“To summarize: Three steps must be taken to smash the war racket.
- 1. We must take the profit out of war.
- 2. We must permit the youth of the land who would bear arms to decide whether or not there should be war.
- 3. We must limit our military forces to home defense purposes.”
Maj. Gen. Smedley Darlington Butler, USMC
— from War Is a Racket
Tag: Life
DRAWING THE LINE AFTER PRO-
Pro-life AND pro-assault rifle or Glock?
It doesn’t add up.
~*~
Something has to give way, way side or the other, even for subsistence hunters.
PICKING THE RIGHT, RIPE WILD BERRIES
I keep thinking about the stories children are taught, especially here in America. Carol Bly once wrote of the Scandinavian tales the descendants in Minnesota never heard, unlike the mass-media mishmash they were served. I’m left wondering if Ohio ever had anything like Kokopelli or Coyote from Native American lore and wisdom. I can keep hoping.
The fact is, most Americans are estranged from their roots. We don’t even know where we live, not really.
Forget the Zombie Apocalypse, we rarely know how to select the healthy wild berries. Leave it at that.
As for the hornpipe? It’s a Celtic dance, faster and more complicated than a jig – or gigue, if you insist. But I also like the vision of a pipe carved from a horn and played.
Care to join me for a dance?
~*~
For your own copy, click here.
JUST THROW ‘EM IN REVERSE
There’s one way to stop those nasty campaign attack ads.
Vote FOR the candidate they’re attacking.
ANOTHER SLIP OF THE TONGUE
Thinking of the Red Barn’s theme for the year, how seems to be morphing from Trumpets of the Coming Storm to Trump-Pence of the Crummy Storm.
Oh, how the mind and life wander!
ON THE SACRIFICES IN DEFENSE OF LIBERTY
“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.
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.
