Friday, May 06, 2016

Do not be daunted...


14 comments:

  1. Good quote; Good Works can be Number One today. I find myself comparing and contrasting what is said and not said above, and in the dictum that "No one can set aside the Law of Karma."

    My letter to the Editor was printed online at least. [Click] I think it scans all right.

    --Alan

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    1. Your letter is spot on, Alan. Sadly I see by the comments that follow it that people still don't know the difference between communism and democratic socialism.

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    2. I didn't see any comments--maybe there weren't any when I saw it. Don't know as I care to read them Can't say either that I really know what communism is supposed to be, it being theoretical and all, but it certainly wasn't Marxism-Leninism, which had nothing to do with either Marx or Lenin, but everything to do with Stalin. And of course one of the first things that the Bolsheviki did when establishing the Soviet Union was to destroy the soviets. I am inclined to believe that Bernie is, like me, a Social Democrat rather than a Democratic Socialist--and a Socialist in the pre-marxian meaning of one who wishes to ameliorate the bad aspects of unbridled Capitalism. But that's getting pretty deep for a lot of people. And what in the name all that's holy do "conservative" and "liberal" mean? Kurt Vonnegut puts it simply:

      "I have to say this in defense of humankind: No matter in what era in history, including the Garden of Eden, everybody just got there. And, except for the Garden of Eden, there were already all these crazy games going on, which could make you act crazy, even if you weren’t crazy to begin with. Some of the games that were already going on when you got here were love and hate, liberalism and conservatism, automobiles and credit cards, golf and girls’ basketball. Even crazier than golf, though, is modern American politics, where, thanks to TV and for the convenience of TV, you can only be one of two kinds of human beings, either a liberal or a conservative."

      "If you want to take my guns away from me, and you’re all for murdering fetuses, and love it when homosexuals marry each other, and want to give them kitchen appliances at their showers, and you’re for the poor, you’re a liberal. If you are against those perversions and for the rich, you’re a conservative. What could be simpler?"

      And on political parties:

      "The two real political parties in America are the Winners and the Losers. The people don't acknowledge this. They claim membership in two imaginary parties, the Republicans and the Democrats, instead."

      --Alan

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  2. That is a FINE letter, Alan. Good on you.

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  3. Thanks, puddle. And on another topic altogether, today I found myself musing about why the arbiters of fencing rules would replace the fleche and cross-over retreat in sabre with those ridiculous bunny hops. On its face it is ridiculous, and greatly damages the sport. Collisions between fencers couldn't be the problem they are trying to prevent; they didn't happen. I think the explanation may be two-fold:

    (1) electrical scoring for sabre (the assemblage of electrical cables and reels couldn't be responsive enough for sabre), or to put it another way, technophilia run amok; and quite possibly

    (2) latent antipathy to the overwhelming success of Hungarian sabre technique. If you eliminate crosssovers, you return to something reminiscent of Italian sabre and other obsolete forms arising from the much heavier weapons used in the 19th Century. Which also slows the action down so it is better for television.



    --Alan

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  4. So glad to see your LTE got printed, Alan! Well done!!

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  5. Cat, I mailed your Bernie buttons today, and they are expected to arrive on Monday! :-)

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  6. Was it I who posted "Do not be daunted"? Today?

    God give me strength.

    I keep thinking of how this world sees us choosing between Trump or Clinton while we have this marvelously honest and good man right there to choose. We look like total idiots to the world…and maybe, as a nation, we are. That is so disheartening.

    We need an Independent Party. Or better, no parties at all. Just vote without "helps." Parties are the bane of free elections.

    And bad as the Parties are, Congress is worse, if only because the Parties push their crap every 2 and 4 years, while Congress is a continuous complex mess. Argh!

    So, anybody got anything cheerful?

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    1. I just keep thinking of my favorite T-shirt. "I'm an animal. I am not afraid, and I will eat you if I have to." No fear.

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  7. Now one foot. Now the other.

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  8. "It is better to vote for what you want and not get it, than to vote for what you don't want and get it."
    --Eugene V. Debs"

    If Bernie should be the Democratic Party presidential candidate this year, I will vote for him. If not, I am most likely to vote for JIll Stein (anticipating that she will be the Green Party candidate), as I did four years ago. And I absolutely refuse to accept any blame if the Dems nominate unpopular candidates.

    Alan

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  9. Just checked the print version of the Fresno Bee--my LTE was there--number one, in fact. Nice.

    Alan

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  10. Nice, Alan!

    Gosh, did no one come by on Saturday? If so, then it's too funny because I neglected to make a new thread!

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