Nobody 702

Sunday, July 1, 2007
Nobody # 702

Nobody Asked Me But:

Stories we love to tell our children

There are 3 great stories that we love to tell our children when they are young. (1) There is a Santa Claus. (2) There is a tooth fairy. (3) A tie goes to the runner.

While the first two are true, number 3 is a myth. Watch any baseball game and you will see that almost every time there is a tie situation, the umpire jerks up his thumb and yells, “You’re out!<<<

Justice - the quality of being honorable or fair.

Last week was a bad one for justice. The Supreme Court, or more correctly the unjust 5:

1. Weakened a key provision of the campaign finance law. 2. Once again favored business over the environment.
3. Limited the free speech rights of students.
4. Allowed the federal government to finance religious activities.
5. Struck a blow against racial equality in schools. (and misrepresented Brown vs. The Board of Education decision to justify doing so)

Paul Simon again proves to be an astute prophet:

And high up above my eyes could clearly see
The Statue of Liberty
Sailing away to sea – from American Tune<<<

Note: The lone exception to this assault on justice was when Justice Kennedy joined the moral minority to override the wishes of the four on the right to execute the insane.<<<

Virtue - the quality of doing what is right and avoiding what is wrong.

This week’s example is Great Britain, which has lived with terror for a long time and still preserved its courage, dignity and freedom.
We could learn from them.

“If you’re near the bomb when it explodes, well, that’s really unlucky,” Ms. Birgit Klinkner said. “But there are millions of people here, people are walking around, nobody looks too frightened, I don’t think anybody is staying at home, or tourists are staying in their hotels. They always say that Londoners just take it as it comes, they don’t get nervous. English people are like that anyway, they just sort of mind their own business, they don’t get in a panic.”<<<

JIM’S WISDOM

WAY UP: Aaron Afflalo, for being chosen by Detroit in the first round of the NBA. This was higher than most had projected and it could not have happened to a nicer young man.

UP: Jeffery Toobin, CNN Legal analyst, for writing the truth - "When it comes to the incendiary political issues that end up in the Supreme Court, what matters is not the quality of the arguments but the identity of the justices"?

DOWN: Dick Cheney. Of all nationally elected figures in American history, Cheney is most certainly in the top five of those having contempt for the Constitution he is sworn to uphold.

UP: The reputation of former Attorney General John D. Ashcroft. For all his faults, and there were many, he fought hard to prevent the unconstitutional treatment of terror suspects after 9/11.

DOWN: Stanford law professor John Yoo, who betrayed Ashcroft, his boss, by secretly helping the Cheney gang twist the Constitution into a pro-torture document.

DOWN: The city of Oakland, for excessive political correctness. They labeled using the words “natural family” something close to a hate crime, because they imply that gay marriage is unnatural, and banned them from government e-mail and employee bulletin boards.

(Pardon me. Obviously the phrase excessive political correctness is redundant.)

DOWN: Poor taste. Using words to hurt others.

Up: First Amendment – free speech limited to good taste is no freedom at all.

DOWN: Sexists who label Hillary, "ambitious, calculating, driven” – as if male politicians are not.

UP: Ben Bolch, Times Dodger Writer, for his sports quote of the week – “Garciaparra didn't have a ball hit his way, but he did have several opportunities at the plate with the potential go-ahead run on base, and he made the least of them.”

UP: Gene D. Block, who hopes for the best and prepares for the worst. The former University of Virginia provost is preparing for his move to Los Angeles where h becomes the chancellor of UCLA on August 1, by having his car radio programmed to LA traffic reports on XM.

UP Anonymous – “New Zealand is where men are men and sheep are nervous.”

WAY DOWN: Ann Coulter who said on ABC's Good Morning America, "I've learned my lesson. If I'm gonna say anything about John Edwards in the future, I'll just wish he had been killed in a terrorist assassination plot."

ALSO WAY DOWN: ABC for giving this creature a forum.

AND DOWN AGAIN: Bill Maher for saying something similar in March about Cheney.

UP – Pro-union Democrats and pro-business Republican Senators who courageously voted for a recent bill to require a boost in new car mileage.

DOWN: Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, for ordering a vicious crackdown on dissent.

WAY, FAR DOWN: Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, for hiding his “crack down squad” behind masks. (see photo)<<<

This week’s “I love war as long as I don’t have to fight it” award goes to Nobody’s hero Dick Cheney who tied a world record by getting five deferments to avoid fighting in Vietnam.<<<

Quote of the week: Smiley Burnette, on former cowboy star Gene Autry, whose wealth and success came in many fields – movies, radio, records, ownership of broadcasting stations and likewise of the Anaheim Angels (well maybe not success with his beloved Angels): "Whenever the wolf came to the door, Autry ended up with a fur coat."

FYI: One of JFK’s secret passions was golf, at which he was reportedly very good. How good was he at the other? Only his playing partners know.<<<

Truth, or lying liberal press? Is it true as Maureen Dowd claims that after Senator Richard Lugar, R. (Ohio) urged the President to start removing troops from Iraq, “Dick Cheney, the president of the Senate, immediately expelled Mr. Lugar and appointed himself the new senator from Indiana.”<<<

Three men lured Michael J. Sandy to a known gay trysting spot on Long Island to rob him and ended up beating him to death. This happened not because they were homophiles but because they thought he would be an easy target.

Since the victim was gay, they are charged with “hate crime” murder, which begs the question; can you have a hate crime without hate?

Yes, says Brooklyn district attorney Charles Hynes. No, says your author.

What do you say?<<<

I have always felt that philosophy often creates something out of nothing. Here’s an example:

The writer is Professor Stanley Fish in his weekly NY Times column. “The criticism made by atheists that the existence of God cannot be demonstrated is no criticism at all; for a God whose existence could be demonstrated wouldn’t be a God; he would just be another object in the field of human vision.”

In other words: I can’t comprehend Her, therefore SHE exists. Uh, right.<<<

Days when it all gets too heavy
I drift away to the sea - James Kavanaugh

I too have peaceful escapes. Of the three that come immediately to mind, two, like in Kavanaugh’s poem, involve the sea. Close to the middle of Big Sur there is a restaurant-gift shop named Nepenthe. The deck (below) of the walk-up food and drink area looks far down on the waves rolling or crashing against the sand and rocks. In the other direction is the tree-covered mountainside. And all around you is peace. You just have to open up and let it in.

Slightly farther away, the Halekulani is, as advertised, an oasis of peace in the middle of hectic Waikiki. And the prime of the prime is an 18th floor room with its balcony offering up a view of ocean and beach all the way to Diamondhead. Sit there in the morning with a cup of coffee and you can see everything or nothing – whichever your self needs.

Number three is close to home – the lone window table at the Northridge Starbucks on a rainy day, with my Coldstone, a cup of black, a good book and drifting thoughts.<<<

WHEN IT ALL GETS TO HEAVY
by james kavanaugh

Days when it all gets too heavy
I drift away to the sea - James Kavanaugh
Or where the sunshine filters through the trees,
And strip away all my cloths,
Let go of everything I own,
Everything I hope to be,
Everything others have hoped for me,
Till I feel some connection
With the earth
and the sun,
Some profound contact
With the sky
And water.
I lie for hours almost motionless
Laugh at ambition
Know that most pain
Is the by-product of my plans
The weight of my expectations.

Then for a time I am free again
I can feel my smile
In my hands and my knees.
Spreading over my cheeks
Softening my face
And warming my groin.
I walk slowly and talk slowly,
Move with the trees,
Feel the grass growing up my legs,
The wind blowing like my very blood,
My body flowing with the planet.
And for a time I know
I am rooted in the earth,
That nothing will take away my life
Unless I give my heart
To those who have never kissed a tree
Or made love with a soft green hill.