Why, Why, Why? 

Why do they put rear pockets on women’s jeans? Why does my brother do a comb-over? Why does our Government think it can pay off a credit card with a credit card? Why did God put all of that easy to get oil in the Middle East? Why does gray hair look awful on a woman but great on a man? Why is it that only bellies and ears get larger with a man’s age? Why did Osama bin Laden smile when he said that all Infidels must die? Why be a dirty old man when you can’t do anything about it? Why do women’s breasts succumb to gravity while their butts seem to defy gravity? Why doesn’t hair on your arm grow longer? Why are black people called African Americans but white people aren’t called English, French, German, Irish, Indian, Italian, et all Americans? Why does my Sunday Newspaper contain 90% ads and 10% news mostly gathered by outside sources? Why is my Newspaper known as a Newspaper? Why are the chairs called Lazy Boys when nothing but Lazy Men buy them? Why are they allowed to advertise “Free” with purchase? Why can only white people be racists? Why do Brides smile so broadly when they say, “I do” while Grooms have a vacant, almost innocent look on their faces? Why are prisons called “Correctional Facilities?” Why do I fall asleep watching television? Why is it called he Democratic Party? Why do small children and old men keep asking why? Why do Politicians swear an oath? Why does Dolly Parton seem so different? Why does Hip Hop produce a mind-numbing throb? Why is it called Social Security? Why are women generally referred to as “Ladies?” Why aren’t men generally referred to as “Gentlemen?” Why do all of the really smart people live in Hollywood? Why is it called investing? Why do little-old people buy really big automobiles? Why is it called the “Armed Services?” Why are most Lawyers rich? Why did they put the pointy ends on a football? Why do they build Churches so big? Why did the great scientist Albert Einstein believe in God? Why do they build local Schools so big? Why does beer make you fart but wine doesn’t? Why do new cars go 120 mph? Why do Thongs cost more than Mumus? Why do they pass the plate before rather than after the sermon? Why does my childhood house seem so small now? Why do I have an urge to say, “Have a Nice Day”, to strangers? Why does “thinking outside the box” only works for others? Why is it when I have a 50/50 chance of being right, I’m always wrong? Why does a long line (queue) move faster than a short line? Why does it require force to produce good change but bad change is spontaneous? Why do I become frightened when a woman says “Fine?” Why do men try to understand women? Why don’t women want to understand men?  Why are some people color-blind to the red color of stop sighs? Why do old people think Perry Como is the greatest singer of all time? Why won’t grocery carts go in a straight line? Why does too much sleep make you tired? Why do women wear bras? Why do men wear really big belt buckles? Why are gay people really not gay? Why does the phrase “Oh, By the Way” is cause for a cardiac arrest? 

President Lincoln and Today

Annual Message to Congress --
Concluding Remarks

Washington, D.C.
December 1, 1862

"Will not the good people respond to a united, and earnest appeal from us? Can we, can they, by any other means, so certainly, or so speedily, assure these vital objects? We can succeed only by concert. It is not "can any of us imagine better?" but, "can we all do better?" The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise -- with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country."

Socialism

You load sixteen tons and what do you get
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the GOVERMENT store.

War and Peace

"Si vis pacem, para bellum."
(If you seek peace, prepare for war.)

Robots, Automation, Computers and the Working Humans

The Coming Age Of The BORG

The Ballad of John Henry, Steel Driving Man

John Henry was hammering on the right side,
The big stream drill on the left,
Before that steam drill could beat him down,
He hammered his fool self to death.

   Who among us could not feel a grudging kinship with the Steel Driving Man, you know, fighting the inevitable with spirit even though the outcome was as certain as death and taxes? Besides, who could feel the slightest affinity for that big mechanical steam drill that was taking a man’s livelihood away and all for the sake of the dollar that some faraway good-smelling Dude laid down so he could make even more dollars without breaking one iota of steel driving sweat.
We all may crack an amused smile at the thought of a real live man actually challenging a steam machine to a steel-driving contest with only his muscle, grit and determination to match the power of steam. We smile, of course, because of the foolish nature of the contest. But then again, I wonder what most contemporary people were thinking and feeling at the time when in 1997 they witnessed a more recent contest between a real live man (Garry Kasparov) challenging a thinking contest with only his brain, grit and determination matched up with the power of billions and billions of silicon switches fastened together with the lifeless software of the chess-playing computer, Deep Blue?
     Somehow I think we probably feel a little differently about the thinking contest due to the contemporary and cognitive nature of the contest. But, I don’t know why! The two contests are identical and the outcomes just as inevitable! Perhaps we don’t even think the chess match was a foolish contest because of the notion that the magnificent organic thinking machine, the human brain, is surely the ultimate cognitive device that no mere machine could ever match. The human brain will surely prevail for all times just like John Henry thought his muscles could surely prevail over the mighty mechanical steam drill even though we now concede our magnificent muscles are no match for lifeless machine power.
   Here is a thought to muss up your day when trying to decide what to do about being outsourced by the machines of automation and all because some faraway good-smelling Dudes are still trying to make more money without breaking a contemporary sweat. John Henry and Garry Kasparov are not the only contestants in a continuing struggle between man and machine that started when Gorg rubbed two sticks together to make fire. We all are front and center in the enduring contest and so will all of our progeny. Research shows that we are loosing far more contemporary jobs to automation than jobs that are lost to distant lands where labor is cheaper and more abundant. Indeed, one of the biggest loss of jobs today is due customer outsourcing.
   What that’s you say? What is customer outsourcing?
    Customer outsourcing is transferring a job that was once done by a paid employee to a paying customer instead. Here is just one minor scenario of customer outsourcing. You drive your rattletrap Chevy to the local gas station emporium where you get out of your seat, pop in and quickly remove your Master Card or Visa (a lot of lost jobs of people taking money, counting money, bookkeeping, accounting, depositing, etc.) and wait for the computer screen to instruct you to continue. After being authorized by a great big computer somewhere that is connected by satellites, relays and God only knows what, lift the pump-handle and pump your gas (more lost jobs of gas attendants). Hell, I’m even checking myself out at the local Wally World and Home Depot and buying stuff off of the Internet by clicking a mouse and causing a massive whirling of untold computers that fetch my latest Ronco gadget, package and ship it without a single paid employee in sight.
   All of this is made possible by technology and (oh no Mr. Bill!) Machines. Because this is a continuing process, it is less noticeable in our everyday, put the meat-on-the-table lives. For example, before the industrial revolution, well over 50% of all people in the country was working on farms while today we produce all of our food needs by less than 1% of the population, i.e., million and millions of jobs lost to machines and we rarely think about the farm job losses as we rant about all of our current jobs going to China, India and machines.
  And the non-physical jobs like engineering, accounting, marketing, research are also being outsourced to machines and cheaper labor, so no one is immune to job loss except the rich (that is if you believe making money off of money constitutes a job).
   I think you get the picture and if you get the picture then you know that contemporary job losses will continue on at an ever-accelerating rate and due mostly to automation (machines). What to do? Hell, I don’t know either but I do know that at some distant point in the future the Cyborgs will have all of the jobs and I really don’t know how humans will make a living. That’s right John Henry:
RESISTANCE IS FUTILE,
YOU WILL BE ASSIMILATED

FASHION

I am a slave to fashion. My wardrobe adheres to the strict dictates of that Fashion Maven, Monsieur LIFO (Last In First Out).

Urban versus Country

Urban Fortification of Socialism

2000 Census Population Density USA Today 2004 Election Red/Blue Map

I invite you to look very closely at the above two maps. They are profound in their similarity. The left map is the official 2000 Census Population Density Map where the red color indicates where the highest population density is located. Of course, the concentration of red also indicates where the great cities are due to the greater population within the respective counties and so clearly indicates where the great urban centers are located. The map on the right is the USA Today 2004 election results, also down to the county level. Red represents Republican votes and in general indicates a more conservative political area. The Blue represents Democratic votes and in general indicates a more liberal political area. Now, try to overlay each map in your mind. I think you will find that the red high-density areas (urban areas) on the population density map closely correspond to the democratic, or politically liberal, areas of the 2004 red/blue map. The political importance of these maps is profound in that it clearly shows that the urbanization of America is providing an irresistible fortification of socialistic tendencies due to liberal or “progressive” thought within the body politic by virtue of the greater population and thus greater political power of the urban areas. Indeed, those who demand that the US Constitution be treated as a “living document” to support progressive or socialist dogma may well have a viable argument due to the phenomena of urbanization. Think about it. The country was mostly rural when the Constitution was ratified, and rural living peoples are very self-sufficient and fearlessly independent. The Constitution, in general, codifies self-sufficiency and independence of the individual as a way to ensure personal liberty and thus prevent tyranny from gaining a foothold in Government. When people congregate into urban areas, dependence upon one another is more important than self-sufficiency, and personal independence must be moderated in order to foster social conditions that will enhance the opportunity for all to live in peace and harmony with one another. In other words, urban living promotes a more socialistic environment by the necessity of interdependence, not independence, of city dwellers. This socialistic force due to urbanization is irresistible much like a trade wind that blows due to environmental factors, i.e., a socialistic wind is blowing due to urbanization factors, and it will continue to blow stronger and stronger unless a way is found to reverse urbanization, and that is not likely. Indeed, the census bureau reports that the 2000 census indicated that 81% of America’s population is now living within urban areas while the remaining 19% of the population is living in the rural areas of the country. But wait, there’s more. Just this week the United Nations announced that the World population is now 50% rural and 50% urban. What does it mean? Every good sailor will tell you that it is folly to try and change the wind because the wind will blow to wherever the wind will blow. Every good sailor will also tell you that you can set your sail to the wind and go to where you want to go regardless of the way the wind blows. Somehow, we must find a way to maintain personal freedom and liberty within a more and more socialistic environment that the urbanization of America is causing. It’s time for the intellectual sailors of this country to set freedom’s sail to the prevailing socialist wind so that personal liberty will still be the destination of our progeny.

From The Mouths of Babes

The teacher asked my grandson in kindergarten,
"Describe your Grandmother and Grandfather."
Grandson replied,
"Grandma makes cookies, Grandpa fixes things."
Enough said.

Cicero and Trump

From the Treatise on the Laws, by Marcus Cicero (58 BC) could well have been describing today's President Trump, to wit:
"His energy was indeed somewhat rude and rough, without polish or point, but he did what he could to recommend a manly and truthful eloquence."

Old Age

We shall fight old age in the fairways and on the greens, we shall resist failing abilities with a stiff shot of courage, we shall ignore the end of our days by loving our family and friends with vigor, and we shall give a finger to all things stupid and ugly.
I’m just saying.