“There are only two reasons why you should ever be asked to give your youngsters. One is defense of our homes. The other is the defense of our Bill of Rights and particularly the right to worship God as we see fit. Every other reason advanced for the murder of young men is a racket, pure and simple.”
Maj. Gen. Smedley Darlington Butler, USMC
— from War Is a Racket
WATCH YOUR TONGUE … AND THE ADULTS IN TANDUM
As I observed at the time …
Language. At age seven, eight, and ten, each in the band of boys has acquired a filthy tongue. Incredibly obnoxious. Many of us adults are offended. Some have complained to the management. Now the word comes down. “Hey, Dirk, you hear? We can’t use bad words no more.”
“Who complained?”
Like, “Let’s get ‘em!”
We adults need to stand together. Firmly. Before the little bastards overrun us.
ONE LETTER DIFFERENCE
It’s a fine line. One for Trump, just what happens when he accuses some and how it comes back at him: rapist – racist.
Has me wondering about other words in the air these days. After all, details and facts really do make a difference, or should.
PALLADIAN WINDOW
High style in the region from the mid-1700s. This example is from Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
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ANOTHER SIDE IN THE MEXICAN INVASION
Just listen to Donald Trump’s anti-Mexican bluster and then go to the grocery. Some seem to have a whole row of salsa. If he shopped for basics, he’d realize how much they’re a part of the social fabric.
One large New England supermarket chain, for instance, has begun selling tacos made fresh daily, in-house. They’re miles ahead of the others on the shelves or down the street. Lighter, less brittle, tastier.
They do go wonderfully with the guacamole from another New England supermarket brand, too.
I’ll really miss them if Trump’s elected.
And just who will be manning those taco trucks on every corner? Won’t be the same, not if you believe the bombast.
ONE CHANGE
As I said at the time …
Daily encounters are full of times I fall short of the Quaker / Christian ideal. At least I see others in Meeting who do much better on this front.
One way the faith has changed me, though, is in teaching me when to sit on a problem, rather than force a solution (as long as this isn’t mere avoidance, which is a different situation). As the saying goes, “Some of the best barns in Rhode Island were designed in Quaker Meeting.” (Yes, Silas Weeks liked to enlarge it to “New England.”) Maybe you know the postcard:
NOTICE, I AM A QUAKER.
IN CASE OF EMERGENCY,
PLEASE BE QUIET.
I think it’s part of the process we see extending to our decision-making as a faith community, and how much it’s lacking when we’re engaged in a business session elsewhere. The divisiveness, egotism, us-versus-them mentality that so often prevails, the rush to judgment, the name-calling or the boss calling the shots, and so on. The desire to appear decisive or in command. You know all the symptoms.
On the other hand, some of the best headlines I’ve written have been by taking a break when I was stuck – by stepping aside to walk down the hall or to the bathroom. Release the problem, for a minute or two break. And then the answer appears. No need to feel guilty, is there? A little quiet, and voila, originality or productivity, as they would say. A barn or a headline, all in the job, as we Friends know, all the same.
ACKNOWLEDGE THE CONSEQUENCES
In response to the bumper sticker,
I’M A CONSERVATIVE.
DEAL WITH IT,
let me propose:
I’M A LIBERAL.
BE GRATEFUL.
MILL TOWER INSIDE AND OUT
When I see this …
… I think of this.
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ABOUT THOSE EMAILS
In all the charges about Hillary Clinton’s emails, has anyone else wondered just why she’d want to keep the old ones? Don’t know about you, but I’m always deleting mine. In fact, I’m still trying to find a better way to manage my In Boxes as it is. If I don’t respond immediately, a request or suggestion is likely to get buried and neglected, no matter my intent – so I try to keep the deck cleared. Zip and they’re gone.
Yes, I tried to keep appropriate baskets for later reference but then found going back through them, page after page, to be impossible. So I revisited a tip from one of the better bosses in my past. The one who one afternoon invited me to his office to discuss a memo I’d sent him. He looked at it, agreed, and then tossed the sheet into the trash can – we’d resolved the issue and could move on. No need to add more paper to a filing cabinet. In fact, that’s when I noticed he had only two drawers – a bit of streamlining he’d gleaned from some management gurus somewhere. Look, you can handle only so many things on your plate. Especially at one time.
So Hillary had thousands of exchanges? What was she supposed to do, keep them until she’d been hacked there, too? The Russians and Republican peeping toms are everywhere, after all. (Maybe they’re expecting something like my novel Big Inca Versus a New Pony Express Rider?) How much information can you handle and still move — like an NFL quarterback on Sunday afternoon, as Henry Kissinger once explained?
It’s looking more like a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t situation. How could you possibly get anything done, anyway, amid all the clutter? Or, for that matter, how about demanding that those who are howling about any deleted emails release their own exchanges first – including all the missing ones. Tit for tat, anyone?
Actually, it would be quite fascinating to see Donald Trump’s exchanges, compounded by Paul Ryan’s and Newt’s and … Oh, for the hypocrisy!
JUST KEEP WONDERING
As Doc would have said:
Would the NRA leadership really pass a background test?
Jnana's Red Barn 