Nobody 664
Nobody Asked Me But:
Laura Moser, co-author of “The Rise And Fall of a 10th Grade Social Climber,” on the pain(s) of aging:
Several months after injuring my shoulder in October 2004, I flew to my hometown of Houston and paid out of pocket to consult a trusted family doctor about the pain that inexplicably wouldn't go away. He examined my clothed torso for about 15 seconds before offering this perfunctory analysis: "You're getting older, and your body's falling apart—it happens to the best of us. Something new'll break down every day, so you might as well start adapting."
When I protested feebly that I'd just turned 27, he threw up his arms and laughed. "I know—terrible, isn't it? Now don't forget to say hi to your mother for me, or you'll be in big trouble!" Wit
h that, he called for the next patient.
Reaction: I turned 72 yesterday, and I differ from Laura, not in kind, but in degree. With me two or three things break down between every dawn and setting sun.
But “Life Is Good,” and I have several tee shirts that prove it.<<<
A question for the author: Now that you have made it to seventy-two, what are your greatest personal fears?
A: My greatest fear is “losing it.” My second greatest is dying.
Q: Do your fears shame you?
A; Absolutely not! Without fear there is no courage.<<<
Joe Lieberman on whether Rumsfield should resign – “Yes” in October 2003, “no” in May 2004, “yes” in August 2006.
When Oscar Wilde said that, "Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative," he wasn’t supporting ambivalence about an absolute. Even from the grave, Wilde has never faltered in his opinion that Rummy is a disaster.<<<
I read last week that college students on average spend about $900 to $1,000 a year on textbooks. That’s almost as much as I spend on books, and mine are not only boredom free but also have a much longer shelf life.
The dirty little (not so) secret in the textbook world is that so many are placed on their required list by the professors who wrote the
m. That would be like me charging you for Nobody. On second thought, those peoples aren’t so dumb. I will notify each of you in the near future about paying to subscribe to my writing. Not what it is worth – none of you have that kind of money – but a token pittance.<<<
“The Lion In Winter” – never having thoroughly studied English history I looked at Henry II simply as Peter O’ Toole, battling with his estranged wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, (Katharine Hepburn) raging at his “lion-hearted” son Richard (Anthony Hopkins) and favoring his youngest, the weak and nasty, John. (Nigel Terry) Now I find out that Henry was so very much more than that. He established many of the institutions of justice that remain with us today. He created the prototype of our modern Grand Jury. He used the shire-reeves (sheriffs) created by his grandfather (Henry I) to turn Royal Edicts into common law for all Englishmen. He enabled the decisions of local judges to be appealed and, not wanting to be overruled, these judges began using precedents as the basis for their decisions. These precedents, in turn, became part of the common law and continue as the outline for most of the legal systems in today’s English-speaking countries.
When Henry, and later Richard, died, English barons stayed within this general common law framework as they forced the evil John to sign the Magna Carta in 1215. Not only was this the basic constitutional document in British history, it established the principle that the law’s power was greater than that of the ruler. So let’s give it up for Henry!<<<
And did you know: that John was such a bad king that no other British monarch since has taken his name?<<<
Q: Now that Pluto is no longer a planet, is Uranus next?<<<
Last week the editors of the Philadelphia Daily News wrote, President Bush and Vice President Cheney have “contempt for democracy,” embrace “stunningly ignorant logic,” and use rhetoric that “borders on the criminal, to say nothing of the insane.” And they’re helping the terrorists win: “The immoral and ridiculous claims coming out of th
e Bush administration’s reign of error could ultimately be responsible for the kind of casualties that al Qaeda can only dream of.”
Two comments:
“Stunningly ignorant logic,” “borders on the criminal, to say nothing of the insane,” “immoral and ridiculous claims.” Why don’t you tell us how you really feel?
and
“Reign of error” – I wish I had thought of that.<<<
Remember the good old days when male movie stars had quaint names like Tab Hunter and Rock Hudson? Let’s not forget the father of the “quaints,” Sonny Tuffs.<<<
Robert Ingersoll once wrote: “In nature there are neither rewards nor punishments – there are consequences.”
Does this also apply to politics? I guess we will find out in November.<<<
Make love not war:
France negotiated weak rules of engagement for UN Troops in South Lebanon and then stated that they would not send very many troops to that troubled area because of the weak rules of engagement.
Viva la France!<<<
The story below is taken from a Bob Herbert column in the NY Times. I have shortened it without changing its basic content and added my comment in the final paragraph.
Abdallah Higazy deserved to be investigated. He was staying at the Millenium Hilton Hotel across from the twin towers on 9/11. An aviation radio was later found in his room safe. He could have used it to guide the suicide planes.
The problem is that our government substituted “did” for “could have.” He was arrested by the F.B.I. as a material witness and held as such in solitary confinement while investigators searched for something to pin on him. (They obviously “forgot” that under American law a material witness is not supposed to treated as a criminal.)
Higazy claimed innocence as long as he could, but eventually an FBI agent elicited a confession from him by making threats regarding his relatives back in Cairo, saying they would be put at the mercy of Egyptian security, which has a reputation for engaging in torture.
End of story – right? Our government’s tactics were questionable but they caught a terrorist. We bend the rules so we don’t get broken.
The problem is that shortly after the forced confession a pilot, an American, walked serendipitously into the Millenium Hilton, looking for the aviation radio he had left behind on Sept. 11.
The moral of this story is obvious. Bent rules often lead not to justice but to injustice. Suppose the pilot had not gone back for his radio. Would you want Abdallah Higazy on your conscience? I wouldn’t!<<<
I bought a book a couple of years ago titled “Simplify Your Life.” While there are some really good ideas in it, there is also some science fiction, - especially the part that advises working people to live on half of their earnings and save the other half.
Although six glorious years have passed since I worked, (except for washing my wife’s car the other evening) I could no more have lived on half my earnings than I could have won a most handsome head of hair award. Maybe the author intends for people to supplement the usable income half by hand-lettering pieces of cardboard and working a corner or freeway off ramp for loose change.<<<
I do not know if John Mark Karr is a murdering psycho or just a psycho. Hopefully, the DNA will tell the story. I do know that poor JonBenet Ramsey was abused long before she was killed that Christmas night. Those guilty in that story are her mother, who turned her into a woman/child to satisfy her own warped dreams, and her father who, at the very least, allowed this Michael Jackson-like perversion to occur.<<<
Talk about perfect timing for our UK trip. In London’s War Museum, a medal awarded to the only dog to be officially registered as a prisoner of war in World War II has, for the first time, gone on public display.
Judy, a pedigree pointer, was captured along with members of her Royal Navy ship's crew in 1942. She was the ship's mascot.
She was taken to a Japanese POW camp in Sumatra, and there befriended by fellow prisoner, British airman Frank Williams who somehow persuaded Japanese officers to register her as a POW.
She went on to survive gunshot wounds and alligator bites -- as well as helping her fellow POWs by distracting camp guards -- until the end of the war, when Williams smuggled her onto a ship back to England.
While in London, so that we can all honor Judy, I will drink a Starbucks to her for you and you and you and you and the rest of you too. Or, if some prefer, I will wait until Scotland and make it a single-malt.<<<
For a special birthday treat we saw David Hyde Pierce yesterday in the pre-Broadway run of the new musical “Curtains.” It was very entertaining – excellent performances, catchy songs. The story was a little weak but not enough to make it anything but a smash in our minds. I mention it here, because this will be “curtains” for Nobody for a short time. But I shall return soon to sing the praises of our first trip to the “old world.”<<<
One final note: My wish for us all is that this will be another year when we remain, in the words of Bob Dylan, “Forever Young.”<<<
Laura Moser, co-author of “The Rise And Fall of a 10th Grade Social Climber,” on the pain(s) of aging:
Several months after injuring my shoulder in October 2004, I flew to my hometown of Houston and paid out of pocket to consult a trusted family doctor about the pain that inexplicably wouldn't go away. He examined my clothed torso for about 15 seconds before offering this perfunctory analysis: "You're getting older, and your body's falling apart—it happens to the best of us. Something new'll break down every day, so you might as well start adapting."
When I protested feebly that I'd just turned 27, he threw up his arms and laughed. "I know—terrible, isn't it? Now don't forget to say hi to your mother for me, or you'll be in big trouble!" Wit
h that, he called for the next patient.Reaction: I turned 72 yesterday, and I differ from Laura, not in kind, but in degree. With me two or three things break down between every dawn and setting sun.
But “Life Is Good,” and I have several tee shirts that prove it.<<<
A question for the author: Now that you have made it to seventy-two, what are your greatest personal fears?
A: My greatest fear is “losing it.” My second greatest is dying.
Q: Do your fears shame you?
A; Absolutely not! Without fear there is no courage.<<<
Joe Lieberman on whether Rumsfield should resign – “Yes” in October 2003, “no” in May 2004, “yes” in August 2006.
When Oscar Wilde said that, "Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative," he wasn’t supporting ambivalence about an absolute. Even from the grave, Wilde has never faltered in his opinion that Rummy is a disaster.<<<
I read last week that college students on average spend about $900 to $1,000 a year on textbooks. That’s almost as much as I spend on books, and mine are not only boredom free but also have a much longer shelf life.
The dirty little (not so) secret in the textbook world is that so many are placed on their required list by the professors who wrote the
m. That would be like me charging you for Nobody. On second thought, those peoples aren’t so dumb. I will notify each of you in the near future about paying to subscribe to my writing. Not what it is worth – none of you have that kind of money – but a token pittance.<<<“The Lion In Winter” – never having thoroughly studied English history I looked at Henry II simply as Peter O’ Toole, battling with his estranged wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, (Katharine Hepburn) raging at his “lion-hearted” son Richard (Anthony Hopkins) and favoring his youngest, the weak and nasty, John. (Nigel Terry) Now I find out that Henry was so very much more than that. He established many of the institutions of justice that remain with us today. He created the prototype of our modern Grand Jury. He used the shire-reeves (sheriffs) created by his grandfather (Henry I) to turn Royal Edicts into common law for all Englishmen. He enabled the decisions of local judges to be appealed and, not wanting to be overruled, these judges began using precedents as the basis for their decisions. These precedents, in turn, became part of the common law and continue as the outline for most of the legal systems in today’s English-speaking countries.
When Henry, and later Richard, died, English barons stayed within this general common law framework as they forced the evil John to sign the Magna Carta in 1215. Not only was this the basic constitutional document in British history, it established the principle that the law’s power was greater than that of the ruler. So let’s give it up for Henry!<<<
And did you know: that John was such a bad king that no other British monarch since has taken his name?<<<
Q: Now that Pluto is no longer a planet, is Uranus next?<<<
Last week the editors of the Philadelphia Daily News wrote, President Bush and Vice President Cheney have “contempt for democracy,” embrace “stunningly ignorant logic,” and use rhetoric that “borders on the criminal, to say nothing of the insane.” And they’re helping the terrorists win: “The immoral and ridiculous claims coming out of th
e Bush administration’s reign of error could ultimately be responsible for the kind of casualties that al Qaeda can only dream of.”Two comments:
“Stunningly ignorant logic,” “borders on the criminal, to say nothing of the insane,” “immoral and ridiculous claims.” Why don’t you tell us how you really feel?
and
“Reign of error” – I wish I had thought of that.<<<
Remember the good old days when male movie stars had quaint names like Tab Hunter and Rock Hudson? Let’s not forget the father of the “quaints,” Sonny Tuffs.<<<
Robert Ingersoll once wrote: “In nature there are neither rewards nor punishments – there are consequences.”
Does this also apply to politics? I guess we will find out in November.<<<
Make love not war:
France negotiated weak rules of engagement for UN Troops in South Lebanon and then stated that they would not send very many troops to that troubled area because of the weak rules of engagement.
Viva la France!<<<
The story below is taken from a Bob Herbert column in the NY Times. I have shortened it without changing its basic content and added my comment in the final paragraph.
Abdallah Higazy deserved to be investigated. He was staying at the Millenium Hilton Hotel across from the twin towers on 9/11. An aviation radio was later found in his room safe. He could have used it to guide the suicide planes.
The problem is that our government substituted “did” for “could have.” He was arrested by the F.B.I. as a material witness and held as such in solitary confinement while investigators searched for something to pin on him. (They obviously “forgot” that under American law a material witness is not supposed to treated as a criminal.)
Higazy claimed innocence as long as he could, but eventually an FBI agent elicited a confession from him by making threats regarding his relatives back in Cairo, saying they would be put at the mercy of Egyptian security, which has a reputation for engaging in torture.
End of story – right? Our government’s tactics were questionable but they caught a terrorist. We bend the rules so we don’t get broken.
The problem is that shortly after the forced confession a pilot, an American, walked serendipitously into the Millenium Hilton, looking for the aviation radio he had left behind on Sept. 11.
The moral of this story is obvious. Bent rules often lead not to justice but to injustice. Suppose the pilot had not gone back for his radio. Would you want Abdallah Higazy on your conscience? I wouldn’t!<<<
I bought a book a couple of years ago titled “Simplify Your Life.” While there are some really good ideas in it, there is also some science fiction, - especially the part that advises working people to live on half of their earnings and save the other half.
Although six glorious years have passed since I worked, (except for washing my wife’s car the other evening) I could no more have lived on half my earnings than I could have won a most handsome head of hair award. Maybe the author intends for people to supplement the usable income half by hand-lettering pieces of cardboard and working a corner or freeway off ramp for loose change.<<<
I do not know if John Mark Karr is a murdering psycho or just a psycho. Hopefully, the DNA will tell the story. I do know that poor JonBenet Ramsey was abused long before she was killed that Christmas night. Those guilty in that story are her mother, who turned her into a woman/child to satisfy her own warped dreams, and her father who, at the very least, allowed this Michael Jackson-like perversion to occur.<<<
Talk about perfect timing for our UK trip. In London’s War Museum, a medal awarded to the only dog to be officially registered as a prisoner of war in World War II has, for the first time, gone on public display.
Judy, a pedigree pointer, was captured along with members of her Royal Navy ship's crew in 1942. She was the ship's mascot.
She was taken to a Japanese POW camp in Sumatra, and there befriended by fellow prisoner, British airman Frank Williams who somehow persuaded Japanese officers to register her as a POW.
She went on to survive gunshot wounds and alligator bites -- as well as helping her fellow POWs by distracting camp guards -- until the end of the war, when Williams smuggled her onto a ship back to England.
While in London, so that we can all honor Judy, I will drink a Starbucks to her for you and you and you and you and the rest of you too. Or, if some prefer, I will wait until Scotland and make it a single-malt.<<<
For a special birthday treat we saw David Hyde Pierce yesterday in the pre-Broadway run of the new musical “Curtains.” It was very entertaining – excellent performances, catchy songs. The story was a little weak but not enough to make it anything but a smash in our minds. I mention it here, because this will be “curtains” for Nobody for a short time. But I shall return soon to sing the praises of our first trip to the “old world.”<<<
One final note: My wish for us all is that this will be another year when we remain, in the words of Bob Dylan, “Forever Young.”<<<
posted by jmt | 9:43 AM
1 Comments:
I will miss the nobodies the next few Sundays. This may have been your best yet! Loved the story of the dog POW! I agree on the Ramsey tragedy. Take care Buddy.
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