sure I'm up to it. For instance , today being Mother's Day I felt compelled to come up up with some tributes to mothers which would demonstrate that I was up to being called Museful101, albeit the 101 implies some sort of limitation on my pensiveness. I struggled with some of the following deep thoughts before I concluded that a name merely identifies someone and does not carry any responsibility to perform, except in the case of a Donald Trump which demands that he perform as Donald Duck. The latter is further proof that calling one self Museful is just a lot of bull.

Now for a few profound Mother's Day thoughts.

• Why do mothers need a day to be adored? What about the other 364 days?
• Is there a mother somewhere grieving for bin Laden?
• If bin Laden had a mother, and that is debatable, she probably rues the day he was conceived. 
• Do we live our lives in a manner which would make a mother happy and proud?
• Being so busy in our daily lives, it is well that a day is set aside to remember that person who brought us into this world and gave us a chance to make a difference..
• If our contributions to this world have been less than significant, it is good to know that a mother could care less.
• Last but by no means least, a  quote I ran across, "Without a mother there would be no Buddha."

The thoughts may be less than profound, but thinking about mothers on Mother's Day is profound enough.

Patience Got Him - Inpatience Taints It

Cheers to Obama and his team for getting the monster responsible for so many American deaths. Jeers to Obama's team for bring so inpatient on releasing details of the kill that we are faced with revisions to the story on a daily basis. What's wrong with announcing the kill and waiting for a debriefing of the attack force before giving out details.

There is little question after the debriefing that the mission to bin Laden's compound was strictly a mission to kill, not to capture. Over 10,000 American lives lost over the past ten years says it was the right thing to do.

 Celebrating the kill by raucous gatherings in the street is not the way to go.

Photos of a dead bin Laden are not to be released. Good decision!

Lesson to be learned: Do not trust any nation that is influenced by religious fanatics!

As for bin Laden, may he sleep with the fish!.

You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear

Fareed Zakaria on his Facebook page has suggested that the killing of Osama bin Laden is a powerful argument for emphasizing counterterrorism in fighting terrorism over nation building. I could not agree more . The whole foolishness of nation building reminds me of the cliche, you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

Then I sat down to play

A little music for a change.

Bin Laden Is Dead! Jihad Lives!

Headlines galore - Osama Bin Laden Is Dead! Countless stories about 9/11. Celebrations at Ground Zero. Yet, there is something missing. Unless it is buried in some news article, there have been no  reports of a Muslim leader strongly condemning Bin Laden for his crimes. American Muslims especially must come forward in no uncertain terms to condemn Bin Laden and all he stood for. There will be no closure for 9/11 until this happens. Furthermore, until Jihad is put to death by Islam, we will have every reason to remain vigilant concerning the threat of terrorism.