Zavost's Stoa

Moderator Series: The Presidents

2012-01-26T12:30:00.001-08:00

The Stoa, once again, is being twisted to serve the vapid needs of teenagers who can only learn if they are entertained. Can you tell that I am now sitting before you, a broken man?

Anyhow, this could be the start of a new series, to augment the "Bar Style" descriptors of real world history.

The intention here is to place the personalities of people on display for everyone else. There is no filter, no political hedging. Responses are based on how I understand these individuals. So stop whining, I am always right. These people will give answers just like outlined below.

So with that said, enjoy!

The Moderator has had the crew broom out the folks from the Generational discussion from the night before. The Hippie booth stinks of hemp and hippie, while the GI booth smells of Ben Gay. The Homelander booth is trashed and sticky. No one knows HOW it got sticky since they had not eaten or drank anything in there...

Tonight, the booths have been removed and a podium has been set up to give the Presidents something to hide behind when and if the junk from the audience starts to fly.

A series of questions will be posed and Presidents will be asked to respond. Each response will come from the gestalt personalities. Now, several of them have had to be resurrected, so you will have to pardon the smell.

On the Moderator's left is Thomas Jefferson, the writer of the Declaration of Independence and an experienced composer of Constitutions.

To his left is Woodrow Wilson, Creator of the permanent Income Tax and Champion of the "Ivy Tower" club of superior Presidential brains.

To his left is Calvin Coolidge, a quiet and well dressed man who seems very much out of place at the podium.

To his left is Lyndon Johnson (LBJ), creator of the Modern welfare state.

To his left is Ronald Reagan, the enemy of the Communist philosophy.

And to his left is Barak Obama, the first partially open Communist President.

The Moderator takes in a deep breath and thinks happy thoughts. He wonders if he should have had barriers installed between the Presidents, thinking back to the poo flinging episode the night before. Too late now...

The crowd is told to be quite. A baby cries somewhere in the distance.

Smacking the cards on the podium, the Moderator pulls the first one at random.

"The first question reads: How do you feel about Gun Control?"

"Mr. Jefferson, please respond first."

Jefferson clears his throat and looks into the audience, the lights making it difficult to see well.

"The owning of guns and the responsible use thereof is solely reserved for the people. No State or Federal directive can utterly remove firearms from public's use. I believe that this is written, in very simply language in the Second Amendment."

Reagan shrugs his shoulders knowing that this is a no brainer. As does Calvin Coolidge, though he does not shrug, he does arch one eyebrow.

Wilson and Obama get animated, but with a harsh look from the Moderator, both calm down.

"Mr. Reagan, what are your thoughts?"

"Well, Mr. Moderator, to me, gun control is more about shot placement and accuracy then it is about legislation..."

"That is the kind of irresponsible rhetoric I would expect from the likes of you, Reagan!" Obama blurts out, despite the moderator's gavel.

"Children, old people, and people of color...open season on them all, you RACIST!"

The banging eventually cracks the podium and a section of the crowd breaks into a screaming cheer and chant for Obama.

After 10 minutes of this, Obama tells a joke and asks the crowd to quiet down. A hush falls upon his section of the audience as they await his next utterance with zombie like attention.

The Moderator, tie half undone already after the first question, blows out retained frustration and then poses the question to LBJ.

"Guns should only be used by people I think should use them. Dang, boy, you can't just give guns to everyone who wants them. What's wrong with you, got scorpion piss in place of a brain?"

"Nice", answers the Moderator.

"Mr. Coolidge, care to respond?"

"The 2nd Amendment speaks for itself." He says through thin lips with a ramrod straight back.

"Care to elaborate, Mr. Coolidge."

"No."

"Ok, then, moving on."

Wilson cuts off the Moderator before he can continue, "The 2nd Amendment is rather vaguely written and should not be thought to apply to the masses as a whole. It is clearly intended to mean that there should be a well regulated militia that is under the control of the Federal Government, and not the Governors of the various states."

"I didn't ask you, Mr. Wilson." The Moderator says.

"Furthermore, the average citizen is not responsible enough, or competent enough to intelligently understand the proper application of their "rights"," Wilson continues.

Obama, not to be outdone shouts, "LBJ and Wilson are mostly right! The Government must regulate who can possess a firearm. Only properly vetted people should even be allowed to touch one."

The crowd roars its approval as Obama tips his head toward the rafters. A member of the crowd rushes the stage and kicks a stage crew member down the back steps. A moment later, he comes out with a spot light that he sets up behind Obama. The light creates a blazing halo about Obama's head.

With a cry, the Obama supporter is thrown back into the crowd by three other stagehands.

Obama lifts his arm and the crowd quiets once again.

"Stop that," says the Moderator. Obama ignores him.

"MOVING ON."

"Abortion, a Constitutional right or a horrible crime against God? Mr. Jefferson, your thoughts."

Jefferson's face slowly twists into a mask of horror as the question sinks in.

"We would never codify or sanction the legal right to kill an unborn child in our National Constitution!"

LBJ grabs the microphone, "Wat's the matter, boy, are you against the right of women to choose!"

Reagan is just shaking his head, more in disgust than in frustration.

Coolidge purses his lips together.

Obama jumps in before LBJ is even done, "Why punish your daughter or my daughter with this? Why condemn her to an impoverished life for a condition that easily treatable? You, Mr. Jefferson, are out of touch."

The crowd roars its approval. The Moderator throws the gavel into the crowd in frustration.

The Moderator turns around and yells for quiet. Obama's hand comes up and the crowd quiets down.

"Mr. Coolidge, do you have anything to add?"

"There is no right to abortion in the Constitution."

"Care to elaborate, Mr. Coolidge?"

"No."

"Moving on then...yes, Mr. Jefferson?"

"The Constitution was written with a moral, God-loving nation in mind, not some soulless, narcissistic, irresponsible and morally bankrupt society! What is wrong with you people?!"

Obama again speaks up, "That document is flawed and useless. It only gets in the way of my fixing this nation." The crowd roars again.

Jefferson shouts that the intention of the document was to keep evil little children from getting their hands on too much power.

Reagan pulls out a shotgun and fires it into the air. Things quiet down quickly.

"Thank you, Mr. Reagan," says the Moderator.

"See what I mean," shouts Obama.

"Shut up, you!" Says the Moderator.

A gavel comes out of the crowd and beans the Moderator in the back of the skull. He goes down like a sack of potatoes.

Wilson comes down and rolls him off the podium, "Silly, stupid, little man."

"Obviously," continues Wilson, "It should be up to the States to decide this since it is not completely outlined in the Constitution. At least in my day, we had not found the right in the document, though I'm sure if we looked hard enough we might find it in there."

"Screw the document," shouts Obama, "it is an impediment to the creation of a just and equal Nation!" The crowd continues to roar its approval.

Wilson furrows his brow at Obama.

"The people are not able to govern themselves and need to be shepherded along the way by the wiser individuals among us. You sir, are a Populist and Demagogue." Wilson sniffs as he pushes his glasses up on his nose.

Obama flicks a finger low, near his knee and slightly bends his head towards the podium. Three people in purple SEIU shirts start to make their way through the crowd.

"The concept must be studied and then have Congressional oversight. There must be meetings with the State's Governors and such. We can then tell the people how this right is expected to be..." The words are cut off as a bag is dropped down over Wilson's head. He is snatched off the podium, his cries of surprise cut off as one of the three hits the head portion of the bag with a hammer. The third individual glares at the rest of the crowd, daring them to notice.

A hand comes up to the podium and the Moderator slowly gets to his feet. He puts the gavel back on the broken podium and he looks about.

"That was weird, hey, where did Mr. Wilson go?"

"He go away." Obama says deadpan, "zip it Old Man." He hisses at Reagan, who, though startled, does back off.

LBJ is laughing raucously from his podium.

Coolidge takes a sip from his water cup.

Jefferson turns red and yells, "Tyrant! There is a tyrant among us!"

Obama, cool as a cucumber says, "The tyrants among us are the rich fat-cats who take and take and take and forget their responsibilities to give back to the community!"

The crowd is delirious. A woman faints nearby, Obama's name on her lips.

"I built libraries and Universities! I gave you limited and free government!" Jefferson shouts.

"You built all that for your rich, white friends. You better relax there or you may go away as well."

"I'm not afraid of you! A patriot is not afraid to bleed for his ideals!" Jefferson yells back.

"Well, thats good then," Obama chuckles to himself.

Ten pairs of hands rise up from behind Jefferson and with a muffled cry he vanishes behind the curtain.

"Hey, where did Jefferson go!" The Moderator shrieks.

"You better calm down to there Mr. Moderator. Who do you think you are? I didn't give you that job so you'd just be a good little guy there and mind your own business."

Reagan simply steps back and walks out, disgusted by everything. He puts a cowboy hat on exists, stage left.

"Hey, this isn't over!" The Moderator continues to shriek.

LBJ continues to laugh and pour himself a whiskey, "Damn, boy, I wish I had someone like you back in the 60's. Things would have been one HELL of a lot more fun!"

The hands reach out for LBJ as well, pulling him back out of his podium chair. The soles of his boots the last thing the crowd sees.

"No one calls me BOY, especially no redneck southerner." The crowd cheers and chants for Obama. The Moderator is looking back at the left side of the auditorium, the one where the Obama supporters are seated. For some reason, the rest of the auditorium has now emptied out. A sea of purple shirts now sits in their place.

"Mr. Coolidge, care to flee for your life with me?" The Moderator asks.

"No," comes the reply.

"I haven't said you could leave yet, Mr. Moderator. We still need to talk about social justice and equitable treatment. You seem to think you are the one asking the questions around here."

"Well, I am the Moderator, Mr. Obama."

"I already told you once before that I didn't appoint you to that position and you just better do as you are told!"

The frenzy of the crowds tone changes from cries of love and adoration to cries of fear.

A line of soldiers in olive drab with WWI type helmets on their heads are marching down from the entrance, row upon row of bayonets are fixed and pushing the crowd towards the stage.

A knot of purple shirts try to run the closing cordon but are impaled and stepped over quickly. Another line of soldiers has marched in from the wings and stand behind the Presidential podiums.

The Moderator stands with his mouth open, a line of blood trickles down the back of his neck.

Obama is shouting for his followers to resist the oppression, even while he is backing out, looking for escape.

Coolidge is standing directly behind him, blocking his way. This slight man in a well-worn business suit looks back dispassionately at him.

"Arrest him on charges of Treason against the Constitution." Soldiers snap to and grab Obama at each elbow.

"YOU can't do this! I am Barack Hussein Obama and I am a living GOD!"

"You are a tyrant and a child. I am sworn to protect the Constitution from enemies, both Foreign AND Domestic. Take him away."

The crowd is herded into buses, bound for detention and Obama is cuffed and placed in the back of one of the military vehicles.

The Moderator is still standing on his podium, mouth trying to work. The auditorium in nearly empty.

"Mr. Coolidge! Care to comment?" He yells.

Calvin Coolidge stops, turns slightly and says, "No." He then continues out the door to see to the clean up.

Poor, poor Moderator. He is not the guy from Fantasy Island, thats for sure. No special powers here for him.

I hope this as been educational for you.

Live well.

--Zavost

Generational Interviews-Theater Style

2012-01-25T12:23:00.001-08:00

Once again, the Stoa is delving into the theater of the absurd to describe in every day terms the differences between the generations.

History shapes our interpretation of ourselves and our perceptions of the world. At the same time, those individuals so influenced create the new historical realities that shape the coming generations. Think on this.

I will be using the descriptions as outlined by the groundbreaking sociologists and statisticians William Strauss and Neil Howe to maintain consistency of terms and interpretations.

Imagine an old 19th century surgical theater. Only in place of a patient, or cadaver, there is a moderator, standing at a podium. Think Alex Trebec from Jeopardy! fame.

Up in the gallery, not high up, mind you, perhaps eye level with the moderator, is a wide ranging group of people, sitting together by age cohorts. It is 2012 and the generations will be depicted as they are now, not when they were/are/will be at the height of their generational influence.

On the left, in a wheel chair and on oxygen, is our GI generational man. Educated, hardened in the fires of war, though his body is broken his eyes still hold the twinkle of confidence. On his left, also in a wheel chair, is a similarly broken old man. This one has a nurse and a helper monkey provided by Medicare for his use. His eyes are rheumy and his oxygen tank hisses slightly with pressure. This GI did not serve in the war, nor did he suffer in the Great Depression. He went into politics and ensured that his generation was taken care of in its old age. He is still on Federal Benefits, Full Social Security, and a government pension. He never saved for old age and never had to. He made sure that the nation provided for him.

There is a slight divider between the GI and the next fellow. This one is able to stand, though he sits in his chair, a cane hanging nearby. He is wearing a jogging suit and sipping on a shake that looks like it was made in a blender. He is a member of the Professional Silent Generation. Those who grew up in the shadows of those doing great deeds. He chats with the two GI's and swaps stories with them on how he saw them do this, and cheered them on when they did that. He also tells them about how he helped to carry on their legacy when the GI's left the workforce. Efficiency and maintenance were the watch words on the Great Deeds of the GIs.

To the right of him is another man. This one has is gray hair pulled back into a small pony tail. He is smoking a cigar and has a glass of scotch in one hand. He looks like a typical older retiree, bored out of his mind and with nothing to do. He has a paunch and a greasy, thin comb-over. With his free hand he rolls two marbles around in his palm, seemingly as some method of relaxing himself, though what stress he is under is not apparent to anyone save himself. He tries to talk to the Boomer next to him and share in his fun, but the Boomer seems to not even hear him.

In the next section, there sits a well-dressed member of the Boomer generation. His gray hair is combed and full, likely due to the heavy use of Propecea. In his hand is smart phone and a blue-tooth growing out of his ear. He appears to be monitoring stocks and looking over his retirement portfolio. Oblivious to everything around him, he is speaking loudly about wanting to get on his trip to Hawaii and for whoever is on the other end of the phone to just get his parent in the nursing home, or else he will stop payment on his check. This man is at the height of his power and he loves to display this. He is in the drivers' seat and the world will bend to his will.

Next to him, a fog-enshrouded individual tokes on something the size of a cigar, but obviously is not. Long, unkempt gray hair frames a wrinkled, abused face. A red bandana tries to hold the hair out his eyes and mostly fails. He wears a ripped up jean jacket and doesn't seem very aware of where he is.

Next to him, sits a man holding a small table fan, vainly trying to keep the stink and the smoke over in the Boomer box. This man is wearing a business suit. Not too expensive, yet not off the rack either. He appears to be a balance of spending and saving. In his eyes, you can see Stoic resignation to the state of affairs in the world. He is organized and efficient. He carries what he needs and works as hard as he needs to, then plays as hard as he works. He looks to be in his early forties, though his demeanor marks him as much, much older. He is not very talkative, preferring to sit quietly and take in the surroundings. This is our mainline Gen X'er.

Next to him is another fellow. His clothing is old and he has a beer in his hand. He too has that same, resigned look to his eyes and face. Life has been hard on him. Not because he never tried, but because things just never seemed to work out for him. The only thing that differentiates him from his more successful peer is a simple break of luck. If the factory had not gone out of business he'd still be working. If he were working he would not have lost his house. If he had not lost his house his wife may not have left with the children to start a new life with someone more successful. He now lives at home with his elderly parents and does his best to be useful around his old home. His unemployment ran out ages ago and it does not look like he will be working anytime soon. The older, more experienced people and the younger, more energetic and more recently trained (and cheaper) kids are now getting all the jobs. This is our typical adult Gen X'er.

Next to him is someone dressed in a sharp business suit. On a rack behind him he also has a triathlon outfit, a chef's outfit, a white lab coat, and a military helmet. This fellow exudes confidence and energy. He is young, mid-to late twenties, though he seems to have already had a lot of jobs, and a lot of life experience. He has a bluetooth in his ear, though it is not very obvious. To him it is not jewelry or a status symbol, merely a tool to be used. He has an iPad under his arm and an iPhone 4S at his belt. He is busy chatting with the other Millennial next to him, showing him how to get a group of people together for a Zombie walk at the local mall.

The younger Millennial is excitedly chatting away with the other Millennial and telling him how they organized a glow-bike run the other night. They did it to raise money for cleft-pallet children who lost their father to a land mine and who's mother ran off to try to get on the Opra television show from Uganda. He is wired to the Internet as well, though in a very casual and comfortable way. Various dings and beeps emit from a variety of devices that tell him, constantly, what others of his kind are doing, thinking, drinking, or where they are currently peeing while requesting an update on when the other friend plans on peeing.

Next to him are the Homelanders, those born after the 9/11 attacks of 2001. Their box is LOUD! The older one is arguing with the younger one about batteries for his Gameboy while the younger one is demanding a new computer for his bedroom, the bathroom, and his living room. He can not understand why he must put up with this stupid 5th generation iPod and where is his lunch and when does his mom get home and why does he have to go to bed early his friend in Germany does not have to go home early and neither does his sister. Why can't he have friends over and go to the movies after he goes shopping for new online games that he can install and why can't he have that on or this one he needs it he needs it he needs it and he also wants it and why are you being so mean and stupid!

The stage is set and the stereotypes engaged. Lets have some fun.

Our moderator coughs a bit to get the attention of those gathered. An air-horn is necessary to get the attention of the Homelanders.

The Moderator pulls out his first card:
"What is your opinion of current world events," lets start with you, GI's.

"Its all gone to shit. We worked hard to build up this world and send people to the moon and the Hippies have gone and blown it." This earns a, "Incorrect, sir," from the well dressed Boomer. The hippy just takes a long draw on his "cigar". The GI simply sits back in his chair and ignores the Boomer.

The well dressed Boomer goes on to say that resources had been misallocated and that the GIs wasted money on huge projects while the rich got richer and the poor got poorer. You can't eat moon rocks.

The other GI complains that the Boomers took out the money for Social Security and Medicare and the other programs that were put in place by the GIs. Why did they mess with those?

The Boomer retorts that they were putting the money only into themselves and that there were plenty of Boomers who needed that money.

By this time, the Homelanders are arguing about who is better on Halo. The Millennials have printed up graphs and charts showing how money has been withdrawn from various government accounts and how much has been wasted and how much has gone into Boomer pet projects.

The Hippie coughs on a long toke and starts giggling.

Both of the Silents attempt to critique the charts and offer suggestions on how to do it better while the Gen X'ers simply sit there, knowing that no one is listening to anyone else let alone them.

The Moderator bangs a gavel to get everyones' attention.

He blasts the air horn again to get the Homelander's attention again.

Next question: "Apple or PC?"

The GIs both say, "I don't like apples, I like oranges."

The sharp Boomer goes on about the versatility of the PC and how he helped the PC to dominate the computer world. The Hippie stirs, opens his mouth, but then forgets what he was going to say and then pops some white pill he found in his pocket.

The Millennials are divided but discussing the question rationally. Both have their strong viewpoints but decide that each viewpoint has validity and decide to work together testing the strengths and weaknesses of each.

The Homelanders both yell that they want BOTH of them and that it is their right to have both of them and stop being so mean!

The Gen X'ers look at each other and say, "Me'h. They both work. Who cares? Whatever is cheaper."

Brining the gavel down, the Moderator tries to get silence again. This time the Homelanders are so outraged that there are not PCs and Apple products in their booth that stagehands have to taser them to calm them down. While their limp forms twitched, shock collars were placed around their necks.

When they came to, they were delighted to see that they had been given something and then argued about who got the better collar.

The Moderator leaned on the red button and their arguing vanished in short screams.

With quiet again, the Moderator pulls another card. "What about the military?"

The elder GI wipes his nose and a tear runs down his cheek as he remembers the young men that never came back from Europe or the Pacific. The other GI goes on to say that he would have served but his draft number never came up. Anyhow, someone needed to keep things going on the home front while so many men were away fighting.

The Boomer screws his face up like a lemon had been stuffed down his nose. "A tool of oppression is what it is. Murderers and thugs, all of them. Only those that can't do anything productive with their lives join the military."

The Hippie stirs from within his cloud, "F**ki'n pigs. Kill them all."

The Millennial throws a medal at the Boomer and describes how he earned that in his 3 tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. The younger Millennial is exited about joining the military next year and is anxious to serve his nation.

The Homelanders begin arguing about who has the larger army in World of Warcraft online. Who has the bigger ships and meanest monsters. You can pay real money for icons in the game you know!

A quick tap of the red button shuts them up.

The Gen X'ers each hold up a few medals and achievements. The older one reminds everyone how they defeated Saddam in 1991 at the height of his power. How they went into the very TEETH of his army and whipped them in 100 hours of ground combat. They are ignored by everyone, just as they were in 1992 when they came home.

No one pays any attention as the Boomer and GI begin arguing about the role of the military in society. The moderator is speechless as the helper-monkey for the second GI begins to throw poo at the well dressed Boomer. The Millennial bounces a football off the back of the Boomer's head for dissing the GI who served in Normandy, even as that GI has seemly begun to nap in his chair. A blue tooth ear piece lands in the first GI lap waking him. He mistakes it for his hearing aid and starts to try to put it in his other ear. Failing that he pitches it over his shoulder against the wall, earning a scream from the Boomer.

The two Silents try to participate, but they are split. One side loves the GI while the other one seems to love the Boomer, who continues to ignore him.

Banging the gavel and tapping the button, the Moderator gets order in the theater.

Next Question! And stop with this fighting! The moderator appears to be shaken from the constant bickering, shoe banging, and poo flinging.

"The war on drugs, working or not?"

The GI with the monkey says that they are not trying hard enough. A few divisions of troops on the border will keep the drugs out, the CIA can assassinate the drug leaders, and nukes can be used to burn away the drug plants.

The Boomer goes into a fit about the environment and the innocent people who would be killed by the bombing and have their civil rights violated at the border.

The Hippie snorts and yells, "drugs, who has some drugs?"

The Millennials each stand up and declare that they will march wherever they are told to march.

The Homelanders begin debating which is better, "Modern Warfare 3 or Modern Warfare 2" and don't forget the zombie packs.

The Gen X'ers each seem to be of the same mind, much as they have been all day. Poor people in Latin countries grow the stuff, people ship the stuff and people buy the stuff. Break the chain, any part of the chain, and it will stop. Instead the money goes to into the politicians' pockets to the friends of the politicians.

This sets off the Boomer again who denies such facts and calls the Gen X'er irresponsible for stating such facts openly. The GI is reaching for a gun that has not been on his hip in 65 years and the other GI is flipping through his Rolodex to write a letter to a Senator that has not died or retired yet to complain about the War on Drugs.

The Moderator simply puts his hands over face and sits on the floor.

Above the din a single voice rings out, "I thought you said someone had some drugs, man?"

So there you go. Each generation acting according to its own life experiences. Shaped by history even while they shape history. The shaping of history changes the next generation in line and so forth.

You will note the Silents did not say much, nor did anyone pay them much attention. They turned out to be history's great Functionaries, but produced few visionaries. The Gen X'ers accept that life is not fair and that you just have to be tougher than the next guy if you want to get ahead in life. The GI's wonder what happened to the great nation they handed their children in the 1960's?

The Boomers dominated the discussion and had ALL the answers to any question asked. Theirs was the only right answer and anyone who had any other point of view were uneducated, misguided, and obviously racist.

The Homelanders are the new Silents. Spoiled and cared for. They know only that they want and don't care what YOU have to do to get it for them.

I hope this has been educational. Feel free to ask the Moderator any questions. I'm sure he'll get back to you, once they let him out of the psychiatric ward.

Live well,

--Zavost

Pelosi and Dirt

2012-01-25T10:04:00.001-08:00

Atop the Stoa this day I can see the fumes rolling in from Pelosi's muck-filled soul.

She is the perfect example of what is broken in government today. She confidently tells a talking head that the GOP will never put Newt up to run for President.

"Why," the reporter asks?

Now, in my world, her answer could have taken on so many different forms.

She could have said any of the following and I would have considered it a valid response:
1. He had his shot and blew it.
2. He was the Earl of Earmarks.
3. He worked for Fanny and Freddie Mac for 6 years and look at the mess.
4. He does not seem very ethical, I mean, look at how his marriages ended.
5. His vision is wrong for America.

She could have been as partisan as a Socialist can get and the answer would have been appropriate.

But no. Her answer is right out of the slime buckets of Chicago, San Francisco, and any other dark hole the Progressives climb out:
"I know things about him, they will never allow him to run."

So, not that you think he is incompetent, but that you have dirt on him.

What's wrong, you can't fight him in the Arena of Ideas? Your response is what sickens me of late, Ms. Pelosi.

As a Democrat/Socialist, she can get away with her outrageous behavior. She pays little taxes, less than Mitt. She refuses to allow unions in her Restaurants. She moved canning operations to Samoa so that she could avoid minimum wage laws, and on and on. She has enough dirt on her head to plane wine vines.

Knock it off Pelosi.

Live well, all.

--Zavost

America's Political Schizophrenia-Bar Style

2012-01-24T11:09:00.001-08:00

Upon the Stoa this day, I once again delve into a pictorial representation of historical events. My daughter insists and I now stand before you, a broken and dejected man.

This is going to be about how the US has a spectrum of political responses and actions depending on a 5-way balance of power.

5 ways you ask? Here is a basic refresher course for those of you who need to brush up on the American Republic.

There is the Executive branch, one person elected every 4 years that requests budgets, requests Congressional authority for a variety of items, and represents the United States in foreign interactions. The President is responsible as the Chief Executive and responsible for upholding the law and protecting the Constitution.

Then there is the Legislative branch that is FURTHER subdivided into TWO chambers, the Senate and the House of Representatives. The members of the Senate are elected for 6 year terms while the Representatives are elected for 2 year terms. Why is that? Good question. The Senate was elected for longer periods so that the Senator could focus on the "Big Picture", free from the fear of constant campaigning and electioneering. This allows them to "deliberate" with "thoughtful" contemplation. They are intended to be the level headed, cool brother to the Representatives.

No, the House of Representatives is elected to 2 year terms, with 1/3 of the House up for re-election every two years. This was done so that this branch of government would be "closest to the people" in terms of current events and political needs. This is the "intake" valve for national ideas and frustrations.

Collectively, the Congress ratifies laws to go to the Executive for final approval. Congress also puts together the budget and appropriates (taxes or takes) money for operations.

The third branch is the Judicial. These folks are appointed for LIFE. The intention here is that they are never afraid of re-election and can cooly evaluate challenges to the Constitution from the Legislative or Executive branch. Think of them as a vast "spell-check". If a law is ratified by Congress and then signed into effect by the Executive, these folks evaluate legal challenges made by citizens or corporate entities. A sniff test. If it does not meet Constitutional muster than the law is VOIDED.

The fourth branch is the Media. The Press. The 4th Estate. Crap. They have been shilling for Communism since the 1960's.

The 5th branch are those Americans who have not forgotten that we are a special nation. The first and last great hope for a world drenched in blood and grief. It is those people who try to restore the order and balance before it all falls over.

Sounds cool, but here is how it all developed....

It was a warm fall day in 1604, the first wave of colonists were arriving in the New World. Intent on making a new life for themselves. Unfortunately, none of them could afford the ship or supplies needed to sustain them in a new land. So, the government, i.e. the English Crown, helped to finance what THEY saw as the first steps toward political dominance of an entire continent.

The cafeteria starts out made of wood with thatch roofs and only three walls. A hand full of people sit huddled around a camp fire. The glowing eyes of wolves, deer, and the occasional Native American glitter at the edge of the fire.

Soldiers in carapace armor stand guard with their muskets, swords, and pikes. Food is scarce and people fall ill all the time.

They wait for more colonists, more soldiers, and more supplies from England. They are completely dependent upon the mother country for survival. They have only their powerful faith in God to protect them from the elements and hostile natives.

Fast forward to the 1640's. There are now roughly 13 scattered nuclei up and down the North American coast. Still, they are beset on all sides by those who would love to see them pushed back into the sea.

The Cafeteria is little changed, though it is larger and now has 4 walls. The floor is still dirt and the ceiling is thatch with some wood planking. There is still a fire, though now there is more food.

The mother country dominates their thoughts and dreams still. The colonies need more of everything. More men, more soldiers, more scientists, more farmers, more supplies. God do they need more SUPPLIES!

The Native Americans were Stone Age substance farmers and had NO infrastructure for a modern society. The Europeans had to build everything from SCRATCH. Foundries, Blacksmiths, forges, mining, smelting, Industry. Complex tools had to come from over the Atlantic ocean. Storms and weather made traveling in the off-season treacherous.

Everyone is busy about the room, Georgia is a thug who was dumped here by Britain. He keeps to himself in the swamps and the others like it that way. New York is busy trying to construct harbors to accept what they know will be a wave of immigration from the Old World. Virginia, oh noble Virginia, all curls and perfume works also to create cash crops that could be exported back to England for finished items that could not be manufactured in the colonies.

The colonies are so closely knit to the fate of England that during the English Civil War, the nascent colonies are nearly destroyed as each side tried to sway the colonies to their positions. Fewer than 100,000 people lived up and down the coast. Modern weapons and Indian attacks nearly exterminated the American Dream in its crib. Lucky for us, this didn't happen.

Idle hands are the tools of the devil. Well, everyone was way too busy to sin in North America at this time.

So now we fast forward to 1750. The room is large and warm. Wood planking and brick and stonework have replaced much of the dirt and thatch. Heat is provided by several fireplaces and the food is served from a cafeteria cook area, the people free to mill and mingle among the 13 tables. There were other tables present as well, those of the French, the Dutch, the Canadians, and many, many indian tribes both roamed about and were partially settled in tables of their own.

England, now Great Britain after 1707, wears a giant apron and tends to the needs of his growing colonies.

One day, the French, fed up with the difficulty of obtaining tables among the Indians and irritated that the British were hogging up all the good spaces in the room, decided that he had had enough. Britain was a pain in the butt back in Europe and he was even worse here in the colonies.

As Britain rushed over to deliver some fresh metal blanks for horseshoes to Massachusetts, France tripped him and sent the material sprawling. The Indians surged forward and stole the metal blanks. Others set about tipping up the tables of the 13 colonies. New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, and Virginia got it the worst. It was some time before Britain could get up, go back behind the counter, get his baseball bat and begin walking back into the fray.

By the time he got there, the colonies had pitched off the Indians and were actually holding their own against the French bully.

As Britain stamped over to France, shaking a particularly clingy Indian from his ankle, Virginia tugged at his arm. She asked in a kind, sweet voice, "we did good, didn't we?"

Britain sniffed and looked down at the ill-dressed child. My, the child was dirty. New York and Pennsylvania had France about the knees and was causing France no little amount of distress. The more he tried to shake off the colonies, the more they dug their teeth into his inner thighs.

With a dismissive "shooing" motion Britain strode over to France and began to break the bat upon France's head. The fight did not last long. The colonies HAD done a great job dealing with the French Indians and in blunting France's movements in the interior of the continent.

France ended up leaving the cafeteria, taking French Canada along with him. A single person now sat in for Canada and he ADORED Britian.

Britain then went back to working behind the counter, taking care of its ever growing Empire while the colonies stood, long-faced and hurt about how their contributions were completely dismissed and over-looked. As if they were useless, pointless, or worse, simply in the way.

This bothered the Colonies very much. Several of them decided to meet together, secretly, to discuss ways of running things themselves. Run things better than Britain. Britain was always so far away. Heck, they had the situation with France taken care of all on their own. All Britain did was take the credit and begin charging the colonies more for every little thing to pay for his effort.

No sir, that dog won't hunt.

The Thirteen Colonies moved their tables together and began to talk in earnest about how they can run things on their own. They still needed Britain for some things, but if they were on their own, they could trade for those things with France or Spain, or the Dutch. AND pay less for it as well.

As Britain was serving oatmeal paste to Jamaica, he noticed that the usual amount of sugar cane that normally came his way was coming up short. Following a trail of sugar, he found New York busy making Rum and Molasses...WITHOUT permission.

When he took the stuff away, New York had the gaul to act irritated. Harumping and tisking back to the counter Britain could not help but think those colonials were up to something. They could be up to something, but they were too stupid and dependent to really be up to anything serious.

Now the year is 1773 and the scene at the colonial tables is heated. The Thirteen colonies on the Atlantic seaboard are talking openly of moving their tables away from Britain. Canada keeps jumping up and down finger pointing and tattling on the colonies every time they huddle up and start whispering.

The events of the Revolutionary War have been chronicled elsewhere, so I'll move on.

The year is 1811. The Founding Fathers are passing away. The Republic has a new crop of people and more tables as well.

Britain is still irritated with "The Colonies" and is looking for an opportunity to bring them back into the fold. However, France has literally torn the crap out of Europe and Britain is very distracted.

The Federal Government sits at the head of the combined tables of the United States. Everyone at the table is pretty animated. Many see a war with Britain as confirmation that the US is destined to sweep away the old order of things.

Eventually, Britain irritates the Federal Government one too many times and declares war upon Britain. Pointing a finger and thumbing his teeth at the same time.

Britain, busy dueling with France hardly pays attention to the fellow jumping up and down on the other side of the room.

The US does what it did nearly 30 years earlier. It invades Canada, thinking that it will deal those snot-nosed little tattle-tales a thing or two. Again, New York comes back to the group, limping and spitting a tooth out on his plate.

"I said, knock it off, eh!" Canada calls from around the counter-top. New York inflates his chest and tells everyone to shut the hell up, even as he coughs up some more blood...and another tooth.

Eventually, Britain crotches France and kicks him in the face. France is down and SEEMINGLY out. Britain is irritated and ticked at those Foolish colonials. Turning about, he strides over to where the US has been throwing meatballs and meat loaf all over his coat, his table, his chair, his hair, and oh, yeah, pizza sauce all over the floor.

Britain slips a little as he nears Virginia, which only irritates him some more. Virginia and Maryland laugh at him and point. Final straw.

Britain reaches out and backhands Maryland away from the table and into the arms of Pennsylvania. Virginia, her face beginning to twist into horror and fear, tries to flee, only to smacked, open handed across the face. The blow throws her over the table and into the middle isle.

The other Colonies, so scrapping for a fight earlier, seem to shrink back in fear. All talk and no walk.

Britain upends Virginia's table and heads up the isle to where the Federal Government sits. A collection of leaders from the various colonies and a buffoon who calls himself a President sits at that table.

At the approach of Britain, everyone flees screaming. Crawling over each other in a panic stricken attempt to flee, they leave most of their stuff behind. A few, knocked to the ground, try to scramble off on their hands and knees.

Britain, with distain on his lips, pulls out a bottle of cheap Irish whiskey. Irish whiskey isn't worth drinking, so Britain pours it all over the Federal table, puffs on his cigar and then flick the ash onto the table, lighting it into an inferno.

He turns towards Pennsylvania and steps up to the table. Pennsylvania trembles but does not run. Britain reaches down to the table and takes a fistful of Brats and sausage and then turns back to the Federal table. Snapping off a chair leg and chewing it into a long skewer, he fixes the Brats and begins to roast them on the fire while all the others could do was watch.

In Europe, France begins to stir and reflexively begin calling for the elimination of Britain.

Sighing, and chewing a Brat in between swallows, Britain pitches the stick in the fire and shoves New York out of the way.

"You punks are lucky, screw with me again and I won't go as easy on you."

The US then began to party and high five each other for driving Britain out of their side of the room.

Time flies and so do the years.

It is 1848 and there is news from New York that most of Europe is burning in revolutionary fire.

The Federals are hard at work, writing and talking and talking and writing. Making and breaking deals with the Indians on the same sheet of paper. California has been added to the table, panning for gold while having a grille made for his teeth.

Texas is a new Republic, impoverished and realizing that perhaps they can't run things on their own. Plenty of scorpions and armadillos, though. They wait patiently for the US to decide if they can join their club. Florida is now a state and barely populated.

The States on the Eastern Seaboard are growing strong and they are growing big on all the people fleeing the turmoil in Europe.

The States are busy and paying no attention at all to the outside world. Slavery is a big issue, as is commerce between the states.

From 1850-1877, the US both fights among themselves and then patches each other up. The world keeps moving, but the US hardly looks outside of itself. Busy with gold, and land, and Alaska, and all that good stuff.

It is not until 1898 that the US takes an interest in other things. A table, close to Florida is called Cuba. It has been crying and sobbing for years, though Florida only now seems to notice. Florida passes up the line telling each state that Spain has been cruel to Cuba, starving Cuba, and taking away their cigars.

The Federal Government decides that with the backing of the various States, they will declare war on Spain. At risk is the Philippines, Guam, Samoa, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and Cuba.

The US walks over to Spain, who is having a conversation with Portugal, and kicks him in the butt.

Angry, Spain turns around with a butter knife, only to look down the barrel of a cannon.

"You suck." Says the US.

"Ok, we suck." Says Spain.

"Were taking those tables away from you because you are mistreating them."

"Fine, whatever you want. You are the guy with the gun."

The US turns and gathers up the new tables. Britain, still powerful, clucks his tongue and says, "Yankee bullies."

The US points a finger at Britain and says, "Don't piss me off, OLD man." And stalks back to America.

The States are now in a quandary. They can't help but feel like bullies. They did the right thing. Those people were suffering. The States are thinking that even as they have to smack the Philippines back into his chair again and again. Poor fellow is so deluded he thinks he can live in this world without someone taking care of him.
How could Spain have been so cruel to them? The US thinks this even as it smacks him back down again.

From 1899 to 1915, the Federal Government works hard to pull the states closer and closer under its zone of control. For the most part, the states are quiet and peaceful.

New states are being added, oil has been found in Texas and people begin to flock there, now. Scorpions and cacti forgotten.

Michigan builds automobiles and North Carolina builds airplanes with the help of two brothers from Ohio.

After WWI, the US goes back its fields and its railroads. The Feds continue to centralize power and the States begin to find that they have less and less to do. Then an economic depression hits and all the States go into a funk.

In 1940, we see Virginia, sleeping peacefully in her chair. New York is sharpening his switchblade, eyebrows down on eyes that flick from side to side for some reason.

Texas is happy digging in the dirt and exporting oil to other countries. Ohio sleeps with his face in the crook of his elbow, drool pools upon the table surface. Michigan, not selling many cars, has his head tipped back, snoring loudly. Wisconsin watches Michigan in fascination as a snot bubble inflates and deflates. Money is being bet between them and Illinois as to how big it will get before it pops.

The Federal Government continues to grow and take over everything. The states just need to pay taxes and do what they are told. This is how the toads that sit about the Federal table feel.

After WWII, the Federal Government is wide awake and roaming the world. The states are awake too, but find they really don't have much to do, except compete with each other for Federal Tax dollars, earmarks, and expensive projects.

The rest of the world sees only the Federal Government. He struts about, doling money, money there, and some coin over here. He looks like Rodney Dangerfield on a golf course. The Europeans are horrified that this person, THIS person is the one they have to rely on now for money and military power. How low they have fallen.

In 1948, we love Israel and could care less about the Middle East. We dislike the Russians and could care less about China.

In 1956 we tell Hungary to rebel against the Soviets and then sit back while Hungary gets its guts kicked out through his mouth.

In 1968 we wink and nod at Czechoslovakia and tell them that we'll be there to help. We notice a squirrel and wander off just as the Prague Spring turns into a Friday the 13th marathon. Why people kept listening to us is beyond me.

During this whole time, we seem to like Israel.

All through the 1960's, 70', and 80's we seem to be coasting on our good looks and reputation, even as we develop a paunch...and a comb over. The Soviets are getting gray and paunchy too. They are so tired by 1985 that they can't even knock out Afghanistan any longer.

Oh, by 1993, we hate Israel. Then in 2001 we LOVE Israel again. Then we hate, hate, hate...no - LOATH them by 2009. Oh, yes, we Hates Israel...yes we do, precioussss. Iran is good. Israel is bad. Islam is our friend, its issss.

We are particularly schizy these days. The States have finally awoken and don't like that they have a Nanny in the form of the Federal Government. We love our cars and hate our oil. Oh, yeah, some people hate oil, others hate babies. We love our trees and hate our babies, thats right. Space is for movies, now give me a new GPS, I need to find the nearest Burger King to stuff my fat face.

In 2001 we destroy Afghanistan and begin to rebuild them. In 2003 we destroy Iraq and begin to rebuild them. Common factor? Radical Islam and thuggery.

In 2010, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt fall to radical Islam. The US is bored with Iraq and hands the keys over to a Jihadist hiding behind a pair of sunglasses and a sombrero. We wander about in Afghanistan, seemingly forgetting what we are doing there. Islamic revolution is replacing our old allies in the Middle East. So is Islam good, Democracy bad? The brain is addled these days.

I wonder if we will have a coherent nation again some day. The States want to be in control again, but the Feds keep suing them every time they act according to the Constitution. The Judicial is looking for shadows and "intentions" in the Constitution rather than simply reading the damn thing out loud.

Congress flings mashed potatoes and meat balls at each other (oh, I hope those are meat balls) while the Executive ignores what they say and does whatever in the hell it wants to do. Which is often times CONTRARY to our usual American values and traditions.

It seems like every 2, 4, and 6 years we undergo internal transformations. One year we love you, the next year we kill you, and then a year after that we are building a Walmart in your capital. OH, and then we forget all about you again next week.

What a world, what a world.

Live well people. We all love you. No we don't. WHO THE HELL ARE YOU PEOPLE!

--Zavost

Life is meant to be hard

2012-01-23T18:29:00.001-08:00

A serious moment upon the Stoa for a change. Life is hard. It is meant to be. It is the tempering that strengthens our steel and allows us to accept and recognize the changes in our lives.

The only constant about the universe is Entropy. Order will always break down and less orderly structures will take their place.

When we are young, everything must be learned. Life is never more of a struggle then during the first few years of life. You are helpless and subject to the whim of everyone. You have to learn to speak a language, sometimes two. You have to learn how to walk, read, and write. You have zero experience in anything except making noise and smelly messes.

Yet we endure.

Then, as a "Tweener", you start to glimmer the outside world. You begin to understand that life is far larger than your games and your friends around your home or school. You sense the great cogs and sprockets that whirl about you, determining what buses to ride, what you will have for dinner, why your parents won't let you ride motorcycles on the mountain side.

As a teenager, you have a false sense of power. On some level you understand that your parents are still providing you everything. From food to gas for your car, you have the freedom but little responsibility. There is "rebellion" as the teenager struggles to comprehend not just the scope of this huge world, but the complexities of living within it. Some take it seriously while others continue to fritter away their opportunities.

Eventually, the parents are not in active protection mode any longer. Success or failure rests upon YOUR shoulders alone. Bills and food, and repairs, and taxes, and everything else is on you.

Some marry. Facing life's difficulties with a partner is always easier than facing it alone. Hopefully, by the time you begin to have children you will be out of school and in your chosen profession. Not a requirement, but smarter.

Some divorce, and others suffer bankruptcy. Many others endure illness, the death of family members. Others suffer the death of their children. Some lose their jobs and many more lose their faith.

Unfortunately, life sometimes piles these things on you at once. It does not seem fair that this happens to you. You play by the rules. You work hard to get through school. You work hard to get your college degrees, sometimes two of them. You do what is expected of you by society and your family. Yet still, things fall apart. It happens sometimes.

I'm not overly religious, though I am very spiritual. I am Catholic by birth AND choice. That is important. When one is born into a religion, or even yet, a very religious family, the teachings of DOCTRINE muddy of the teachings of spirit. I believe that there are certain rules that we must adhere to while we are on our journey here upon the Earth.

We were placed here. We chose to be here. We chose our family and we chose the general circumstances of our life...before we were ever born. The game must be played through to its entirety or all your efforts will have been in vain.

Sometimes, when your spouse or significant other appears to not respect you, things grow dark. When you have children who look to you for support and constancy, you feel like you have failed them. Things become darker yet. You can not turn to your extended family because you will feel that you have failed them as well.

No where to turn, without tracking mud into the hearts of those you love.

Sometimes, some think it easier to simply remove themselves from the pain. They think that their absence will somehow make things easier on everyone around them. Or, in a more cowardly way, they simply seek to avoid the responsibilities of life.

The greatest sin one can perform is to remove yourself from life before it is time.

This is where I divert from the Stoics of old. They felt that you had ultimate choice in everything you do. When to eat, sleep, or even die. If a Stoic grew tired of life, they felt it just fine to end it early.

Like everything, there are no clear absolutes in life. Yes, you have the free will that God granted us. You have the freedom to succeed beyond your dreams and expectations. But, the sine wave turns down as well. You may fail beyond your worst nightmares as well. But this is not your choice to change, since you made the choice to live in the first place.

It happens.

The true test resides in our ability to endure. Sometimes I think that this is the secret to long life. Endurance. Entropy is real. Things change. Situations change. You may be down and out now, but things will change. They always do. The trick is to position yourself for success when the time becomes right.

This could be job seeking, hobby seeking, or simply finding a new purpose for yourself.

Things change.

Eventually, the family grows up and the children leave. A life that was structured for 20 years falls apart. A new order must arise. That order will rise despite your wishes.

Children leave and are no longer dependent upon you. There may be a divorce as well that leaves you feeling alone and vulnerable. Having a very religious extended family is sometimes a hinderance since you don't wish to disappoint.

Grandparents begin to pass on, along with the older aunts and uncles. Some of them may have been anchors of permanency in your life. Instead of remembering the good and the positive about them, you may only see the new hole in your life.

As you grow even older, you realize that the first half of your life was all about growth and opportunity. The limitless possibilities of a huge and complex world.

You see that the second half of your life has been about managing decline. Your dreams may not have turned out the way you wished them. Your professional life may not have been what you wanted. Your spouse may have divorced you or has passed prematurely. It does not seem fair. Your usual methods of securing comfort have gone or passed.

You have only yourself and your faith. Faith can be a thin blanked when times are dark and cold.

This is where you must endure. Things change. Don't be a shut in. Endure the pain and continue your life. Just keep swimming. It is all you really can do.

You are born into this world by choice. You live your life by your own choice. The only choice you really don't have is when it is to end. That is not your choice. Those that you left when you came to life will take you back when it is your time.

If you hasten this time because you are shirking your responsibilities then it will not end well for you on the other side. You cheated. You broke the rules.

In the end there is only death and a new kind of life. Here you can make a real difference. That is why you are here. You must have faith that what you do makes a difference. That difference does not have to benefit you.

Think about that. Sometimes just being in someone else's life can make a positive difference in their lives. It is not always about you, you know. You may not be the first person on Mars, but you can inspire that person.

You may not be the person to transplant human thoughts onto memory chips, but you can help that person study.

You may not have all the answers to someone else's problems, but you can listen.

We all have our purpose and that purpose may not be apparent to us. Just trust in the idea that you are here an that there are no others like you anywhere else in this vast multi-verse.

Think about this and don't forget. Just keep swimming.

Live well,

--Zavost

Leadership and character

2012-01-20T07:13:00.001-08:00

From the Stoa this day I find myself walking upon the same ground twice.

I've said it several times before and I will say it again: Leadership descends from Character. A leader's qualities of right and wrong come from here. Their sense or moral justification comes from here.

I know a lot of very smart people who are complete IDIOTS. They are all brains with no discipline. They will make a child's chemistry set explode just because the box says that it can't happen.

They don't have the shaping necessary to create a truly intelligent and functionally wise individual. They act out of feelings and desire rather than with purposeful intent.

They become doctors and lawyers and politicians because of the wealth, power, and influence they feel will be afforded to them. These are the ones who are either ineffective in their roles, or worse, are very effective at accumulating the above mentioned benefits without being effective in their roles. I'm looking in your direction, Obama and Ms. Pelosi.

I find myself thinking of Newt again, unfortunately. Look, do I feel he is more "Conservative" than Mitt Romney? Yes. I think Scott Brown is more conservative, and that is not saying much.

Newt bothers me because his moral compass wanders about a lot and sometimes he says things that are very conservative and other times he is profoundly un-conservative.

Leadership descends from character. Lets judge some characters here and think about them.

Ronald Reagan. Prior member of the Democrat party. Left when he felt he no longer agreed with their philosophy. Divorced, but remarries some years later. Stuck to a set of beliefs about right and wrong throughout his life and never changed.

Newt Gingrich. Prior member of the Republican part (now RINO). Jumped when he wanted to be more popular. Married and seeing a mistress. Divorces wife and marries mistress. THEN, finds another mistress and sees her for 6 years while married. Divorces wife and marries the other mistress when wife #2 will not grant him an "open" marriage.

Which one lives a more "conservative" lifestyle? Who here is the scum-bucket and who here did this right. I'll give you a few minutes if you need to think about it.

Mitt Romney. Current Mormon. Non-polygamous. Business man who started up companies and made money from them for himself and his shareholders. Inherited the Salt Lake City Olympics behind schedule and over budget. The Olympics are held on time and under budget when he is done. RomneyCare. Oh, I can't forgive him for that.

Bill Clinton. Communist background in Moscow. Draft Dodger. Creative use of cigars and interns. Lies about lying. Gets caught. Lies about getting caught, despite the DNA. Equally immoral wife plays along to further her own political ambitions.

Right and wrong can sometimes be gray and counter-intuitive. Sometimes being mean and uncompromising IS the correct and moral thing to do. You don't just let your kids take a hatchet to the wall just because they want to.

Wife numbers 2 and 3 are, in my opinion, just a morally ambivalent as Newt. Wife number 2 should not be shocked that he cheated on her since he was cheating on his first wife with HER. She should never have allowed whatever feeling motivated her to move her from the path of virtue.

Is Newt virtuous? Not by a long shot. You don't take money from lobbies and then rip on the lobbies for having too much influence. This goes for you too, Obama. Heck, this goes to ALL the politicians out there.

Was Reagan virtuous? Yes. Iran/Contra you say? Sure, lets talk about this. He ignored Congress to stop a regime of genocide that would export that terror and pain once they solidified their control of the country. At the same time, he freed hostages secretly who would otherwise have died or been forgotten.

Ignoring the will of Congress is wrong, no matter how Communist they were at the time. Checks and balances and all that. However, the others, though of dubious long-term policy angles, are clearer cut. Saving lives while attempting to create a more stable foreign policy. I think that is virtuous.

In the end I have to ask myself who would make a better President. Who respects the rule of law more, who respects the Constitution more, and who will slide us down the hill of Communism slower.
Obama? Not just no, but HELL no!
Mitt? God no.
Ron Paul? Full on Libertarian is Road Warrior world to me. So no.
Santorum? So far I like him, but I doubt he can win.
Newt Gingrich? For all the crap I heap on him, he may be the best choice from this motley group jacks. I'll vote with my nose pinched, though.

Remember, having character does not make you a wuss. Reagan bombed the crap out of Libya to make a point. If anything, I think having character prevents more problems otherwise because the bad guys will know that you can not be persuaded to "tolerate" their actions. Think about that.

Off to enjoy a wonderful Friday.

Live well.

--Zavost

That Which Endures

2012-01-19T06:54:00.001-08:00

Upon the Stoa this day I ponder the endurance of humanity.

The endurance of our cultures, the endurance of our dreams. The endurance of our governments and the endurance of our evils.

What made me think about this was my recent studies on how Obama and company are nearing the point at which they may decide to become tyrants in fact if not in their dreams.

I thought of Founding Principles and what makes people think that these Principles need to change over time.

I believe that the American Way is Humanity's DEFAULT mode. From conception we are endowed with our Creator's "factory default settings". We are born free. Mankind places chains upon each other and upon ourselves.

The United States was founded with the concept that All Men are Created Equal, and are Endowed by their Creator with Certain Inalienable Rights.

Does a right granted by God expire? Does it become irrelevant over time? Does an intelligence that could exceed 14.3 Billion years grow bored so quickly with the likes of us?

Doubtful.

All Mankind yearns to be free. None of us likes to be told what to do. Men don't like being nagged by women and women don't want to be called a nag. Children are a great example of how we are wired. Children lie. Adults lie just as much, they are just better at it. When I was young I wanted a Tonka truck, now I want a Ford F-150 (not really, I like my X-Terra). My wife dreamed of being a princess and I do my best to treat her like the Princess she is.

Marriages can endure the lifetime of the couple. The principles upon which they are married are mutual respect, common interests and beliefs...and patience.

Nations endure when they remember how they were created. The United States was finally, finally founded in its current form in 1787. 225 years old this year. The longest-lived government of its type. A Representative Republic. A nation formed with God in mind at every step. God is graffitied all over every monument prior to the hippy generation. All men are created equal. For the entire history of mankind this concept HAS NEVER been realized.

Today in America, there are "racial" components to crime and punishment. Really? If I walk up to an old, white woman, beat her to death, rifle her purse and then, finding nothing of interest, urinate on her corpse, I will likely get the death penalty for a brutal killing and corpse abuse. Plus attempted larceny, but that is just nuance.

If this were an old black woman, all of the above would still apply, BUT, the punishment will be more severe because the victim was black.

This violates a Founding Principle. All Men are created equal. We must be punished equally whether we be beggar or King. Otherwise we are living in a farce. A huge lie. Hollywood stars and politicians, the new American Royalty, must not be treated any better or worse than anyone else.

Conservatism is sometimes counter-intuitive. It makes blacks feel better to know that if they are touched or yelled at that a "Race" card can come down on the table, but it is wrong. Just plain wrong.

Welfare is a hand up, not a hand out. It sounds good, compassionate even, but if you subsidize anything, you simply get more of it. Some help is saintly, even a charitable responsibility, but no one should be forced to support another against their will. That is theft.

Yet so many ills endure as well. So many. Our way of life CAN endure, but we have to have faith. Faith in ourselves, faith in others, and faith in something greater than ourselves.

You can not have light without the dark, nor can you have a bright light without a dark, deep shadow. It is the ills that we fight every day that DEFINE what is right and what is wrong. Know how to identify the shadow and don't fear it. Face it, endure it, and grow from it.

I hope this has sparked some thought among the class today.

Live well,

--Zavost

The Fools and the Fools that Follow Them

2012-01-18T09:06:00.001-08:00

The Stoa is a silent and contemplative place. An ideal local for deep thought and internal contemplation. There are no televisions here, and certainly no telephones.
On my way to the Stoa today, I heard several items on both the radio and the Internet. Interesting how the media spins things for the masses.

The poor, ignorant masses.

The media thinks them ignorant at their own peril. The vast majority of us are simply too busy to pay attention to the news on a regular basis. In an economy like ours, families are working two and three jobs to make ends meet.

The expanding underclass, those that were unemployed prior to 2008 and the generationally welfare-ridden citizens, are the ones that hear this message. The Main Stream Media (MSM) is a propaganda arm of the DNC, and the Government when the Democrats (S) are in power.

Ditto Hollywood. They are targeting the guilty rich and the ignorant affluent. Movies have been too expensive for this modest Stoic to afford for quite some time.

Here are some items, in no particular order that I'd like to bring up for the class to consider.

1. Unemployment has dropped from 9.8% to 8.5% over the last 18 months.
-The reality: unemployment drops every time the unemployment agency stops making payments to the unemployed. They are now "not counted" in terms of statistics. They have now "stopped seeking employment". Guess they don't really exist anymore.

2. The manufacturing sector is expanding.
-The Reality: No. The sector has "added" 300,000 jobs in the last six months, AFTER shedding nearly 15 MILLION jobs over the last 3 years. Industry is being killed by increased taxation and regulation (unfunded mandates). No CEO is going to hire a wave of employees in this environment.

3. Obama is fiscally conservative.
-Whoa, what a whopper. The reality: Presidents 1-43 (Bush-43) accumulated in round numbers, $4.3 Trillion in debt. President 44, Obama, has accumulated $4.5 Trillion in 3 YEARS and has requested ANOTHER $1 Trillion from Congress for his 4th year in office. Think on that a bit. It took 43 presidents and Congresses to accumulate $4.3 Trillion in debt. It took Obama 3 years to EXCEED $4.5 Trillion with another Trillion on the way for year 4.

4. The world will end on the winter solstice, 12-21-12.
-The reality: No. The whack-jobs say that the planets, the Sun, and the "Center of the Galaxy" will line up and cause an Apocalypse. No. The planets are like grains of sand compared to the mass of the Sun. All 8 planets lined up in 1988 or 1989 and no one seemed to care. When you think about it, the Sun always points to the Galactic center. So this has already happened. We're still here. The Galactic Center is 30,000 light years away from us. I think we are good. We are more at risk to a low mass black hole wandering into our solar system and wrecking up the joint then we have to fear from the Galactic Center and an alignment. Remember, even the Mayan calendar continues on after 2012, so again, I think we are good.

5. Mitt is a Conservative.
-The reality: any politician from MA is NOT a Conservative. I believe the last one left a generation ago and did not leave a forwarding address.

6. Newt is a Conservative.
-The reality: No. Newt supports a form of government control in just about every part of our lives. He began the decline of the GOP from a part of conservatives to a party of RINOs. The next GOP candidate may be the last GOP candidate. I doubt that the Tea Party will remain quiescent for much longer. Nor will the 3%'ers.

7. Global Warming is real.
-The reality: It happens. It has happened and it will happen again. Does it have anything to do with us? Not hardly. I'd like to go so far to say, "Not at all." 300 million years ago, the Earth was way hotter than now, and had way more oxygen in the atmosphere. Bugs were HUGE! 100,000 years ago, the Earth was frozen. A nearly infinite number of mixed drinks could be made with all that ice. We are simply living in the middle of an Inter-Glacial period right now. I'm more worried about global cooling than I am about Global Warming. Remember, humanity likes it warm. We evolved in warm weather. Siberia and Canada are full of snow and ice. Global warming will make vast areas of the Earth available for food production.

8. Smart Cars and Electric cars are "Green".
-The reality: no way. The laws of physics are not called concepts or "good ideas". They are called laws because they can not be changed by us or our good intentions. Mass x Velocity = Force. If my car, an X-Terra, hits a "smart" car head on and we are both doing 50 mph then my quick math tells me that........I'm going to drive home in my X-Terra and you are going to DIE. Is the environment that important to you?
-Reality Check 2: To create the batteries used in electric cars, the company must mine and refine lots and lots of heavy metals. Heavy metals are VERY toxic to the environment. The battery packs in a Prius must be replaced from time to time. It is just a reality. Those batteries must be recycled or disposed of. Where does all that refined heavy metal go? You know, now that you think about it, where does all that heavy metal COME FROM? You guessed it, THE ENVIRONMENT! It is not an artificial creation. Mankind, simply gathers it in low concentrations, and then CONCENTRATES the metal into a useful amount. It only becomes a problem when you produce the batteries and concentrate the hazard. Idiots.
-Reality Check 3: The tax payer has to fork over $10,000 for every battery that will only save $3,000 in fuel. Again, a quick check of my math tells me that.........you are ignorant. Let me check the figures again...nope, I'm right, you ARE ignorant.

9. Charter Schools are bad for your child's education.
-The Reality: wrong. Anything that is done in the Private Sector must survive in the harsh reality of the profit margin. This means that they must deliver the best product at the lowest price. Sometimes a lot of money is spent to accomplish this, but at least it is spent EFFECTIVELY. This is like paying $200 for a Big Mac because each staff member has to be paid $100,000/year WITHOUT regard to the quality of that Big Mac. To make things better, not only are you PAYING $200 for a Big Mac, get a crappy product, but you also have to PAY ever increasing taxes so that the staff can continue to get raises and benefits.

Please think on number nine for a bit before going ape on my mail box.

10. The United States is a Democracy.
-The Reality: No, we are not. The Greeks and the Romans knew that Democracy was the worst form of Tyranny. Not only did it take too long to make quick political decisions, but it was essentially the Rule of the Mob. Any charismatic person, think Pericles or Alcibiades could become a Tyrant. The minority, by simple majority vote, could be driven out, denied due process, or worse yet, fall victims to genocide. The Romans figured this out and modified a system of limited checks and balances. Eventually, that was overthrown by a series of would-be tyrants like Pompeii, the Gracchi brothers, Sulla, Marius, and finally, Caesar and Octavian.
-Reality Check 2: Since Lincoln, the Federal government has sought to weaken and stymie the checks and balances in our Constitution. That document was drawn up to protect the people from an over-reaching government. It was INTENTIONALLY designed to SLOW and STYMIE a would-be Tyrant. Obama, Pelosi, Reid, George "W" Bush, Carter, Nixon, LBJ, FDR, Hoover, Teddy Roosevelt, Wilson, et al. are going to be known in future history books as primarily responsible for the decline and death of the American Republic. Check it. Mark it. Do your own research.

11. The Arab "Spring" is a good thing.
-Reality: Hardly. In every country where Spring has Sprung, liberties have been lost, Sharia has gained, and Islam has become more radicalized. How is this a good thing? I'm sure that if there are any women permitted to think for themselves they would disagree with it being characterized as a "good thing". The traditional dictators I grew up with like Assad and Assad, Ghadaffi, and Mubarak are being deposed and replaced with Theocracies. Certainly not good.

12. America has a two party system.
-Reality: America actually has many parties. We happen to have two dominant parties at this time. The names have changed since 1787, but two parties have generally dominated the show. You can even write in Mickey Mouse if you want. Many do.

13. The Dollar is still the world's currency of choice.
-Reality: True, though whether that still means anything remains to be seen. The dollar has been so devalued through over-printing that inflation is going to rear its ugly head. The only thing that has kept us from collapsing yet has been the awful economy. Ironic, ain't it? There is still a huge downward pressure on prices that keeps inflation under double digits. Even so it is now around 8% per year. I don't trust the Treasury or the Federal Reserve to report the real numbers any longer.

14. Fiat currencies work.
-Reality: No, they don't. The dollar, the Euro, even the Swiss Franc are backed by....nothing. The penny is mostly zinc with a copper coating about one molecule thick. The nickel is not even made out of nickel any longer. The dime and quarter are mostly base metals with a spray coating of silver. Our paper money is not backed by gold and our coins are not even made out of rare metals any longer. Literally, and I do mean literally, we pay for things with Monopoly money. Fiat currencies are failing around the world and things will have to change.
-Reality Check 2: from our earliest days we either traded items of value for other items of value or we have traded pretty silver or gold metals. This worked until 1933 in America. It sort of continued until the 1960's and then was abandoned all together by 1971. So, more than 10,000 years of value-backed exchange vs. 41 years of fiat value. One word: FAIL

15. Justine Bieber is cool.
-Realitiy: no. Not now, not ever. A dorky punk with a bad copy of a bad 70's hair style.

16. Grimmjow is cool, perhaps even AWESOME.
-Reality: yes. One word: WIN

17. Pelosi ran the most transparent and ethical Congress in history.
-I didn't think I could get that all typed out without both crying and laughing at the same time.
-Reality: Not even in the realm of human imagination can that Congress be called either "Transparent" or "Ethical". Bills passed without any debate. Bills passed without any public review. Bills passed without even being read. Some bills were "deemed" to have bee passed BEFORE THEY WERE EVEN WRITTEN! Suuurreee, ethical. Those in Congress are like little kids who get to make up their own rules. When something does not work the way they want, they simply "make" it work. When I was younger we had a saying, "Let's not and say we did." That is what deeming is. Lets just say we passed a bill that allows us to do this and there won't be any vote that will hang on our necks come re-election time. I can hear a stoner in my mind saying, "coooooolllll".

18. Eric Holder and the ATF, the Justice Department, and others had no idea that "Gunwalker" was getting people killed.
-The reality: not only did they know, they banked on it. Democrats have to deal with a lot of crap when they try to touch our guns. What better way to grab them all then to let American-made guns "walk" over to Mexico and kill 50,000 people? See how bad they are? Evil American gun manufacturers. Look what you did! We'll just take those from you now. This is the worst kind of political manipulation that I can accuse another American of doing. Knowing that YOUR policy will result in the death of ANYONE, Mexican or otherwise, is simply evil. This is not the American way. It is not my way. Holder and Obama MUST be held accountable. Border agents are killed and terrorized by the cartel packing massive firepower and the government ignores the cries of the family. Real ethical, Obama.

I guess that is all I have for today. It was only a 20 minute drive in to work for me. It is amazing all the garbage you hear on a radio in 20 minutes.

Live well.

--Zavost

The Center can not hold

2012-01-17T12:08:00.001-08:00

Upon the Stoa this day I feel the need to chat with the students for a moment. No particular reason only that a thought needs to be allowed out to germinate.

This country has been blessed in times past in our moments of need. At those times, a leader was always there to step forward and assume responsibility for guiding this country through its dark moments.

Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Lincoln, Coolidge, Harding, Nixon, Reagan, and "W" Bush. Some were unsung heroes that I hope will get their recognition, others had their heads carved on a mountain.

Today, we have a President who actively hates this country. We have a majority leader in the Senate that only seeks to enrich himself and his cronies, and we have a Speaker of the House that has a hard time staying Conservative. The Judicial has been packed by Liberals, and the Supreme Court has been compromised. We have an electorate that is both polarized and blasé.

We have a swelling underclass that is more and more dependent on handouts from the Government and the DNC. That never ends well. Remember "Breads and Circuses" in Rome?

Dark times with little to hope for. The Tea Party is being snapped in line with the "Moderate" wing of the RINO-GOP Party.

What is there to hope for?

You can't begin climbing until you hit bottom.

I hate to think that we have to have this happen, but until we live through the misery that 100 years of Progressive irresponsibility has wrought upon our beloved Republic can we truly appreciate what an uninformed, un-spiritual population does to a Republic can we learn the lesson.

We can either learn and grow, or take a new path and become something fundamentally different. Good or bad don't really enter into it. We will simply be different.

If we take the easy way out, then the great American experiment will really be dead. You can carve 1205-2012 on the tombstone, though I feel that future historians will have a better grasp on when the Republic really died. Remember that for a century or so after Caesar the population of Rome didn't really notice that their Republic was gone and replaced with the Empire.

Is Mitt our man? No. Is Ron Paul? Not hardly. Does anyone in the GOP field stand out? Santorum? Possibly. I'm not feeling it, though.

It will be interesting to see how things play out. Progressivism has a lot of momentum. That momentum has been building since Teddy Roosevelt and with only a few exceptions in the last 110 years has it been on cruise control. It will be difficult to slow that beast down and halt its damage.

Live well.

--Zavost

The Crusades, Bar Room Style

2012-01-16T07:05:00.001-08:00

Upon the Stoa this day, I will attempt to simplify the roots of the Christian Crusades. Why it happened, how it happened, and where it happened.

If we are going to visit the Theater of the Absurd then I must first set the stage.

The date is January 1, 1000 a.d. The populace of Europe is hung over and surprised that the world did not come to an end, as so many thought it would.

Unknown by many, the world had been going through a global warming period. There was more land available for farming and more people being born to live upon it. More food always means more population. England produced the best wine in the world, much to the dismay of France.

Much to the dismay of England, however, was the rise of the Vikings. For generations, the harsh weather of scandinavia limited the number of Vikings outside of their traditional lands. With the warmer weather, their populations exploded. Second born sons needed lands to control and large Viking families needed to be fed and enriched.

Greenland was appropriately named by the Vikings since the sub-continent was green and lush at the time. Oh, and they liked English wine so much they decided to move in for the duration and wreck up the place.

All across Europe, in the first century of the 2nd Millennium of Christ, the population expanded. There were lots and lots of peasants tilling the land for their Lords in the Manor. There were also a lot more Lords. First born sons inherent. Second born sons go into the priesthood. Third born sons tended to become mercenaries. What about the 4th, 5th, and 6th? What happens to them?

Europe was full of fratricide and intrigue. These new nobility needed lands and peasants to rule. So, they fought and died for title and land. In other words, war rippled across Europe constantly as one generation attempted to push out another.

In Rome, the Pope watched with dismay as Europe burned. The Church was the single force that unified the fractious continent. It was the Church that crowned Charlemagne and created the Holy Roman Empire in an attempt to bring more stability to the knights and kings of Europe.

With the exploding population, the Pope decided that there were just too many knights and not enough castles to rule.

So, what is a Pope to do?

The stage is set and the story begins.

Europe is a vast collection of tables, some pushed close together and other scattered about. The East Roman Empire was a large table in the East of the bar with a smattering of smaller tables set up nearby.

A group of people who called themselves the "Turks" had begun to move in and kick over tables all over the Middle East. Tables that the Eastern Romans got to sit at had been take over by the rowdy bunch of Turks. The Romans had been asking the kings of Italy and Europe for help, but that help never came since there wasn't anything in it for them. Why leave your castle if the guy next door was looking to take it from you?

One day, the Pope, after having had to sit down a dozen squabbling princes of Europe and spank them, had an idea. If there was not enough land to rule in Europe, then it was time to look for land outside of Europe.

One day, around 1098 a.d., the fellow sitting in Jerusalem got lead poisoning in the form of a knife across the neck. The chair was pitched to the side, the body dumped, and a Turk put his muddy boots up on the table.

This was the table that Jesus sat at and now a filthy turk was putting up his lousy boots on the table.

At this same time, the Romans lost another table to the Turks. The Great Table of the Romans was being nibbled to death. Again, the Roman leaned over and caught the eye of the Pope, "Yo, can I get some help over here!"

The Pope was currently holding two Germans and an Italian by the scruff of their neck, who had just been beating on each other. The Pope decided that it was time to put his plan into action. With a wink and a nod toward Emperor Alexis of Rome (Constantinople), Innocent began to gather the raucous Europeans together.

Pulling the paper airplane from his beard, and brushing out the food bits that the French had been throwing, the Pope yelled for them all to, "SHUT UP!! Bohemia, put down Moravia!"

He then spoke about how the great table that Jesus ate at has been taken over by the filthy Turks. Pilgrims who had gone to look at the Holy initials carved into the table by the hand of Jesus himself were being killed or robbed. The Turks were not allowing people to see the sandals, the comb, or the dirty dishes of the Last Supper.

No sir, this could not be allowed to stand. The Pope told them all that if they went on a vast Crusade to push the Turk off the table of Jesus that none of their tables could be taken over by another. Nor would any crime be held against them as long as that crime was committed against the Turk.

A cheer went up from European side of the bar. Alexis the Roman was happy. He was going to use the European children to take back tables that he had lost to the Turks.

As the States of Europe swung by his table on the way to Jerusalem, he watched their tall, strapping forms hulk up, bulging with armor and weapons. Gathering around his table he told them to first head into Syria and Lebanon. Then they were to go to Judea and Egypt.

Slurping on a stein of Ale, one of the German Princes nodded and said that they were there for Jerusalem and not Syria. If Rome wanted Syria back, they could do it themselves.

While arguing with this German Prince, Alexis noticed that some of the Crusaders started mugging Cyprus, Lebanon, Acre, and Tyre. As they fell, the English, French, and Spaniards began to move in and set up shop.

Those tables were supposed to be Constantinople's tables, not to be kept by the barbarous European snots.

With some more prodding, several Crusaders began to round the corner and head towards Jerusalem. Some Arabs and Turks tried to stop them but were no match for the juiced up, hulking savages from Europe.

Beating down their opponents with glee, the Crusaders swept upon the Turk at Jerusalem.

The Turk stood up and told the approaching Europeans that he would allow pilgrims to gaze upon the dirty dishes of the Last Supper, and pray upon the holy initials carved in the wood. He would even allow them to see the blood stains on the floor from where Jesus was hung above.

Without slowing down the English hit the Turk high, the French hit the Turk low, and the German came in flying over the pile with his elbow coming down upon the now-prostrate Turk. With tongues wagging frantically, the Crusaders tore into the Turk. The table was flipped, the chairs scattered. Blood flew everywhere, Christian, Muslim, Jew, dog, cat, budgie, you name it. If it could be cut down by a sword, the Crusaders did their best to do so.

With the Turk vanquished, the Crusaders began to set the table back up and replace the chairs. It was not long before more scuffing and cursing came from that corner as the Germans, the English, and the French could not agree on WHO got to sit in the main chair. Constant fighting and squabbling ensued. Turks that got too close to Jerusalem would see the Crusaders quickly unite again and go on a Turk hunt.

As the years passed, more and more Crusaders came to the Holy Land. As more recruits were needed, various Popes would call a full Crusade. Sometimes, the Crusades were used by the Pope to send away a particularly troublesome Prince or King to learn a lesson.

As with all things, your zealots always will go first to the religious cause. As the waves of Crusaders continued over the next several centuries, the follow on waves got less and less pious. Less and less committed to the Christian cause.

In fact, so many books and prisoners had been brought back to Europe that they began to realize that the learning of the Arabs was ACTUALLY the continuation and preservation of the ancient European heritage as bequeathed to them by the Western and Eastern Roman Empire. Many of the buildings the Arabs had put up were newer buildings on the foundations of older Greek, Roman, or Egyptian structures.

Books and scrolls, the knowledge of the ancients was being translated from Greek and Roman, and Arabic into the vulgar versions of the descendants of ancient Latin, like Italian, Spanish and English. The world opened up to the great European nobility and they realized that they had been the puppets of the Pope for a good long time.

The Crusaders grew up. They did not necessarily get more peaceful. Noooo way. They did get clever, though.

Eventually, Jerusalem fell back into the hands of the Turks, and again, Constantinople called upon the Pope for aid. The Eastern Romans had continued to shrink, as the Turkish big brother, the Seljuks, and their even meaner cousins, the Ottomans, began to push deeper into old Asia Minor.

Constantinople had learned a long time ago not to invite the Crusaders in for tea and biscuits. Best to move them on their way as fast as possible into the direction of the Holy Land.

The date was 1204 a.d., and the Europeans had matured, just a little. They had matured enough to know that sacking Jerusalem again was not going to make the Arab issue go away. As long as the Arabs allowed pilgrims to continue to visit the Holy Land, then they would not take issue with them eating at the table of Jesus.

This latest major Crusade, the 4th, gathered and marched half way to Jerusalem and then camped near Constantinople. The Eastern Romans had wanted the Crusaders to punch their way Eastward over land and liberate the tables they had lost to the Turks over the last century.

Instead, the Crusaders muddled about and decided to take ships directly to Egypt and then to Jerusalem. While this was going on, the Crusaders were eating all the food that was coming to the table and were really making a mess.

Constantinople began to get more and more insisting that they move on. The bill was already large and he was living more and more on a fixed income as the Turks nibbled away at his Empire.

Then, one day while France, England, and Germany were chatting with the Sicilians and the Venetians, it dawned on them that none of them were really doing this for the Pope or for religious zealotry, they were doing this for fame and fortune.

Constantinople was a famous place. Constantinople held a fortune in gold and jewels. Venice wanted to control more of the merchant shipping in the Mediterranean Sea and had an interest in seeing Constantinople brought low.

The Italians and the Germans looked at each other and decided that if it was fame and fortune that they were after then they didn't have to walk all the way to Jerusalem, they could just take both here.

As Constantinople was getting ships ready to transport the Crusaders, shadows fell upon his table. On his left he saw some Norwegian, slapping an axe in his palm. Next was a Dane and a German scraping dirt out from under their fingernails with long swords. In front of him were the Italians and the Sicilians looking hungrily down at the gold on the table. To his right were other German and Spanish princes measuring the table's dimensions, as if they were going to put their own table cloths upon it.

"Guys, guys, I'll have shipping available for you shortly...guys, guys, hey!!"

The Crusaders piled upon Constantinople and sacked him as savagely as they had sacked Jerusalem two centuries earlier. The streets ran thick with the blood of its citizens. Houses burned, libraries destroyed...the priceless accumulation of ancient wisdom perished in that sacking. Only the sacking and burning of the Great Library at Alexandria rivaled the loss of ancient knowledge that was lost at Constantinople.

After days of looting, the table of Constantinople was finally set back up. A new fellow, Italian from the looks of him, was sitting there picking idly at some meat caught between his teeth with a dagger. Most of the Crusaders were heading home, their pockets and sacks bulging with artifacts, money, and all the salted bar nuts they could carry.

The Turks had braced for an attack that never came. Instead, they sat at and by their tables, mouths agape at this horrible looting of the most powerful citadel of Christendom. Some were glad that their traditional enemy to the North had been dealt a mortal blow, while others were glad that this army had not marched through their part of the bar. As powerful as the Arabs were, they saw European power continue to rise through the centuries. The truly wise among them knew they were going to need to evolve in the future to keep apace with them. They had been saved only by the greed and power lust inherent within the European political system.

It was not long after this that the great wars of religion spread about Europe. It was not about Eastern Orthodox or Western Orthodox, it became about Catholicism vs. Protestantism.

Entire regions of Europe were practically depopulated during these wars. The Arabs and Turks had a respite for the time being. The Mongols also caused some chaos, but that is another story.

The Crusades forced the Pope and the Church to evolve. Unwittingly, the church had sewn the seeds of change by sending of the surplus knights to fight for Christ.

The Princes of Europe realized that they had been fighting and dying for centuries for a Pope that was simply using them. For a church that enriched itself on their blood and misery. The Catholic Church evolved. The Protestant Reformation forced this. The Church of today no longer has political influence. Likewise, the thinkers of the day realized how political power could be corrupted by religion. They determined that the ideal state would maintain a Separation between Church and State.

Sound familiar?

By the time the Renaissance was in full swing in Europe, say 1500 a.d., a lot of maturing had taken place.

The bar looked quite different. All of the Crusader tables in the Middle East were gone. The Turks were united under the Ottomans. The Byzantine Romans got Constantinople back but then lost it again, forever, in 1453. The Southern and Eastern end of the bar were all Arab Muslim or Turkish Muslim.

The tables that made up Spain had pushed out all of the Arabs by 1492. The bodies were stacked everywhere. The Europeans were dumping the casualties of religious war out the window. The Ottomans were still cleaning up all the glass that had been smashed when they took the Constantinople table. Egypt and Northern Africa were struggling with rebellion and intrigue caused by the blending of politics and religion inherent within the Muslim faith.

France and England had settled their borders, Germany and Italy continued to be fractious and bloody. Europe still seethed with warfare, but there was now growth instead of mindless bloodshed.

By 1500, Europe was no longer looking to the Middle East, but instead looked Westward. The boundless energies that Europe seemed to possess were now being spent exploring the world and bringing new lands into the European sphere. By the early 1600's, European influence was spreading over two new continents.

Were the Crusades bloody? Oh, yes. Did Europe grow? Absolutely. Did the Muslims learn anything? Not really. The divorce of Politics from Religion and the re-connection of the West with the knowledge of the Ancients, propelled the modern world into its current shape.

So, there you have it. Muddy, yes. Funny? Not as much.

Live well, everyone.

--Zavost

Knock it off, Newt!

2012-01-16T05:25:00.001-08:00

From the Stoa this morning I feel the need to vent somewhat. Though the air temperature is cool I am feeling quite warm at the base of my Stoa.

You would think that those of the GOP or the DNC would share similar philosophies. I mean, that is why, in our language, when you hear the terms GOP or RNC, you think several things: limited government, lower taxes, minimal regulation of industry, free market economy, and a strong defense; just to name a few. This is so that we can have shorter conversations. Instead of describing someone in those terms, you simply say, "He/she is part of the GOP." "Ahhhh", the other person would say.

You see how that works?

Now, when you hear DNC, or worse, Obama, one thinks: expansive and expanding government, higher taxes, less freedom, class warfare, centralized vs. free economy, distrusted and weak national defense; just to name a few.

So, Newt. Let's talk.

When a Republican says that someone else profited unfairly in the market place, what party will I think of?

When a Republican calls someone a "vulture capitalist", what party does one think of?

When a Republican plays at class warfare and belittles the very essence of a free market economy, what party do I think of?

Just how smart are you? That was rhetorical, please don't try to answer that.

Romney is chocked FULL of problems, but Bains is not one of them. OH, let's see...RomneyCare is a huge elephant in the room. Let's beat up on him for that. I do!

Obama has electability issues. Oh, lets think up a few here: millions unemployed because of his protectionist trade policies, millions unemployed due to his tax policy, his unclear strategy going forward, crony capitalism, race relations, foreign policy, religious questions, where he was really born, his spendthrift wife, and on and on.

So let's do a little comparison here, Newt.

You think that what Obama has done is not worth attacking, the National Debt and such, with its millions of unemployed Americans; and Mitt from 18 years ago, making business acquisitions to strengthen the company that he worked for.

What a conundrum.

What you are doing, Newt, is helping the other side with this discussion. You are like an angry family member that would rather burn the house down than see it go to someone else. Your attacks on Mitt only strengthen Obama. If you weaken other members of the GOP, then you are giving aid to the opposition. Knock it off.

Then again, since words mean things, lets think about the meaning of another an acronym. RINO. You know, Republican In Name Only? These are people who wear the GOP jacket and overcoat, but sound a lot like a Democrat.

Don't play their game. They have done it far longer and are much better at it than you. Plus, they are the genuine article. If you want Socialism, you will pull the lever for a Democrat. If you want Conservatism, then we need a clean handle for the voters to pull. Don't muck it up, Newt.

Live well.

--Zavost

War on Terror for Dummies

2012-01-13T08:01:00.001-08:00

Upon the Stoa this sunny day, I will attempt, once again, to make the obscure clear, and the complex so simple, even a Democrat can get it.

This day, I will look at the roots of the War on Terror and how we became the world's de facto policeman, like it or not.

The Calendar on the wall of the Great Bar Room reads 1919. A host of people are gathered around the smashed remains of the table of France and the Lowlands. The Council of Versailles is underway. This is not really about Europe, but the roots of modern Terrorism arise from this treaty, as did the bastard seed of World War II.

A vast mandate is created in the Middle East between France and Britain to administer the corpse of the Ottoman Empire. Standing over a map, the States of Europe, fountain pen in hand, began to carve up the vast Turko-Arabic-Persian lands without regard to tribal affiliation or historical boundaries.

America, disgusted with so much going on at this Council, stomp back to their table and order dinner, complaining that Europe has borrowed so much money from them that they will never get it back. Freaking ingrates. Let them carve up the desert. What harm can it do?

Pages fall from the calendar and it is now 1921. Germany is pissed about the war reparations being placed upon them and is eating beans and rice instead of Brats and Beer.

Iraq is created out of the British Mandate with a seed government planted to solidify the country. A chair is placed at the edge of the British table for Iraq.

In 1922, Trans-Jordan is created by the British. A chair is set out for them as well as a smaller one is labeled "Israel" as a place for the world's Jews to settle. This is done because the Jews did not seem to be accepted anywhere they went, so the British felt that since the Jews had lived in that region since 3,800 B.C., then they should be allowed to return. What harm can that do? It seems only fair.

Somebody in London had not read up on their Judeo-Roman histories.

The calendar now reads 1923 and Turkey rises out of the ashes of the Ottoman funeral fire. They take a seat independent of Britain and everyone else. They eye the world with unsure eyes, not knowing how they will be accepted in the family of nations emerging from the debris of World War I.

In 1926, France creates the nation state of Lebanon, placing an independent chair and table in the room for them.

In 1928, Trans-Jordan has developed enough that the British now allow them to sit apart from the British table. The Jewish homeland is maintained and Jewish immigration from around the world has turned into a flood.

In 1929, Arabs, wandering about the bar begin to throw eggs and trash at the Jewish chair, telling him that he is not welcomed in this bar. A promise to make things unpleasant is scribbled on the table in front of them.

In 1932 the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia gets a seat and its own table. More and more Arabs are beginning to settle down into organized nation-states.

In 1933, Iraq is granted independence from Britain while at the same time, Israel has his shoes tied together and a bug slipped into his dinner by an Arab waiter.

Afghanistan is recognized in 1934 and nearly every single Jew is expelled.

1936: France grants Syria and Lebanon independence and then notices that the Arabs is the area are sporting brass knuckles with a "made in Germany" stamp on it. France tells Germany to knock it off. Germany winks at Syria and Lebanon and tells them to mug Israel the next time they go to the bathroom.

In 1937, Britain, irritated at France's inaction, shoos away the Germans from around Israel. What was their deal anyhow? Germany was working 5 jobs to pay off its debt to France and Britain, they didn't have time to play with other countries like Israel.

In the time of WWII, the Israeli portion of Trans-Jordan did its part for the British. They made sure that Turkey stayed neutral, and helped to fight Germans who had infiltrated the region. Britain encouraged Israel and told them that they may be allowed their own table at the end of the fighting.

Britain made this promise even as he lacked a shoe, a tie, three teeth, and had to make the promise by blinking through the blood that was in his eyes. See, Germany had them in a head lock and Britain was grasping at any straw they could for help. Perhaps the Jews could distract Germany long enough for Britain to break the choke hold.

Now, the calendar reads 1946 and Israel is not free yet. Britain is waffling about giving Israel its own table. Jordan has since cut off the Jews and warned them that there will be no freedom for them. Jews have continued to pour into the region to carve out a nation for their own.

On the other side of the British table, Britain is in deep discussions with France and Germany over what to do about the USSR. Israel grows impatient as it pulls a strand of noodle out of its hair. The Arabs have continued to harass and bully them at every opportunity. One day it is soup, the next day they are flicking his ear telling him that they best leave the bar and never come back.

Finally, Israel takes some mashed potato out of his ear, packs it on a spoon and catapults it into Britain's soup, splashing the white linen around their bowl. Britain looks up and yells, "Who did that!"

The Arabs back away from Israel, finger pointing the whole way. Israel leans back and points both fingers at his own chin and says, "Yo!"

The Arabs are laughing at Israel, waiting for Britain to punish them. Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, and Iran scoot their chairs closer to Israel and begin to menace him with forks and spoons.

Britain glares at Israel and warns them that if they disobey just one more time then there will be hell to pay.

Britain turns back to France to discuss some item when an entire goat rockets into the side of his head, sending him sprawling out of his chair.

In moments, Israel and Britain are rolling around on the top of the table, scattering bread, soup, and flinging food all over the place.

Britain seems to have the upper hand. He is bigger, stronger, and has the clear support of the crowd.

The Arabs clap their hands with glee and eye the chair that Israel has been sitting in, hoping to add that chair to their growing group of tables and chairs in the Middle East.

Israel, though outclassed had no intention of fighting fair. In short order, Israel buries a fork in the kneecap of Britain. While Britain bellows in pain, an entire ham is shoved in his mouth, cutting of the scream. Whipped cream and walnuts are crammed in Britain's ear while at the same time they pour ice water down his pants.

Angry and humiliated, Britain decides that enough is enough. There are more important things in the world to address then these upstart Jews.

Dripping gravy and whipped cream, Britain carves off the table in front of Israel's chair.

"Enjoy your freedom you rat bastards!", and storms away.

The US and the USSR immediately congratulate Israel on it's newfound freedom, each hoping to bring Israel into their political orbit (see, the Cold War was just getting underway).

As the US and USSR are shaking hands with Israel, a crowd forms all around the Israeli table, broken bottles, chains, and clubs in hand. Nation states and roaming Arabs are there, each with murder in their eyes.

The US and USSR turn to leave with a smile on their face.

"Oh, look, so many others are here to wish you well!"

Israel puts up an arm and says, "Ah, no, don't go!", even as the crowd surges around the giant frames of the US and USSR.

What a great start, the US thinks as he walks back to his table.

Israel is completely blotted from sight as the Arabs, Persians, and Egyptians pile onto Israel.

Thunder has nothing on the noise that broke out from that end of the room. If Israel thought it had a hard time with Britain, it had its hands full with the Arabs. No sooner would Israel knock down one person than two more would climb on his back. Israel was better organized and stronger than any two opponents, but the fact remained that there were so many opponents attacking at the same time.

The struggle was in doubt several times. Israel, close to going down, always seemed to stay one step ahead of the Arabs. A broken table leg, swung in desperation takes down Lebanon. Picking up Lebanon and swinging him around in rage, Israel beats down Egypt. Egypt crawls out of the pile, vomiting bile. Lebanon ends up face down over the bar. Jordan takes one to the stomach and double over into the rising knee of Israel. With a choked cry, Jordan falls backwards into the bathroom. Syria is the next to go down, a flurry of body blows causing them to double over and go down. Iraq and Iran, seeing that the fight was tipping out of control finally backed off.

Israel was battered and bloody, standing in a pile of Arabs with nothing more than blood-soaked boxer shorts.

The US came over and helped Israel put their table and chair back together. The US told the moaning and whimpering Arabs to mind their own business and leave Israel alone. The US would make sure that Israel knew how to fight and had the right equipment to protect himself.

The Arabs did not listen, instead they vowed to avenge themselves upon Israel for their humiliating defeat in a war of aggression that they themselves had started...

Over the years, Israel had the opportunity to defeat the combined power of those Arabs two more times. Each time, beating each of them to the ground and throwing their unconscious forms back on top of their chairs.

This bickering between the nations of the Middle East continued for DECADES, each seeing if they could prove to one another just how much they hated Israel...and each other. Fights broke out among the Arab nations more often than between Israel and an Arab. Iraq and Iran (old Persia) busted up the bar so badly that folks wondered if either state would survive.

As an offshoot of the Cold War, the USSR mugged Afghanistan and replaced the fellow sitting there with someone else who spoke with a Russian accent. Realizing what had happened, the US sent weapons and trainers to several Arab nations to help them get rid of the puppet pretending to sit in Afghanistan's chair.

eventually, the USSR left, but Afghanistan had trouble sitting back down in their chair as other Arabs tried to bum rush the Afghans and sit in the chair in their place. Another fight broke out.

The US then watched as Iraq, for no reason at all, punched Kuwait in the back of the head and began to kick him repeatedly.

Signing heavily, the US walked back over and grabbed Iraq by the neck and pitched him back onto his own chair. With a warning finger and glance he told him to stay put and stop causing trouble.

The US then spent time helping Kuwait and Saudi Arabia fix up their stuff.

The US could not even leave since Iraq was now beating on the smaller chairs that were tied to the Iraqi chair.

Frustrated and a bit schizophrenic, the US simply watched and warned Iraq that they better knock that crap off, swatting Iraq's hand every time he reached away from the Iraqi table, yet not having the resolve to beat the crap out of him again.

It was around this time that the US noticed a group of Arabs that called themselves "the base" began causing all sorts of trouble around the bar. They became a plague, actually. Going from table to table, laughing and shaking tables, spilling wine and beer. Sometimes, if they were ignored, they would slam the table with a sledgehammer, scattering everything around them in the process and then walk away laughing.

This went on for some time, but the US had long since become distracted by bigger things and generally paid less and less attention to the Middle East.

Allowed to grow more emboldened and powerful, this group tried to hurt the US by hitting them in the side of the head with a slingshot.

The US simply put a dressing on the injury, looked about for the source of the sling stone, and then went right back to what they were doing; completely ignoring this rowdy bunch.

Frustrated and cocky, eternally hateful of Israel, this group came up with a way to remove the protection that the US gave Israel. They would hurt the US so bad that they would be forced to abandon Israel. After that, every Jew in the world could be hunted down and killed to the last baby.

A group from "the base" whistled at the US and asked them to stop by for a minute.

Without a care, the US walked over to them, confident in his large size and overwhelming power. As the US approached, one of the Arabs got excited and pointed over the US's shoulder and yelled, "Look at that!"

When the US turned to take a look, one of the Arabs pulled out an elephant gun and pulled the trigger. The shell slammed into the US's back and left a huge, smoking hole. With a groan, the US staggered and grabbed at at table.

The Arabs began to cheer and chest bump all the way back to Afghanistan and Iraq, their recent hiding places.

The US was hurt, but not fatally. In pain and in rage, the US stood back up and slowly turned around, looking for the people who had shot him in the back. Japan shot him in the back once. Once.

Even as the Arabs partied in Kabul, a long shadow began to fall upon the Afghanistan chair. The large chair nailed to the Afghan chair lacked a proper name plate. This must be "the base" chair.

With cold fury, the US advanced on Afghanistan, the shadow deepening the closer he got.

Wondering where the sun went, Afghanistan turned around and stared into the heaving belly of the US. Craning his neck up, and up, and up, he said, "So, how are things?"

Without answering, a forearm slowly came up and with the creaking of tendons and muscles, a single index finger pointed over the Afghan shoulder at the chair filled with filthy yahoos blowing kazoos in merriment.

"Who, them? There nobody, just ignore...."

Afghanistan never got the rest of the sentence out. Huge, meaty hands grabbed him on each shoulder and simply pulled him apart into two, bloody masses. Gore spilled about the feet of the US.

"Oh crap", the Arabs yelled in chorus, and began to scatter for other parts of the bar. Boot stamping and swatting the US wadded into the area. Some Arabs were smashed flat, never to get up again, others were kicked clean out of windows.

The US hammered away even as Iraq began to trash talk. Iraq allowed several of the "base" Arabs shelter from the rampaging giant that was trashing that end of the bar.

Finally, the US dropped the last rag-doll Arab corpse to the ground and helped up the old Afghanistan that had been tied up in the corner. Leaving a wad of cash behind to help them fix up their table and chair, the US turned its eyes elsewhere.

When the US turned towards Iraq, he saw Iraq flick his thumb in his front teeth in his direction. Bad choice of actions.

The US began its slow, deliberate advance upon Iraq, crumpled cups and french fries bouncing off his chest.

The "base" fellows hid behind Iraq and whispered encouragement in his ears about how Iraq could take him, even as they opened the window to flee the fight.

The US did not even slow as he came upon Iraq. Iraq was shaking his head and denying that he had ever met a group of people calling themselves "the base".

The denial was cut short as the US gripped Iraq about the wind pipe, looked around the bar to see who was watching, and then began to punch Iraq repeatedly. For several minutes, Iraq was pounded into an unrecognizable mass.

Another Iraq stepped from the crowd to offer its support to the US. The two of them would ensure that "the base" could not cause any more trouble.

As the US was cleaning up the mess that the rest of the world had allowed to be made of the Middle East, the rest of the world was telling the US that they had over-reacted. Why be the bully that you despise? Can't you just get along with this group of clearly misunderstood Arabs?

Europe opened its arms to these mis-understood Arabs and invited them over for lunch.

One Arab urinated in Spain's coffee while another took a dump on England's dinner plate. Another took a fork and pinned Netherlands's hand to the table while telling them they were being a lousy host.

This behavior confused the Europeans who had expected to be greeted with appreciation. Nope, all out of grace and appreciation.

The US, its anger abated, decided that it had done enough in the Middle East and made to head home. Afghanistan still needed help, but the US had once again become bored with the area. No sooner had the US stepped away from Iraq, than a wine bottle was broken over Iraq's head. Now Iraq was again fighting or its life among these "mis-understood" Arabs.

So, how does this story end? I can't tell you for sure since it is still being written.

Only time will tell. The US gets distracted easily. We are hard to anger and arouse to violence, but we are quick to forgive and yell, "squirrel!".

I guess we will just have to read an update on this story next year.

Live well, everyone.

--Zavost

Christanity made easy.

2012-01-12T09:39:00.001-08:00

From the Stoa this day I will recite the foundation of Christianity as if it had taken place in that large, mythical bar room.

For all you religious nuts out there, this is for demonstration purposes only. No heresies were committed in the act of this writing.

So, that out of the way, let us describe how this bar looks around 32 a.d. I will be compressing the events into a single day, though this will really cover a span of many years.

In this incredibly large bar there are many empires. Some large, some small. Some are old and some are new. At this time, though, there are only a few Great Powers in the world, such as Imperial Rome, China, Persia, and the Indians of the sub-continent. The minor powers generally survive at the sufferance of the great powers and to the barbarians in their regions.

In the Western portion of the bar, the scene is dominated by the Great Table of the Romans. There are many seated at this massive table. In the middle you have Rome itself, as represented by Tiberius, the heir of the purple from Octavian's long, long rule. Not yet Emperor, but thought of as "First Consul" and "Caesar", in deference to his famous Grandfather.

Others seated at this table are people that go by the name of Italia, Greece, Egypt, Syria, Britannia, Gaul, Near and Farther Spain, Sicilia, to name just a few.

At the far Eastern end of this Roman table, sat Judea, as represented by Pontius Pilatus, or Pontius Pilate in English. He ruled that seat under the auspices of Tiberius himself, as Senators and Generals were not permitted in Egypt or Judea.

Tied to Pilate's chair were several smaller chairs bearing the name of Jews, Aramaic, Nazarenes, Galilee, to name but a few. Recently, a new chair had appeared with the name Christians, or Followers of Christ. Sitting in this chair was a bronze complected Jew that went by the name of Jesus.

Now, Pilate had watched Jesus for some time and found him to be a rather curious fellow. He drank milk and water. Sometimes wine, but always in moderation. He ate sparingly at the table and was, for all purposes, a model Roman provincial. He paid his taxes on time, as did his followers. He followed Roman Laws, as did his followers, and he even suspected, based on his somewhat non-Jewish appearance, that he had a Roman father. Curious.

One day, Pilate overheard an argument between the Jews, as represented by Herod and his High Priest. Herod and the Priest did all the yelling while the responses of Jesus were drowned out in the noise. This forced Pilate to move closer to the disturbance so that he could settle the issue if the argument concerned Roman rule.

It turns out the Herod and the Priest were angry that Jesus was pulling followers away from the Jewish faith. They were beginning to follow Jesus in ever increasing numbers. They were also shouting that Jesus was teaching nonsense to the Jewish people. Saying that they did not need to purchase animals from the money-changers to make sacrifices to the Jewish God. Other non-sense about how God is within everyone and Jesus was the Key to salvation and all that.

Boy, the veins on Herod sure were bulging.

Pilate lost interest since this looked like an internal Provincial matter. Rome was strong because it let the savage little provinces run their own daily affairs while Pilate concentrated on the "big picture" of provincial rule. Let the little folks have their single, rather poor god. Let them bicker about the irrelevant trivia of their religion.

A loud noise caught Pilates' attention as the Priest slapped Jesus hard in the face. Hard enough to make Pilate jump in his seat. Expecting a brawl to break out, he reached for his scepter of rule. Instead of a brawl breaking out, Jesus looked back at the priest an actually turned the uninjured cheek towards the priest and offered it up for a second blow.

Angry, the Priest sat back down. Pilate let the scepter return to his side while he took a pull from his goblet of wine, watching the priest with narrow eyelids.

No sooner had he returned to his meal when there was a tug on his shoulder. It was the little Jew-priest again. "Jesus and his followers are not paying their taxes! He is teaching his people that only the world beyond matters and that taxes are a distraction from God."

Pilate leaned over and looked a Jesus, sitting quietly in his seat, holding a cold beer to his left cheek. "What do you have to say for yourself, Jesus?"

Alternating between sipping the beer and holding it to his face, he said, "Render onto Caesar what is Caesars. Render onto God what is God's."

Pilate thought about this for a moment and then shushed and shooed the filthily little barbarian priest away from his chair.

Hardly had Pilate eaten more than half of his meal the little barbarian priest was again tugging at Pilates' arm.

"Jesus plots rebellion against Rome itself!", flecks of chicken and flat bread speckled the Priest's unkempt beard.

Looking back over at Jesus he saw a shaft of light coming through an window in the roof, illuminating Jesus and framing him in brilliance. He could not be sure, but he thought he saw Doves resting upon his shoulders. The Doves were polite and were not even soiling Jesus' robes. He even saw Jesus wrapping a bandage round a Cat's paw. The Cat did not show any interest in the Doves and only looked adoringly at Jesus.

A cricket sang somewhere in the distance.

Pilate ran his tongue over his teeth and sat back in his chair. "Riiight, that guy is plotting an armed insurrection against Rome? Doubtful."

Again, he shooed the filthily little creep away from his chair. He had to keep brushing off the dirt and dust from his sleeve every time that Cretan touched him.

Some little time passed and then both Herod and the Priest flanked Pilate. With alternating tugs on his tunic sleeve, Herod and the Priest began to hassle Pilate.

"His people break Jewish customs." "He eats unclean animals." "He seeks to replace us and rebel against Roman rule." "We will cause trouble for you if Jesus is not punished." "We will petition Rome to take kill Jesus as a Rebel if you don't do anything".

With his head pivoting from side to side at Herod and the Priest, the last two items caught Pilates' attention. No one went over his head to Rome. No one.

A sharp conversation passed between the three of them finally. There were still more Jews than Christians and if Pilate did not put down this Jewish Heresy, then the Jews would put it down for Rome. This would mean economic disruption and an image seen in Rome of a Prelate that could not administer even a small, dusty and unimportant Province of Rome.

Even though this was technically and internal cultural matter and beyond the scope of Roman rules, Pilate knew he had to do something. Treacherous Jews. Who knew they were so devious?

Pilate was an experience administrator of Rome. He had travelled the known Roman world and knew that religious zealots like this popped up from time to time. He also knew that killing the messenger was far, far easier than killing the message.

Pilate was a professional and he knew from experience that if you kill a charismatic religious icon then all you were doing was creating both a martyr and myth to the cause. Other, less scrupulous people would usurp that power and put it to uses that would not favor Roman interests at all.

Yet, he could not deny what these Jewish barbarians demanded of him. Jesus was going to have to go.

With a snap of the fingers and a gesture with his scepter, two Roman Centurions came out from behind the bar and flanked Jesus.

Herod and the Priest beamed with pleasure and laughed openly at Jesus.

With a gesture he, Pilate stated, "Scourge and Execute this man."

As the Centurions grabbed Jesus by the elbows and began to drag him away, Jesus said to the shaft of light coming through the roof, "Forgive them Father for they know not what they do."

Pilate sat down angrily and kicked Herod in the butt, sending him cackling and giggling to the floor near his chair. A fierce look was all it took to send the Priest scurrying back to his chair.

Pilate knew all to well what he was doing and he hated himself for it. Not that he was sending an innocent man to his death, heck no, he sent a dozen people like that to the cross every day before lunch, but it was that he was turning this man into a martyr.

He chewed silently on his food even as the sounds of a whip began to resonate from behind the bar. No, sir, this was not going to end well at all.

Oh, how he could not foresee what was starting here with that single gesture. A following that would continue to grow and endure for more than two millennia.

So in the end, Pilate shoved his plate aside just as they drug Jesus back into the main room. His flesh had been flayed from his bones in places. Thorns had been crammed upon his naked forehead. Blood and fluids literally oozed from him and drained upon the floor.

The two little Jewish savages continued to cackle and high five each other, secure in the reality that their little money-making racket could continue on the side without this person interfering with their profits.

Pilate watched as this man who preached nothing but non-violent peace and love for all mankind, regardless of sex or nationality was nailed to the cross-pole in of the bar's ceiling.

Pilate could not be sure but he thought he heard Jesus forgive him with his few remaining breaths. Odd fellow, this Jesus.

Pilate was right of course. He did create a martyr. A movement that would claim the soul of future Emperors had been created.

The Jews continued to flex their muscle, now that they knew that they could manipulate Roman Prelates to get what they wanted.

Eventually they shoved a Prelate to demand more religious benefits and the Prelate pouched him out. The Jew sprang up and began hit the Prelate with a chair. In no time at all, Rome himself came down to that end of the table and hammered the Jews straight to the floor. There was so much refuse on the floor when Rome was done that he had to scrape his sandals clean.

A few short decades later and the Jews were at it again. This time, Rome smashed the Jews, as before, but instead of sitting them back down at the table, Rome broke up the chair and threw it in the fire. He kicked the Jews from Judea and told them never to come back. Head off to Germany, maybe they would take you, Rome said.

There you have it. The founding of Christianity and the scattering of the Jews.

Hard to make something this serious sound funny, but I gave it a shot.

Live well.

--Zavost

Civil War Bar Room, by Request

2012-01-11T13:57:00.001-08:00

From atop the Stoa this day, I don the blue slouch cap of a Michigan regiment for the Union in the Civil war. Not the Confederate gray of Virginia, my new home.

Yes, it is time for another installment history, as seen on the set of a vast bar room, complete with whiskey and women.

So here we go. This will be bloody.

We fast forward about 100 years from the beginning of the Revolutionary Bar Room. The world is not a whole lot different in 1850 then it was in 1750. Great Britain is still great. France is still a world power, though in an obvious state of decline. Napoleon is long dead and Napoleon III is a far cry from his great uncle's abilities.

Austria-Hungary is still a major player, though the rebellions of 1848 have shown the world that it is hardly a stable or safe place to live. Ditto for Russia. The Ottoman Turks are in a free-fall of decline. Their weapons and economy better suited for a Medieval fair than the real world.

The United States has been growing into a precocious young man. Tall, strong, cocky. He pounded Mexico, no PILE-DRIVED Mexico into the dirt and seized vast tracks of land just a few short years ago. Canada understood where it was in relation to the new power to the South. It certainly was not 1777 or 1813 anymore. Populous and Industrial, the US was a force to be reckoned with on the world stage.

So, we find the US at a large table, spread over a large corner of the bar. It is somewhat broken up by region. There is a Northern part of the table, comprised of 16 States in the North, 11 States in the South, and 3 States in the West. In the middle were the Territories.

The North is a busy place. Immigrants pouring in from a sucky European homeland, eager for the fresh start offered by the US. Massive factories and industries are located in the North. The largest harbors and shipping sites for both rail and ocean shipping are located here. Busy and cold, the North was full of hardy folk.

The South was more agrarian, slower paced, and accepting of slave labor. Most of the Southern State's chairs had many, many people tied by a leash to them. In the North, immigrants provided the cheap labor needed in the factories. In the South, slaves provided virtually FREE labor to their plantations and factories.

The West was more interested in Gold than anything else. Gold and trade. We'll get back to them in a while.

Slavery was a big issue between the States seated at that table. The Northern States did not use slavery and never really did since the colonial days. They were also unhappy with having to compete with Southern companies that used slave labor since that meant they could undercut Northern products on price.

Again, the West is crouching down under the table panning for gold in the liquids running out of the bathroom. Lets hope they don't find anything...

Many of the history books get it wrong and say that this was ALL about slavery. It was not. It was as much about economics and political freedom as it was about slavery.

See, since 1787, a Federal Government was formed. The US was actually the accumulated strengths of its then 24 States. The Feds or US, coordinated the actions between the states and represented the states as a whole on the international level.

This worked great for a long time, but anytime you create a government, the only thing it ever wants to do is to grow and become more centralized. It wants to control that which it can not control.

In the North, things were busy and complex and generally, a centralizing government was a good thing. Litigation, immigration, taxation, transit taxes, you name it, the Feds assisted in coordinating.

In the South they resented this. Each State was quite comfortable about setting its own rules and codes of conduct. The North told the South to get rid of slave because it was immoral. Really, it was because of the economics of slave labor. The Southern States resented this. The Feds told the South what to do on a wide variety of things, all of which, on principle alone, were resented by the South.

Even good ideas caused resentment. They felt that the Central Government was exceeding its Constitutionally limited powers; and perhaps it was, in principle.

The election of 1860 was important in that is saw the dissolution of the Whigs and the rise of the GOP. It also saw the first GOP president in one Abraham Lincoln.

The South had felt, for a long time, that the Feds were over reaching in their influence and talked about leaving the United States Union. The Constitution did not provide for any State to leave and the North read the Constitution literally.

This was no gentleman's club that you could opt out of. Get rid of the Slaves and compete on even ground, or else.

Lincoln supported the "or else" clause of the Constitution.

So when everyone sitting around the table said, "Who will be President?" and all the hands pointed here an there.

Of course, since there were 19 "Northern" states and only 11 "Southern" states, it was the North who selected the President. Hello, Mr. Lincoln.

South Carolina was the first to congratulate Mr. Lincoln. They threw a shoe, a chamber pot, and a chair at him. This was followed by Virginia flipping their table over and pulling a gun out.

West Virginia pulled away from his brother and sided with the North. Ah, brother fighting brother.

In short order, other Southern states began to flip over their tables and charge their Northern counterparts. A huge brawl broke out and the South showed just how scrappy it could be. Maryland went down under a pile of Virginian, South and North Carolinian fists. Pennsylvania had his pants pulled down, his shirt pulled up over his head and then had an atomic wedgie performed upon them.

The North did not seem very prepared for this. For quite some time all they could do was to hold off their Southern cousins. Knee biting, crotching, and eye poking were the rule of the day.

The West looked up from their panning, looked back down and threw up a fist and pumped it. "We're with you, Yankees!", and then went back to panning.

Britain, looking for a way to break up the US after being humiliated by them twice in the last 80 years, began to court the southern states.

He wandered around the fight and whispered at some of the Southern States. He told them that if they won their fight, then Britain would be their very good friend. They would recognize them and help to protect them from the big, bad, north.

The Northern states promptly blockaded the South to keep Britain from slipping the Southerners any weapons or money. Several of the Northern States took a break from throwing beer bottles at the South to first eye Britain and then flip them off.

France was not quiet at this time either. Anxious to bring Mexico back into the French table, they too began to hover. They menaced a bruised and beaten Mexico, still hurt from the thrashing they received a few years earlier. It looked l like the Monroe Doctrine was going to be used for Toilet paper and that Mexico was going to become a slave colony to France. Europe was salivating over a broken and humiliated United States. Oh, what a different world it would have been.

Eventually, the North, realizing that it outclassed the South in every category from height (a full 2 feet!), reach, and punching power, began to get serious.

With a single hand, Virginia was pulled off Pennsylvania's back by several northern states and thrown head first onto the bar, smashing whiskey bottles the whole way.

Mississippi and Louisiana were knocked senseless by Indiana and Iowa. Then, a group of Northerners began to wade in amongst the most Southern of States. In quick succession, Tennessee had a pool stick broken across the bridge of its nose and he went down. A boot to the throat of Alabama put them down. Georgia, oh my God, poor Georgia. I almost can not write about them. As Alabama went down, Georgia mooned Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio out of some insane spite. New York was there too, I believe. They all tore into Georgia like a monkey on a cupcake. Screaming, yelling and blood chilling cries came from the bottom of that pile.

Jeans, a shirt, a shoe, and a spleen flew from the pile, the spleen hitting the window of the bar and slid, squeaking to the floor. Florida tried to come to Georgia's aid but a salt shaker first hit them on the bridge of the nose and then a serving tray was bent over his head. He crawled away from the fight and hoped it would pass by him.

After Georgia was left twitching in the fetal position, the Northern Gang proceeded to pound the grits out of South Carolina. They started it all, anyhow. Man, the screams still echo out in the street. With a boot print on the back of South Carolina's head, it was the turn of North Carolina.

North Carolina put up both hands and yelled, "No Mas!" but to no avail. The Yankees tore him down as badly as they did South Carolina.

Virginia was backed into a corner and was eventually put into a headlock by several Northern States. A huge bowie knife was pointed at the nether regions of Virginia by the Yankees that where still dripping blood and hair from their last set of victims.

Even Virginia knew the fight was over. California and the other Western States rebuffed every attempt a joining the South. Frankly, if they weren't drunk they were looking for gold. Sometimes they even looked for gold while drunk.

Virginia surrendered and the table began to be re-knit. It was the worst fight that the US had ever been in. Ever. No other fight before or since had caused so much blood to be shed.

England ran back across the room at high speed, bottles and knives in pursuit. France began to whistle and wander back to their part of the bar, hands in their pockets, when confronted with a huffing and puffing Northern Gang standing behind Mexico. My, did France look small.

It was not until Spain decided to poke the bear that the US got involved again in 1898. Southern States and Northern States bonded as only war can bond a people. It felt good to have their fingers in the a full head of Spanish hair. They bounced and punted Spain from one end of the bar to the other all night. We were ready for WWI, now.

In reality, France and Britain were terrified of this resurgent US. More than 3 Million battle trained veterans now stood on American soil. Canada and Mexico remained free of US soldiers only because we chose to leave them free.

We had more men under arms than the entire standing armies of Europe AND their reserves. Even the Grand Army of Napoleon was 1/3rd the size of our military. No sir, no one wanted to mess with that US. Better to wait until he got flabby and bored with the world and then start to cause some trouble.

So, there you go. The Civil War in a nutshell. All those casualties. In the sense of Slavery, it was a win. Everyone was now free. In the sense of State's Rights, everyone lost. The over-reaching Federal Government of today traces it roots back to the victory of the North over the South.

States rights ARE and CAN be limited beyond the scope of the Constitution. I know what the document SAYS, but I can also read all the Civil War monuments scattered around the North and the South. They will listen to the Central Government or they will pay a price in either liberties, wealth, or war.

Live well.

--Zavost.

You Dare, Newt!

2012-01-11T12:34:00.000-08:00

From high atop the Stoa this day, I take umbrage with many of the GOP candidates.

First, is Mr. Newt Gingrich. I heard Mr. Gingrich say one of the MOST idiotic things to come from a "conservative" in a very long time. He described Mr. Romney's actions while working a firm 18 years ago as "Looting". In the 1980's they were called "Corporate Raiders" and they performed and still DO perform a vital service in a Free Market economy.

Now, people tell me over and over that Newt is sooooo smart and all, but to say that Mitt "looted" businesses in the name of profit tells me that he is either grandstanding for a Populist stump or he is ignorant of Free Market practices.

Let me be very simple here for everyone, in case you forgot what has made this country great, well from 1787 to about the 1980's.

Mitt was a businessman and not a politician. Therefore the only people he had to please were his Board of Directors and his Shareholders. You know, Shareholders. They are the ones that put their money into a company in the hopes that they will make AS MUCH PROFIT as possible on that money. The money they invest in a company provide needed capital to purchase equipment and hire labor. If Mitts job was to "acquire" other companies for their portfolio then I'd expect him to acquire them for one of several reasons: a) that company provides a service for cheaper than it could cost the parent company to develop...and make a profit. b) that company is a competitor and it would be cheaper to acquire then to compete. c) that company possesses patents and intellectual property that the parent company needs to develop new products or services. OR d) the company is all of the above and is "excess" capacity in the market place. Purchasing the assets and then breaking up the company, i.e. LOOTING, will bring in revenue, eliminate competition, and bring in valuable talent and patents.

It is the most efficient use of the national labor pool by ensuring that talent has the ability to go where it will be put to best use. Material resources will be put to the most efficient use as well. This is Economics 101 here folks.

There is nothing at all wrong with what Mitt did there. The strong survive and the weak perish. Period. Those employees who have lost their jobs may find new work in the parent company, they may find new work in other entities within their field, or they may retire. It is also possible that they will retrain into a more useful job field. Heck, they may even take this as a sign to become their own BOSS and perhaps get bought out by someone else and make a ton of money.

It is all good in the end. Life is not easy and life does not come with guarantees. Get used to it.

Newt, for as smart as you are I can not condone the idea that government, in ANY WAY can set the profit goals for any Private Industry. Period. The government has other things to worry about then how much money someone makes or how much profit a company makes. For the love of all that is Holy, can you see that, Newt!

Be at least a little conservative will ya? Step away from Mr. Obama...I want to see some daylight between your position and his, got it?

I'm certainly not a Romney fan. He has MANY flaws that make him rotten fruit for me. However, in this case, Newt needs to get a clue and remember what made this country great. It certainly was not measured by some pinhead in D.C.

Live well.

--Zavost

Revolutionary War Bar Scene

2012-01-09T13:01:00.000-08:00

Upon the Stoa this night I must discuss the Revolutionary War as if it were between people in a bar. This should be interesting.

Ok, so we are turning the clock back about another 165 years to 1750. The United States has yet to be born. Britain and France are the major powers in the world at this time. Germany and Italy are both patchworks of smaller nations, squabbling and warring upon one another.

What will become the United States are 13 colonies that are seated at the Great British table. The British have been gathering colonies and nations to its table for quite some time in an attempt to have both more friends and a bigger table than France.

The Spanish are old and enfeebled while the Ottoman Turks are at the height of their vigor, never to have more power than they had at the gates of Vienna.

The British and the French had brawled and fought off and on for decades and decades. Currently they are locked into a vicious arm wrestling match with daggers pointed up from the surface of the table below their hands. Their proxies, the lesser people at their tables have been fighting the hardest, trying to pull one another to different parts of the bar and to force them to sit at other tables.

The colonies, especially Virginia, New York, and Massachusetts were eager to show their loyalty to Britain and sit closer to the head of the table. They took extra classes in warfare and polished up on their knife fighting. Heck, they even pulled on the leashes of the Indians tied to their chairs and asked them for some pointers on how to fight the French and their Indian allies that caused so much trouble.

Britain, however, looked down on the "Colonials" as much as the Colonies looked down upon their Indian allies. Britain felt that the "children" that sat at his table lacked the sophistication and education to properly fight the French on their terms and relegated the "provincials" to scouting and Indian fighting. This did not sit well with Colonies who felt that they were every bit the equal of the British.

By 1753, the colonial states had successfully beaten or bullied the Indians that were allied with the French. Tying some of them up the various colonial chairs at the British Great Table, others they threw out of the bar. A few, they threw out of second floor windows.

By all accounts, the "provincials" did a great job. The bar tab was high, though. The French did not go down easy, the fight at the bigger table was nasty and wrecked the place a great deal. The fighting in the corner did not involve the Great Powers that much. Most of it fought by proxies, such as the colonies and the Indians.

Britain did not have the money to pay off this tab, despite adding many new chairs to its table. In fact, it found that all these new people sitting at their table were actually COSTING him more money. No sir, this could not last.

So, to help pay down this bill, Britain was going to take a more active role in the personal finances of everyone who sat at his table. First, he was going to make it more expensive to sit at this table. Also, you had no choice to BUT to sit at his table. Each member was going to have to pay more for protection and personal defense.

The Colonies lived in a spacious, undeveloped area and were able to grow their income every year, however, what really began to happen was that Britain continued to make it more and more expensive to sit at the table. The Colonies were even told one day that they could not PRODUCE anything. If they chopped down a tree and wanted to make a piano out of it, they were forbidden from making that piano. Instead, they had to ship the wood to Britain where they would make the piano and the colony would then buy the finished product.

Well, hell, it was always cheaper to make it yourself then to buy it from someone who lived so far away. They could not even make their own shoes, for crying out loud.

Sticking around with the British was beginning to get onerous and the colonies began to talk about making their own table. Britain sat wwaaaayyyy over there and the colonies got sick of supporting his fat butt while he called the colonies lazy and unsophisticated.

Some of the colonies thought it was a good idea to make their own table. There was plenty of wood around. Wood they could chop, and plenty of smashed tables and chairs from the recent brawl. Others felt that Britain had done good by them and that they owed it to Britain to remain loyal in the face of so many enemies.

Now we are at 1773 and Britain is really needing more cash to pay off its growing commitments. The number of chairs at the table continued to grow and it always took time for the money to come with the new chair. The richest people at the table were the colonies, so Britain began to tax everything from the nails in their shoes to the tea they drank.

Enough was enough. The colonies, despite their misgivings of loyalty, began to complain louder and louder to Britain. Instead of paying attention to the colonies, he told them to shut up and get back to work. He was hungry and had more bills to pay.

Britain may have been dismissive but he was not stupid. One day, he went to the Massachusetts colony and told them to hand over all their guns. He trusted them, of course, but they didn't really need all those guns since HE was there to protect them from all their enemies.

Needless to say, Massachusetts disagreed. Even as Britain tried to yank the gun from Massachusetts' hands, the gun went off. To this day, no one knows if Massachusetts pulled the trigger or if Britain accidentally fired their own gun.

The damage was done. After Britain wiped off the burnt black powder from his face, picked up the dented crown and looked for his collar button that had been blown off; he pointed a finger at Massachusetts and said, "You know of course, this means war!"

Even those that did not want to fight with Britain knew that they had to defend themselves. Canada, created after the last great fight, was a great friend of Britain, and the Northern Colonies watched him closely.

Each side began to line up their allies. The Canada and their Indians. Britain and their Indians. The colonies and their Indians. The Colonies even began to ask the major powers of Europe if they would like to help them in their bid for freedom from the table of Britain.

All of the powers thought that the Colonies were very naive to think that they would help them. If they helped bust up Britain like that, who is to say that others may seek to break up their great tables? Heck, no, colonies, you are on your own.

New York, ready for a scrap, charged North at Canada. They were going to knock them out of the fight quickly and make them join the colonial table. New York rounded the bar, out of sight of the rest. A great commotion took place with chairs and bottles smashing all over the place.

Finally, after one last crash, New York comes back, limping and bleeding. His nose is broken, both eyes are blacked, and a shoe is missing. The left one, I believe.

From behind the bar they hear, "knock it off, eh?"

New York tells everyone else to shut up and begins wipe the blood off his face.

Since Britain still had enemies in the European part of the bar, they wanted to stay close to home. Instead of coming directly at the Colonies, they instead paid the German state of Hesse to bust us up.

The German state was scrappy, all right. It came in, hat cocked forward and yelled, "Wir sind hier zu stampfen Sie!"

They began stomping through New York, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. Generally causing a ruckus and being a pain in their collective butts. They never were able to pin any of those colonies into a decisive fight, though. They would come in, sometimes at night, and wreck up the place. Then they would march out to fight. We would snipe at them from the trees. They would yell at us to fight like men.

We would say you are a stupid man to stand there in the open and get shot at like that.

The colonies would then dodge and weave from table to table, hiding behind one another while a third colony would poke the Hessians with a fork in the behind. This went on for some time until the Hessians started busting up New Jersey. That night, after New Jersey had been spanked and roughed up a bit for flipping of Britain, the Hessians partied. They drank as only Germans can drink while being paid to rip up someone else's house.

Several of the Colonies got together that night, in the cold snow and ice, with the intent of de-panting the Hessians. One panty raid later and the Hessians were standing in their long johns, freezing. The Colonies taunting them from across the river with their pants held high, fluttering in the breeze upon a bayonet.

Embarrassed, many of the Hessians decided to give up the fight and simply live with the colonies.

Britain, ticked off about spending all that money and still having to put up with the taunts from across the bar, decided to get nasty. Britain pulled up his pants, wiped the meat juices from his chins and began to move towards the ramshackle and shoddy Colonial tables.

The French, amused at all the consternation the colonies were causing the British decided to follow close over the British shoulder to see for himself.

The porkulent British ruler shouted at the colonies during the entire walk over. He attempted to grab one colony while kicking another. He missed both. Tripping, he accidentally sat on New York. New York squealed under the weight of Britain, but the other colonies could do nothing. Instead, they did the same thing with Britain that they did with Hesse.

The colonies ran amok, running this way and that while Britain huffed and puffed in pursuit. Occasionally, he would clip one of the colonies and send them spinning, but for the most part, Britain continued to run all over the place while the French rolled around on the floor laughing themselves silly. Their great adversary being humiliated by a bunch of children running willy nilly about the bar. What a MAROON!

New York, unable to roll out from under the box lunch that Britain had left behind on his back, yelled for help. The Southern Colonies jabbed a pitchfork in Britain's butt, which got his attention in a big way.

South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia started to get roughed up by a highly irate Britain.

The burst of energy from Britain took its toll, however. Panting, red-faced, and facing a serious sugar crash, Britain began to take one jab after another from the Colonies. They were not running any longer.

Punch after punch, knee cap after knee cap, the colonials began to make Britain sting. Then, finally, Britain tries to punch out Virginia with one final haymaker blow. Swinging wildly, Virginia ducks and punts Britain in the crotch.

France, deciding to get involved in all the fun, kneels down behind Britain while the Colonials give Britain one final shove.

Britain falls backwards, over France's back, and into the bowl of Sour Cream and Onion chip dip. For good measure, France blows his nose and throws the tissue upon Britain. France was laughing so hard they were practically crying. Thus the runny nose, and thus the tissue upon Britain.

Embarrassed and salty, Britain throws up his arms and yells, "Fine" and then limps away, trailing chip dip and waving his hand, frantically trying to get the tissue off his hand.

The US makes one big table of its own by nailing all the smaller tables together. Over time, they plan on enlarging the table and making it out of better, stronger wood. They thank France and wish them well.

France, still chuckling at Britain's misfortune, wipes a tear out of one eye. Upon returning the tissue to his pocket he notices several people at his table. They are holding axes and torches. One fellow stands near a scaffold with a huge blade at the top, slowing curling his index finger at France, "come on...come on home...". His name plate read Rob S. Pierre.

He seemed like a nice fellow, though France could not restrain an involuntary gulp of the throat.

The US, still waving at France turns around to begin work on their new table, even as a loud "chink, whomp, thump, thump, thump" comes from France's table. Something shadowy rolling away under another table.

So, there you go. France loses out, just as the major powers thought would happen if they got involved. Britain was humiliated and tried again in 1812 to bring the "colonials" to heel, with similar results, though. France played a big part in that story also.

I wonder which period in history the little tyrant will have me write about next.

Obama is rolling up the Constitution and smoking weed with it. The FCC is going to start putting names with everyone on the Internet, nothing to worry about there. Obama gets the right to imprison anyone for anything as long as HE feels they are a danger to national security and my daughter has me writing fluff.

Well, it is more fun to write fluff anyhow. I just have to hope that there is a beer bottle with Obama's name on it in the next brawl. Unfortunately, the GOP contenders are pigmies. Guess we'll see this November.

Live well.

--Zavost

WWI bar scene

2012-01-06T15:40:00.000-08:00

Upon the Stoa this night, I once again bend to the will my exuberant daughter. The WWII bar room scene has forced me to make one on WWI, modern news, the American Civil War, heck, whatever she can come up with. I must bend to her will, or be dragged into a black pit of insanity.

I might as well write some fluff while the timbers of society creak and sway about me.

Ok, so, we will turn back the clock from the WWII bar room. We'll turn it back and reset the scene.

It is 1914, early. The Austro-Hungarian Empire has been around in one form or another for centuries. He has several smaller nations at his table, not all of them willing. The loudest and most boisterous of them was named Serbia. He resented the influence that the bigger cousin exercised upon him and his friends, Croatia and Slovenia. The other cousins wanted to be free as well, but they could not work up the courage to make a run for the other side of the bar. Austria made them sit at his table and would not let them move around much.

In this large room, Germany stands at the bar, drinking a large stein of beer and scarfing down brats. Austria stands nearby, speaking friendly to Germany while furrowed brows and steely eyes glared over at Serbia.

Austria was glaring because Serbia was leaning back in his chair to chat with Russia and the Ottoman Turks. That combination never sat well with Austria, though Germany told him that the Turks meant well. It was the Russians to keep an eye on. Yes, those Russians were not to be trusted.

France was at a table drinking Chardonnay and eating cheese. Confident in its wealth, power, and prestige despite being punched out by Germany 25 years earlier. A minor disagreement settled by a crushing French loss at the hands of Germany.

Great Britain sat in a large booth, friends and debtors gathered all around. He was confident in his Empire of friends and associates. He had not a care in the world. Great Britain was still so large that the Sun never sat completely on any of his lands.

The United States had a stalk of wheat being sucked on gently between two teeth. Feet kicked up, hat pulled down over his eyes. He nursed a beer and relaxed after a hard day's work in the fields and factories. Canada sat with the US, but looked lovingly over at Great Britain. Ditto for Australia. Good old Australia. Always ready for a fight they could only ever help with, but never fight alone. They had more in common with the US than Great Britain, but they were in Britain's family nonetheless.

Russia; huge, hulking, backward Russia. He sat at a large table all by himself, trying to regale other countries with his wealth and sophistication. The problem with Russia was that he was so big he could crush you by accident and dumb enough not to even notice. Russia just wanted to be taken seriously, to be thought of as an equal among peers within the bar. Not many people paid him much attention.

Nearby sat the Ottoman Turks. Old, wheezing, and in debt to many people in the bar, they relied on Germany to help them make ends meet. Not many sat at their table, though, and most of those really did not want to be there. Russia was always calling over to people like Persia and Egypt, promising them riches if they'd come sit with him. No, the Turks did not like Russia at all.

Things had been steady in the bar for years. The last great dust-up had been 12 years earlier when the US accused Spain of being a bully and beat them down. Spain now sat virtually alone at the bar, drinking shots and remembering their past greatness.

One day, things changed rather quickly. That morning, there was tension in the air. No one new what, but everyone knew something was going to happen. The only one who didn't care was the US, sucking on the stalk and whistling quietly to himself.

People began to look about and affirm their friendships in case anyone started a fight. Austria looked to Germany with a wink and a nod. Germany winked back. France looked over at Britain and Britain gave France a thumb's up sign. The Turks asked for more help from Germany which they were then granted. Russia reminded Serbia that they were their "Big Brother" and that they didn't need to put up with Austrian oppression. France and Britain reminded Russia that they were his friends and to please not pick a fight.

Italy went around the room reminding everyone that he was their friend, though he did not get much attention.

The wait staff went from table to table, passing messages and handing out food, hoping for the best.

The fateful moment came when Serbia leaned over to tell Austria something. He spoke too quietly to be heard, so Austria had to really lean over to hear. Without warning, Serbia buried a knife in Austria's neck, wounding him terribly. The wound was not fatal and with a roar of anger, Austria punched Serbia straight out if his chair. Austria then began to savagely beat Serbia without relent. Russia leapt upon Austria and bore him to the ground, kidney punching and head butting. Germany reached down and began to pry Russia off of Austria and then broke a chair over Russia's head when the prying failed.

France and Britain looked at each other and then leapt to hit Germany from behind. Germany was waiting for that and beat them both down with the back swing of a chair. Italy attacked Austria and Turkey attacked Russia. Japan declared that they were part of the fight and then began to beat up Germany's friends in Asia.

The center of the bar looked like a mosh pit of flailing arms, beer bottles, and shoes arching gracefully out of the melee.

The US ducked as a bottle flew over head, but otherwise acted as if nothing were going on.

It was not long before the fight broke up most of the bar. It seemed as if everyone had lost their minds over...what was this fight about? No one seemed to know why and no one seemed inclined to stop throwing punches and kicks either.

Austria and Russia continued to trade blows while Turkey nipped at Russia's flank, irritating him. Serbia was out cold under a broken chair with an order of fries being ground into his hair as the fighting raged about.

The fight went on and on and on. Brutal and without quarter being given. Beer, blood, and brats soaked the floor and matted the Serbs who remained out cold.

The British, Canadians and Australians tried to knock out the Turks but found the old man not as helpless as they thought. The Turks beat them senseless as they charged straight at him. Bleeding badly, the three withdrew. Australia looked over at the US asked when they were going to join.

The US absently waved a hand in the air and went back to humming a melody.

Germany continued to beat on Russia, France and Britain with surprising ferocity and skill. This one country not only did not go down, but continued to knock all three of them about when he focused on one opponent.

Italy, France, Britain, and Russia were fading. Germany was panting, but otherwise still ready to fight. Austria was making odd noises. Wheezing and gulping, some wondered if Austria had been struck a deeper blow by Serbia then had been first thought. The Turks still had their hackles up and kept swatting at the British who had never stopped harassing them.

Then, quite unexpectedly, a note turns up. Britain, while scuffling with Germany, kicks a letter that had fallen out of Germany's pocket. The letter skids across the floor and ends up near the US.

Since his foot was going numb from being kept high on the table, the US let his foot down and saw the note. It was addressed to Mexico, from Germany.

With some interest, the US unfolded the note. The note said in part: "Hey, Mexico. If you help us out by attacking the US, we will make sure that you get all the guns, ammunition, and support you need. We will make sure that you get most of the territory back that you lost in 1846 and 1848. Also, we'd be really grateful if you could help broker an alliance between us and the Japanese. They seem like swell folks. Your friend, Germany XOXO"

The US's eyebrows rose and knitted together in irritation as he read on. The US had overlooked the sinking of its ships by "accident" by Germany, the US had even sold less equipment to Britain then it intended, hoping to remain neutral in this mess, and here was Germany, trying to pick a fight with the US.

So sir, this was not going to stand. The US put on its ass-kicking boots, put its hat on the table and the turned around fixing Germany with a set of eyes that had stopped blinking minutes before.

Germany could not help but notice the glare and went, "whoops". With a terrific double-fisted haymaker, Germany hammered Russia straight back into its own corner, upending the table and scattering all the chairs. Russia was down and would not be getting back up.

Germany turned its attention fully upon the French, the British, and the approaching United States. Italy, barking and yipping like a frantic lap dog, was brushed off and sent rolling.

Austria seemed to be stumbling, having some troubles shoving the Italians away from Trieste. The Turks also were stumbling about. Striking at the unconscious Russia and not scoring a lot of hits.

Though tired and bleeding, the Germans waded into the French and British, seeking to crack open their heads. Just as Britain, starving and panting heavily was about to pass out, the US arrived, giving him some food and support. Coming to the fight fresh, the US did not have a difficult time taking the German blows and then, bending Germany's wrists back told them to give it up before he got mad.

Seeing the futility of continuing a fight they never began, Germany decided that enough was enough. Spinning on his heel, Germany walked back to his own table. The German table was unbroken. Untouched in all the fighting. The rest of the bar was busted up, but not a single punch had been thrown in the German part of the bar.

Then, when the US asked who had started the whole mess, everyone pointed at Germany, who then spit out a mouthful of beer. Germany protested and said that Austria had defended itself against Serbia and that they were only supporting Austria.

Austria was down on its knees, clutching at a broken shard of glass that was sticking out of its neck. With a gasp, Austria collapsed into a pool of its own blood, dead.

When Austria went down, the Old Turk grasped his chest and with a cut-off shriek, fell over backwards dead.

Russia remained sitting on the floor up against the wall, drooling and twitching at unseen foes.

Britain and France shouted, "who is going to pay for all this damage!". Germany looked about as everyone was pointing at him and his untouched dinner table. Austria and the Ottomans were dead. There was no one left to blame, "aw, CRAP!" Germany said in frustration. Italy jumped up and down reminding everyone that they were in this too. Japan, interested in keeping a low profile, quietly kept what it could of German holdings in Asia and turned a hungry eye towards an un-expecting and feeble China.

The US then told France and Britain to take it easy on Germany, reminding them that Germany was never really "beat", they simply stopped fighting. The powers of Europe ignored him and clamored for Germany to be stripped naked and paraded around the bar in victory. Eventually, the US went back to his own table, drawing up a plan to form a group around another table that would settle issues and misunderstandings before they resulted in open warfare.

In this, the US soon grew bored, and soon went back to sucking on his wheat stalk, deaf to the shouting and hollering going on in Europe, disgusted with their behavior. The Europeans were uninterested in this new table.

Serbia, sometime later, comes to and looks around, wondering what has happened since he was knocked out by Austria. He sees a different looking Austria sitting at their own table. Hungary has its own table, too.

Looking around, he notes that he is sitting at a table marked Yugoslavia. The man at the head of the table grinning at him and has a sticker on his shirt saying, "Hello, my name is Marshall Tito". Sitting around this table is Croatia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Slovenia, and Serbia. "Aw, Damn it!" He screams. Once again, he is not free to do as he wishes.

The rest of Hungary has also broken down. The Czechs and the Slovaks form a new table and tell the Hungarians to go get bent, and the Hungarians have no choice but to accept this.

The Russians are in their corner, thrashing about and yelling at itself. Obviously, they were going through an identity crisis. One second he would scream, "White", the next, "Red". Through clenched teeth it would yell, "Finland". Interestingly, the Finnish and the Poles walk away from the Russians and pull up a table and chair all their own, glad to have escaped from Russia's dementia.

The tired old Turks are at an end. Once they were the Terror of Europe. Not any longer. The placard at their table was taken away, along with the Ottoman body. On it was an award, "tearing up Europe since 1453". In its place was a new Turkey with a new leader. Arab nations, under the wing of the British came into being, squabbling and bickering.

The British wondered at these little, screeching and spitting little people. Were they going to cause trouble in the future? Nah, he thought. What can they do? If the Turks could keep them under heel, we certainly can...

The bar was busted up for a long time after this. Some patrons left while others came in to take a seat. Germany was angry as hell that it had to foot the bill for someone else's fight. What exactly was the fight about anyhow? Hell if he knew. All he knew was that every time he made a penny, someone else took it from him and demanded two MORE! No sir, this dog won't hunt. He was going to put an end to it, but he could wait. He would get his revenge for this humiliation.

So there you go, folks. WWI in a bottle. I'm getting requests to do our modern day and perhaps I'll do one soon.

Current events may pull me away for an article or two, but I'll return with a new bar scene shortly.

Live well.

Zavost

WWII, the Bar Room Brawl

2012-01-02T10:47:00.000-08:00

Upon the Stoa this night, it is New Year's Eve. According to the Western calendar, at least. 2011 has been a year of transition and change. The world is beginning to get itself into position for reordering.

The years 2008 through 2011 will be looked at just as the years 1929-1933 were looked at. Years just prior to the last great reordering of our world. It would take longer than I have patience to describe what is coming. It would also be too complex to tell easily. However, my daughter and I have developed a pictorial way of describing history.

Particularly amusing is rendering WWII by describing them as individuals in a bar. I'll do my best to replicate the story here as my daughter and I do these discussions as thought experiments to better break down history to make more understandable and fun for others.

Anyhow, here is WWII as described as if it were a barroom brawl.

This bar is a big bar. All the countries if the world are represented here. Well, the countries as they were constituted in 1938.

In the center of the bar we see Germany, counting out fat wads of bills and stacks of coin. France and Great Britain sit across from him, waving the money back in their direction. Germany gets more and more irritated as they pay off the war debt from WWI.

The Soviet Union, battered and bandaged from transforming itself from Russia into its current shape, sits alone in the corner of the bar, keeping everyone out with snarls and mean stares.

The Spanish brothers are in another corner, kicking the crap out of each other. Every so often, Germany slips empty bottles and a shivs to one of the brothers.

Sometimes, when France and Great Britain aren't looking Germany sneaks over to Russia to talk about new weapons and industries.

Germany continued milling about the bar, telling Austria that they need to join up with him. He got pushy with Czechoslovakia as well, telling them that Germany needed repayment for losses suffered by them in the last war.

The Czechoslovaks, with a wink and a nod from France and Great Britain, tell Germany to get stuffed. Before long, Germany has the Czechs in a headlock and glares at his little brother, Slovakia, showing what he will do to him if he is screwed with.

Before long, Hungary, Finland, and Japan, line up with the Germans, thinking that they can have the run of the bar if they teamed up. Italy, its finger caught in the teeth of a small African country named Ethiopia, begged Germany for some assistance, which was promptly granted.

With Germany's backing, Japan began to line up the folks in their corner of the bar. China was quietly dragged screaming into the bathroom and mugged repeatedly.

The United States was sitting quietly in its own corner of the bar, doing its best not to notice what was going on in Europe and Asia.

Eventually, Germany began to push Poland around. A proud man, Poland looked over Germany's shoulder at Great Britain and France for help. Again, a wink and a nod made Poland feel better, though the bloodied and tooth-gapped Czech gently swung his head from side to side, ever so slightly. Poland looked over at the Soviet Union, never a friend of Poland, who surprisingly gave them a wink and a nod of support.

So, Poland spits water in Germany's face and tells him to buzz off.

Germany slowly wiped off the water and in very short order leapt spread Eagled upon the screaming Pole. Great Britain and France stood to the side going, "Hey!" Which was about all they did when the Soviet Union suddenly joined in on the Mother of all Ass-Beatings.

In short order, Poland, now de-panted, coatless and shoeless lied at the foot of Germany's bar stool while the Soviets counted the money left in the wallet.

France and Great Britain were outraged, yet did very little, other than prepare to defend themselves from a clearly psychopathic Germany, who had recently flipped France the bird when asked for another debt payment.

Instead Germany puffed out its chest, glaring at the rest of the world telling them that their asses would be kicked...in alphabetical order.

The United States finally took an interest, though it was definitely of two minds on the situation. Finishing its beer, the US moved to a table closer to Great Britain to keep a closer eye on things.

For quite a while, Germany strutted up and down the bar, snarling and threatening, pointing and cursing. However, it did not seem like he had the stomach to take on the entire bar. Every so often, a high pitched cry for help came from the men's room as China continued to get mugged.

Even as Germany looked to be all hot air and no teeth, the US was slipping money and a set of brass knuckles over to the Brits. The US looked at the situation with growing concern, though he still had no real interest in getting involved.

When Germany struck, they struck quickly, just as he did with Poland. France, certain that Germany was full of manure, sat down to a leisurely meal of cheese and wine.

While France tipped back a glass of Chardonnay, a hand struck out and grabbed France by their greasy locks of hair, and yanked them straight to the floor. Nazi jack-boots immediately began to stamp down repeatedly. The fight with the Polish lasted longer. It was not long at all before France gave up the fight.

Great Britain was shocked and turned to speak to the US, who suddenly got interested in the stew they were eating and acted like they couldn't hear them.

Italy, eager to show how good a partner to Germany they were, kicked over the North African table and began to throw wild punches. Germany quickly dispatched Greece and the Scandinavian brothers.

The Spanish brothers were too engrossed in their own fights to pay much attention.

The Soviet Union simply remained in their corner, counting out the money taken from the Polish wallet.

Great Britain began to jab at Germany while Germany began to knock out English teeth.

As Germany continued to kick the crap out of Europe, Japan now began to assault Southeast Asia, Korea, and the other nations in the Pacific.

Before long, the Soviets, deep in their own schemes, took a beer stein to the side of the head. Still not seemingly aware of the attack, he spits out a tooth and takes a pool cue to the gut. In a blink, a flurry of boots and fists rained down on the dumbfounded Soviets.

After a lot of blood had been shed by Great Britain and the Soviet Union,the US had had enough of it and began to walk over in England's general direction.

Italy, the hapless sibling, was going down under a pile of African opponents and forced Germany to come over and help him out.

The US walked over with his arms out asking for calm and peace. Germany threw down a beaten and battered Morocco and spit on the floor in front of the US. Seemly composed of limitless energy and psychosis, Germany panted, spread his arms and legs and bellowed, "Kompt!"

The US, trying to strike a conciliatory tone, attempted to discuss the situation with Germany.

Before the US could get all the way over towards the rabid Teuton, Japan rabbit punched him in the back of the head. Finally furious, the US shot an arm behind them and throttled Japan by the neck. Germany shot out and began to pummel the US even as the US swung a squirming and windmilling Japan around and began to batter his head repeatedly upon the bar.

Great Britain, newly energized, piled onto Germany's back. The US slammed into Germany even with a screeching Japan in tow.

For several long minutes, Britain, the US, and a newly energized and supported Soviet Union traded punches, blood, and teeth with Germany and Italy.

Italy, taking a punch to the nose, fell on its behind and asked the US if they could join their team. Before the sentence was out, Germany began stamping on Italy.

With enemies all around, Germany was finally pummeled to the floor. The Soviets, Great Britain, and France were beaten badly by Germany, but remained on their feet.

The US finally turned his full attention upon Japan and ordered him to surrender, even as a raw squid was flung in his face.

A mighty blow to the face knocked them through the wall and out onto the pavement. The US stepped up to him, glass crunching underfoot, and demanded that he give up the fight. Again, Japan refused, kicking at the US's kneecaps.

Another crash and Japan landed back in the bar, feet and back up against a wall, head on the floor. Finally a white flag began to come out of a pocket.

The Soviet Union, anxious for more money and land, riffled Japan's pockets and stole a chain of northern Islands; telling the US that they were in the fight against Japan the whole time, in spirit if not in deeds.

You would think that the bar would quiet down after this massive fight, but even as the US was picking up its partners and dusting them off, the Soviets began to drag others over to their side of the bar, snarling and daring the US to deny it the compensation due for all the blood and teeth left on the floor.

And so began the Cold War.

The parts of the bar that sided with the US are nice and busy, while the side that was claimed through the military might of the Soviet Union never really recovered completely.

But that is, of course, another story for another day.

2012 is now underway. Let's look to the future with optimism. Even the worst events can have a happy outcome once all the pieces settle into their new orders.

Live well.

--Zavost

Kneel before Foamy!

2011-12-24T13:24:00.000-08:00

The fires of Vesta burn brightly atop the Stoa this morning. The Foamy awards are being lined up for their new owners. By the beard of Xeno the Stoic there has been much to award over the last few weeks.

You must pardon the energy of this posting, but when the fires of Vesta are stoked, things get less formal.

Our first winner, in no particular order, since all of these awards are going to IDIOTS is:

Vice President Joseph Biden. From the mouth of morons, the King of vapidity, Mr. Biden stated that the Taliban were "not our enemies, per se". PER SE? What the hell does that mean, Joe? People fly planes into the WTC, kill more civilians than the Japanese at Pearl Harbor (who at least attacked a MILITARY target) and you do not classify them as an ENEMY...PER SE! However, someone who wants to keep more of the money they EARN is classified as a terrorist and enemy of the State.
Huge FOAMY award for you Joe, AND TRY NOT TO SIT ON IT OR YOU'LL SEE WHICH FINGER FOAMY IS POINTING SKYWARD IN YOUR HONOR!

The second award goes to President Barak Obama, for. Oh. So. Many. Things.
First, he launches a campaign ad where he calls himself a TAX CUTTER. Man, you can draw in some swirls over my head on that one. THEN, he calls himself a FISCAL CONSERVATIVE. This from a man who spent more money that we didn't have than any president since 1787! Not just that, but ALL the deficits EVER accumulated since 1787! Where is my golden back scratcher BARACK for all that money my children will have to pay back. Oh, it when to SEIU and all your other cronies...FIGURES! THEN, he takes his photos with every uniformed soldier he can find. Salutes until he drops a belt size, sends out CHRISTMAS cards and gets all warm and fuzzy with the troops. The very troops that make him want to vomit and cringe whenever he sees them. The very troops that he ignored for A YEAR under his first commander in the Afghanistan theater. Yeah, that guy. Here is your Foamy you Communist twit! And lastly, tying back into how "fiscally conservative" he is, he spends $4 million on a 17 day VACATION TO HAWAII. His wife flies separate of course, which increases the cost of the trip. Want some Kobe steak while you are on the flight, Mrs. President? Can you PRETEND, at least, to follow your own dietary restrictions! Here is YOUR foamy as well, thunder thighs!

The third award goes to our NKVD wanna-be, Mr. Eric Holder, Attorney General of these Socializing United States. Here is a guy that accuses America of being timid and afraid to address race--to discuss it openly. Then, when his own political chickens come home to roost, by the names of "Gun Walker", "Black Panthers", "Nation of Islam", "Tea Party", "Selective Enforcement of Executive Laws", "Affirmative Action", "Laws for Whites and Laws for Blacks" he goes and CRIES "YOU ARE ONLY GOING AFTER ME BECAUSE I'M BLACK!" Also known as the RACE CARD!. You faaarreeeekkkkin' COWARD! Enjoy your FOAMY you black racist bastard!

The fourth award (fifth, if you include the Award Ms. Obama was given...unless she already ATE it) goes to the Walter Reed Hospital outside of Washington D.C. They passed a new regulation that bans ALL expressions of faith on the campus. No crosses, no bibles (not even for the patients), priests must wear street clothes, and no open prayer. This one has three dots popping into view next to my ear. WHAT THE HELL! (oops, that is an overt religious comment). Can I even wear my WEDDING RING on campus! That is a religious article. Did you think about that one you pinheads! Of course, no one is taking credit for this little policy. Believe me, no policy gets written ANYWHERE without a sponsor or someone who has to sign off. ANYWHERE! This just goes to show you that people take their direction from the one in charge. Again, WHO WROTE THAT POLICY AND WHO APPROVED IT! Tell me now, bitch! Who do I get to say gets the honor of this Foamy award! SOMEONE WROTE IT, OUT WITH IT...YOU WORK FOR ME, JERK!

And last, but not least, the next Foamy goes to none other than NEWT GINGRICH. I haven't a clue why the media is calling him the new GOP darling. He had his shot in the 90's and he BAHHHHLEEEWWWW IT!!!! It was his Congresses that began to adore the attention and mewling of the media. It was his Congresses, and those of his next in line that began to act like DEMOCRATS! You waffling intellectual effete! Do you think that anyone with two brain cells still functional while you were the Speaker has forgotten how you BUNGLED your opportunities? Sure, you kept Clinton in line, but only because he chose to buckle. YOU buckled when they shut the government down. YOU admitted defeat like a whiny coward. If you had truth and right on your side then backing down was the WORST thing you could have done. Don't own what you don't own. Don't claim to be a TEA PARTY conservative when you still have the jam stains on your cheeks and chins from the special interest parties thrown in your honor while in power. You are no Tea Party conservative, I don't care how many TP cells you have hoodwinked. If the MEDIA LOVES YOU THEN I MUST WONDER WHY! The ABR (anyone but Romney) angle doesn't clear the smell test. Cain is crushed and third party conservative phantoms rise every day. THANKS NEWT!!!!!! Hear is your FREEKIN' FOAMY! Put that next to your RINO certificate on the mantle!

God you all make me sick today. All the GOP out there. COWARDS and game players. Ron Paul is a NUT. Newt is a RINO, Romney is a RINO, Bachman is being ignored....COME ON...GIVE ME A BREAK!

That has been your Foamy report. The fellows with white lab coats are currently trying to force me down and inject huge amounts of Thorazine into my thrashing limbs. Yeah, well I'll show them. I won't pay my medical bill.

Pione, folks.

Live well,

--Zavost

CLEAR!!!

2011-12-18T12:05:00.001-08:00

I can hear this over and over from upon the Stoa. The European patient is expiring. adrenaline has been administered at least twice already. The Federal Reserve and world Central Banks trying oh so very hard to save their patient.

The whine of the shock pad capacitors is heavy in the air again as the Federal Reserve once again makes dollars available in unlimited supply; applying aid through several back doors since the ECB has already called a "time of death" out on the patient.

Dollars pouring out of the Treasure to support "dollar denominated" transactions. I wonder if trading in a portfolio of Greek bonds, to the tune of $5 Billion Euros can be classified as a "dollar" denominated transaction since the action taking place is the trading of Euros for Dollars?

How much is really being converted? How much of this debt is the American taxpayer retiring for the Europeans?

The first group of doctors has stepped back from the patient. The IMF, the ECB, a variety of "Residents" that were helping, part of the EU alphabet soup of professional leaches; all have stepped back, unable to decide what to do next to save the patient.

Good old Barak to the rescue. The United States has stepped in and plunged a central line into the neck of this corpse called the Euro and has attached the other end to our own Carotid. We will infuse this patient with our own life force and win the day...

...or doom ourselves to die with them.

The lending markets in Europe are dead. The lights are off and the only trades taking place are sales to non-European entities. And those transactions are being done in dollars, not Euros. The Euro is collapsing and the US will not be able to stop it.

Now I have to ask, does it need saving? Traditionally, if an economy goes in the tank, the currency would be devalued and the cost of doing business would dramatically shift downward. If Greece were to pull out and just thumb their noses at the rest of Europe, what would be the downside for Greece?

They will go back to the drachma, stick their tongues out at the EU and then begin to roll in the new business as folks from the rest of Europe begin to re-invest in a cheaper Greece. Happens all the time.

Greece was not ready, yet, to join the Euro. It should never have been allowed to join. The culture is not conducive to a Northern European concept. Greece shares more with Italy, Spain, and Portugal than it does with France, Germany, or Denmark. The economies are constituted very, very differently. Wrapping them up in a slick Euro did not eliminate the Black Economy that permeates the Mediterranean nations. Business is done differently down there. The governments have their own way of collecting taxes and disbursing them to the masses.

The vital signs are fading. There is a rally every few days, but the decline is clear. Sooner or later...likely very soon, we will lose this patient.

Once the Euro has passed, the world will look in terror at the issues facing the United States, issues made worse everyday with bailouts to Europe and the crony capitalism that has taken over in America.

The contagion will spread to the United States and then things will get very scary after that. Very scary indeed.

Live well, everyone.

--Zavost

World Economic Deathwatch

2011-12-01T07:18:00.001-08:00

There is resigned acceptance upon the Stoa this day. It is not everyday you stand on Deathwatch for an entire economic way of life.

The world markets are dying. I will explain why I'm saying that, but first I want to demonstrate its equivalence in nature.

I have had the honor, due to my career in the healthcare field, to be present at the passing of many individuals. There is a power and energy in the room at those moments that is difficult to describe. It is the feeling that something important is happening.

Generally, if a person is about to die in their beds, either through a long illness or simple old age, there are two general styles of passing. If the person is conscious, they will become tired and take a nap. Their breathing will gradually slow until it becomes gently inconsistent. If one is still sitting nearby, you will also hear the last, long breath released from the lungs as all the muscles go slack in the chest. Frequently, I'm there looking at silenced monitors and know when this point is approaching. Sometimes it is the gentle release from the torment of cancer or some other painful ailment that has ravaged the body. Frequently, you can see the look of relief on their faces as they go.

The other way, which can be frightening to those who have not experienced it before, is a gasping and gulping that begins when death is near. I believe that the person has not completely resigned themselves, or accepted the fact that it is their time. No matter how they struggle, their moment has arrived. The underlying cause of their demise, be it heart failure, organ failure, cancer, etc. will not resolve, even if doctors are able to "keep" you alive on machines. Our technology is stupendous, but when it is your time, it is your time.

The body may "rally", but the ending is still a foregone conclusion.

Over night, the Federal Reserve and numerous Central Banks around the world stepped in and provided "Dollar Liquidity" to the world markets. Many companies, banks, and businesses...and governments, borrow and pay off debts every day in dollars. Loans and transactions are in dollar denominations.

In 2008, when Lehman Brothers was allowed to collapse, the credit market locked up around the world. There were not enough dollars to loan or pay in the world market (in circulation). No one wanted to take the risk of making loans in less stable currencies. No on wanted the exposure of someone making a run on shorting currency (think George Soros and Great Britain). At the time, the Fed made a special loan window available to keep the gears of finance turning with special interest rates.

That window opened wide last night and money like you have not seen before was made available to the world. Dollar denominate loans for everyone.

Why did this happen? The Euro is gasping. It knows the end is near and they are flailing. Except the Germans of course. There is a lot to admire and fear about those people. The European Central Bank, dominated by Germany, refused to participate in the world-wide bailout. Good for them. They understand what is happening and do not wish to squander their last reserves on this fools' dream.

Everyone looks at the world stock markets and smiles. Everything is up!

Did everyone's optimism leap because industry around the world came up with new technologies? No. Did the EU solve its debt crisis? No. Did the US Congress realize how deep the doo-doo is they are swimming in? Certainly not.

So, there has to be SOME reason why the markets were flush with cash. That is why. Everyone is looking for a place to "park" their money. The bond market in Europe is about gone. It is so expensive to sell debt, and the risk is simply too high that people with money are refusing to park it in Europe. There is not enough physical gold to purchase, and there are fewer and fewer people willing to buy "gold certificates".

So, they flee to the stock markets around the world. Central banks are not good places to keep money. Banks in general have begun to CHARGE rich people for the right to "park" their money with them, i.e. keep it safe since they know they can not grow that money safely.

The only problem is, the stock markets are not safe at all either and that will soon become very, starkly even, apparent to everyone. The United States has its own debt issues. Japan, in debt. EU, in debt. China, in debt despite all the favorable press they get. Oil nations, screwed because their customers are...in debt.

In 2008 I argued with my co-workers that the system, the entire system, be allowed to fail. It had to be allowed to reboot. Only by punishing those that made poor decisions would the rest of us learn what not to do. All the bail outs under Bush and Obama have done nothing but delay the day of reckoning...and make it much worse because we are in EVEN MORE debt.

We would be rebuilding now if not for that. Instead, we seek to entirely devastate the financial world as anyone alive has known it. It will be interesting to see what rises in its place.

The world market is gasping right now. The Unites States has shot the world full of adrenalin in an attempt to jump start things. An attempt to "give Europe more time to get things going in the right direction". That is not going to happen. The adrenalin will wear off and the US will have shot its last reserves off in a vain attempt to stave off the inevitable for another few days.

Yes, I said days. I don't think this will last more than another week or 10 days. Consumer confidence simply can not grow in this political and economic environment.

So I will sit upon my Stoa and continue to watch the monitors as they slow and then stop. I will stand in respect when the lines flatten out and the tone begins to drone.

Death is one thing that we all must do, and we must do it alone. It is natural to be afraid. To fall into the darkness and rely on faith that someone will be on the other side to catch you. I too am afraid, though I hope that if I am old enough, I will be at peace to allow it to come.

So too with the world markets today. No one can see what will come after this. Governments know that someone will be to blame and their cushy jobs are on the line. Thus, they delay the agony that we find ourselves in.

Live well, everyone. The sun will rise tomorrow, and for the next 5 billion years after that. Come join me on the Stoa and we will watch it together.

--Zavost

Thankfulness

2011-11-27T17:30:00.001-08:00

The Stoa has not forgotten Thanksgiving. I don't usually discuss holidays and such, unless there is a lesson to be learned from them, or a truth that requires deeper deliberation.

Thanksgiving is one of those holidays. First, I'm sure that everyone who reads my work knows how the holiday came to be. I'm also certain that you have thought about the Free-Market causes that permitted the first colonies to survive after their disastrous flirtation with colonial Socialism.

Secondly, this holiday means something, truly, to those really understand that it was a huge Thank You to God for showing them the way. The colonists offered up to Providence for God's bounty. I am currently living in the birthplace of that holiday. The ground I walk on every day is the same ground that Pocahontas and her tribe lived upon.

This holiday also marks the beginning of the end for the East Coast tribes of Indians. I doubt very much that there were enough Indian tribes left in the Tidewater region of Virginia to celebrate any holiday 80 years later.

Do I blame white Europeans for the genocide of the American Indian? Is there an argument against? Let's all be grown ups here. Yes, they did. Disease did much of it, but European expansionism finished it. If not Britain, then France. If not France, then Spain. The fate of the Indians was set once the first boat arrived off their shores.

It was a different mindset back then. Try to place yourself in their contemporary shoes. Europe as at constant war. Wars of Religion and Succession. The Plague was an ever-present threat to Europeans just as smallpox was to the Indians. There were the strong and the weak. The weak endured what they must at the hands of the strong. Life was, from the earliest, short, painful, and violent. Europeans had a dozen children and multiple marriages in the hopes that three or four children would survive into adulthood. The generations alive at that time shared similarities with our own, though shaded towards survival and expansion.

Those people looked upon North America as a paradise. The Indians were simply in their way. It was their escape from a Europe that was approaching the zenith of its cultural energy. The day would come where virtually no portion of the world would not have a European flag on it or near it. Had there been no North America these people would have vanished into the mists of time, ground under by the Establishment.

It happened. Get over it.

Today, I have much to be thankful for. I am healthy. I am employed. My family is healthy and I have friends. My brother, mother, and father are employed and living independently.

Driving in to work today, the weather was warm and sunny. Every morning I love looking out at the Navy Shipyards and feel pride in what they stand for. They protect all that I am thankful for. The Liberal idiots see only their narrow viewpoint of the world. They fail to understand just how vulnerable they are to the "old world". The world that is governed by the aggressive use of force. The world that never went away. That is the world held at bay by the men and women that use the equipment built in that shipyard.

People need to dwell on that for a while. Liberals, regardless of nation or culture, live in denial that such a world can touch them. They forget or never realize that it is others who permit them that denial.

My list of things to be thankful for looks and sounds rather short. It is, though not by design. Life has taught me, sometimes the hard way, what is important and what is not. A true Stoic would simply be thankful for another day to contemplate. I'm not that enlightened. My list is short as I have stripped myself of all that is unimportant to me. Those things that I will grieve over are those things I have listed. Nothing more, nothing less.

I regret little in my life, since regret only saps energy that I could be using to shape the future, to make my "now" better. I'm not perfect, though. I do find myself thinking upon failed relationships and what I have learned from them. An old girlfriend from high school and the friend that took her from me. A father that abandoned his family to hunger and possible eviction. The same father that tries to reforge those connections even as he lays the ground work for their dissolution due to his emotional dysfunction. A mother and brother who were far away even I lived only a few miles from them.

I don't regret those, for the reasons I stated above. I do take away lessons from that. I respect them for who they are and what they are to me. I can not foist my expectations upon them. I am ultimately responsible for my own attitudes. I cherish what I have and know that I will live more of my life away from my children then with. I cherish them and what they can be in the future.

Don't let that which is ultimately unimportant sap your energy. Don't let those things distract you from that which is important. You will have to determine what is dear to you. Be honest with yourself and true to your character.

Live well.

--Zavost

Finding our Way

2011-11-25T18:09:00.001-08:00

Upon the Stoa this night, I contemplate the near future. Our travails started in earnest in 2008 and will likely continue past 2020. We have a lot to atone for. A lot we must learn and much more we need to relearn.

I have said before that war is a leveler. An act that sweeps away the old and renews civilization for new growth, without regard to "good or bad".

Sometimes war or major societal dislocations are required in order for the contemporary leaders to contemplate radical change and for the people to accept that change.

If the United States is to continue into the future as a positive force for technological and cultural innovation then it can not continue in its present form. This much is apparent. The proliferation of Federal laws and the inability of the common citizen to protect themselves to the same extent as they can against other laws simply chains us to an unelected bureaucracy. The proliferation on Federal Departments, agencies, and programs which drain economic resources from those who drive the before-mentioned innovation. The citizens of the Republic are fractured and courted for their use by the powers that be.

I'll start with a few examples and work my way down until I grow tired of doing so:

Monetary policy. We must move away from fiat currency. In fact, I'm not sure if this is a choice we will be able to make for ourselves. Gold and silver coinage will have to be our currency. Oh, it does not have to be the actual metal, but the currency, whether it is coin, paper, or digital money. Whatever our unit of currency becomes, it must be based on precious metal holdings. Hmm, I do believe that our Founders were of the same opinion as well. Says so right in the Constitution. Metal currency. Specifically, Silver currency. You can see how we drifted, ever so innocently over 175 years.

The Federal Government's place in our lives. Today, more than half of all Americans are subsidized by the Federal government in some fashion. And when I say Federal government, I mean the People as a Whole. Redistribution of wealth. The States used to be pre imminent and they must become that again. The Feds are in every aspect of our lives. They have invaded our bedrooms and they are looking into ways to invade our futures. A hundred years ago, the Federal government was minuscule. The citizens of the States looked more to their State Capitols than Washington D.C. It needs to become that again.

Our Founders envisioned citizen politicians. I don't mean to say that our politicians are not citizens, but that it was the duty of every citizen to serve their State or Federal government for one or two terms of their respective branches. This not not to deny a person a life of politics, but that one never serve more than two terms in whatever capacity they serve. Washington set the precedent, and it was not a bad idea.

The Judicial. There was a period of time where the Supreme Court sat around wondering just exactly what it was supposed to be doing. The Constitution was pretty clear. It was written for the masses and not the political elite. Things meant what they meant. Those of the first several courts lived side by side with the Founders. They understood the INTENT of every phrase and had no desire to parse the meaning or look for "penumbras" of meaning within the document. In the 1930's, when the legislators began to really get out of control by mandating what a farmer could grow or sell, the Supreme Court be can to fail. Upholding laws that would have made our Founders cringe. Once they "found" the right for abortion on demand in the Founding document it was time to sweep out the lot of them. It says what it says. Anything not specifically spelled out is left to the INDIVIDUAL states to decide. Period.

Things drift. The very continents themselves drift. Unlike the rocks we build upon, the Constitution was both self correcting and correctable by the People. We, the People. Politicians do not change it. WE do.

The Libertarians desire to turn the clock all the way back to 1787. I'd be happy to pull it back to about 1850. Drift. Drifting is what we have been doing for a very, very long time. If we wish to do this peacefully, we will have to drift back the other way.

War changes things, though. It add heat and acts as a catalyst for rapid changes. Will we become what the Libertarians wish us to be? Not overnight. Not even after another civil war. Can we turn the clock back to 1850? I believe we can.

Lets look at this like we would a computer that keeps crashing. You know, the Window blue screen of death. You make changes to the system and the system crashes. Simply go to a back up point and restore the system.

If we were to restore the Republic back to about 1850 then there will be many, many changes. No more Income Tax. No more Department of Energy or Education. No more FDA, Social Security, or Medicare. That will pull the Feds back down to manageable levels. The States will suddenly find themselves having to manage Interstate highways and orphaned government programs. We will, I believe, be much better off for it.

Things change, things drift. Right now we are moving off the cliff and into the historical abyss of human misery, autocracy, war and oppression. If we do not return to what we once were then this will be the only possible ending our experiment.

If war and economic ineptitude pull down the structures we are familiar with, such as Social Security, Medicare, and Socialism then adopting a prior version our selves becomes very possible. We will have already lost all of those things. It will be much easier to adopt individualism when individualism is all there is left.

I depart on this warm, November night.

Live well.

--Zavost

Foamy Awards for November 23, 2011

2011-11-23T17:01:00.001-08:00

Ah, it is a warm, if wet night upon the Stoa. Water, water, everywhere. Wonderful stuff. Which brings me, in part, to the newest winners of the Foamy Award.

Yes, my daughter has located TWO more honorable recipients of the new award. I'm not at all afraid that she will run out of candidates if she keeps finding them this quickly.

The first award goes to the Department of Education and the Department of Agriculture. Honorable mentions also go to the variety of lobbyists who made it all possible.

Why, you ask? Michelle Obama has been the Food Czar since she was elected and has been mucking up with everything tasty, just don't get between her and a plate of ribs. New regulations that she ordered created will wipe the beloved pizza from the menu at schools all around the country. The very pizza that I grew up with and the pizza that my children now eat at their schools.

Oh, the uproar. How do we get out of the snare of our own making!

If you can massacre the language so that Black means Socialist, you can word your way out of this dilemma, right? Never fear, the lobbyists and their ilk are working over the government regulators who are set to enforce these stupid rules. Apply a generous helping of money, some political pressure and a dash of media polish and you get an ingenious solution to the problem.

That burnt dough, floating in a pool of its own grease is not pizza. What were you thinking? The cheese is class C quality and the "meat" is the main ingredient in a Weenie Tot. How could you mistake that for pizza. What you are really looking at is several servings of VEGETABLES! Yes indeed. The tomato paste, sauce, or whatever it is, will now constitute the major ingredient of "pizza".

Oh how we have fallen. Next thing you will have to swallow is that my SUV, a Nissan X-Terra will be called a light truck..oh, wait. Never mind.

This Foamy goes to you, you weenie tots.

The second award goes to the European Union. No, not for economics, though they can sweep the category cleanly. No, this is for yet another mangling of language. The legal arm of the EU has now stated that manufacturers of bottled water must never state on their bottles that, "the consumption of water will reduce the likelihood of dehydration". So lets get this straight. The wizards of smart in Northern Italy, responsible for this new regulation, are making it illegal to tell someone that drinking water will help keep you hydrated. Rrrriiiiiiiiiggggghhhhttt.

Let's ponder this for a moment. Water. Hydrate. Fire Hydrant. Hydro. Dehydration. Hold it, I think I'm onto something here. A person in the desert can die in a matter of hours of...dehydration. The loss of water due to sweating in an attempt to cool their core temperatures. Dehydration. Loss of water. Man, this is tough. So let's see. If I drink a bottle of water will I, A: live another hour, or B: die a horrible, delirium filled death. Hmmm, I think I'll drink the water.

Come on, really? In what realm of reality to you people over there occupy? You sit there with a straight face and tell people that drinking water has nothing to do with your level of healthy hydration?! Man, if I were Foamy I'd be jumping up and down with both fingers in the air. Hell, I'd even moon you! Enjoy your Foamy, you nimrods!

However, that is not dignified enough for a modern Stoic. I'll let my daughter do it. Well, except the mooning part.

I think I'll go do something else right now and get my mind off the idiocy radiating out of Europe these days. I wonder if those same folks are helping out the European economists?

Live well.

--Zavost

The Foamy Awards

2011-11-22T11:22:00.001-08:00

The Stoa is being hijacked, yet again my by children who feel that their beloved, nasty, foul-mouthed Internet squirrel, Foamy, is not getting enough recognition for pointing out idiocy in all its forms. By the way, the Foamy looks like a rabid squirrel, with huge, judging eyes and a middle finger, sometimes on both hands, raised to the world in contempt.

I will attempt to faithfully reproduce the arguments and discussions that my children have with their brainwashed and hopeless classmates and teachers.

I will list a variety of Foamies in this post and then a few here and there as they are awarded in the future.

The Foamy is awarded to a person, group, or organization that displays an inability to tell the truth, tell fantasy from reality, or knowingly manipulate reality to their own ends.

The first goes to the NEA and the Department of Education: Many of our Founding Fathers attended schools with dirt floors, had tutors, and lacked books of any kind, yet they understood classical literature and founded a Nation. 90% of the money today goes towards pensions, benefits, and pay for the teachers; maintenance on buildings, and political indoctrination. Here you go folks, the first Foamy goes to you.

The next goes to both George W. Bush and Barak Obama. After the 2008 meltdown, W. famously stated, "I had to abandon the free market in order to save the free market system." Brother, that is a steaming pile. In 2006, Obama and his lapdogs in the press railed on Bush and the GOP for running $300 billion deficits. They said that these deficits are ruining the country and running the economy in the ditch. So, the DNC takes over, runs $1.5 Trillion debts and states that everything is working out fine. Better than fine, actually. Riiiiight. You did not just plow it into the ditch, you rocket sledded this car into a solid metal block at 700 mph, Mythbuster style. This one is for you, Obama, two fingers, waaaay up.

RINOs, this next one is for you. How do you know if you are a RINO? If you think that you have a better chance of getting elected by running as a Democrat, you might be a RINO. If you think that nationalized healthcare can be made to work if it is run by the right people, you might be a RINO. If you fantasize about the Press writing a favorable article about you, then you might be a RINO. If the DNC and the Press say that you are the candidate to beat, then YOU ARE A RINO. The press and the DNC looovvve to say who their person to beat is. They play up acting AFRAID of the candidate who they can waltz all over, and save the vitriol for those that they truly dread. I give you Palin, Bachman, and Cain. The ones they act afraid of are the RINOs. I give you McCain, Romney, and Gingrich (the King of RINO). Well, stinking 4th establishment, this Foamy is for you!

The OWS movement, the 99%ers who are really the losers of life's lottery, protest against society while collecting some form of Federal or State aid. Remember, that aid does not come from nowhere. It comes from taxes TAKEN by those who earn it. Many of them protest while living in their parent's basement, or the dorm room that their parents, or taxpayers, are paying for. Ingrates. Don't bite the hand that feeds you, stupid.

So many idiots deserving of a Foamy. More will be handed out in the days to come. Stay tuned.

Live well.

--Zavost

The Irrelevant Debate

2011-11-22T10:55:00.001-08:00

Upon the Stoa, I sit with hand on chin, marveling at the ability of some to deny reality.

I speak of course, of the the "Super Committee" and of the EU's inability to grasp the seriousness of their situations.

The Super Committee was doomed before it even started. Why? Simply because it was a microcosm of the whole. Whether you have Congress locking up on party lines or a Super Committee locking up on party lines...you should have seen it coming.

Then again, it is all rather irrelevant, is it not?

To explain what I just said, let us look to Europe as our instructional model. For most of the 20th Century, they attempted to build a sort of Social Utopia, founded on a Social Democratic model that promised everyone a place in society and comfort in their lives. Free from uncertainty and failure.

If they agreed to pay massive taxes on everything under the Sun, sunlight included, then "the Government" would grant you a pocket with money, a job if you wanted one, and a place to live. Clean transportation and national healthcare.

Europe liberalized its laws and immigration practices, offering those from war torn regions of the world to come and share in their bounty.

With Multiculturalism and Transnationalism at full strength in Europe, they could not seem to foresee the swarming of their nations by people who were running from one hellhole in order to create a new hellhole in a new part of the world. Multiculturalism prevented these new influxes of refugees from integrating into the host successful and stable host culture. In other words, if women ran from Sharia Law to Britain, very quickly they found themselves bound by it again as a squishy British legal system backed off imposing native law on immigrants.

Lets do some word-math. You have a declining native population. You have a swelling immigrant population that is adding more births to your registry than native births. You have 20% unemployment, and a virtual trampoline of social benefits. Hmmm, sounds to me like very quickly you will have more people consuming than producing. Its not rocket science.

Europe is dying. It is dying as surely as if it had put a gun to its own head.

The issue right now is not Greece. It is not the Euro, nor is it the EU. It is their mentality of cradle to grave entitlements. There are only three things in the Universe that expand forever. One is the Universe itself. The second is compound interest, and the third is entitlement spending. Who could have seen that coming, Europe.

The United States faces its own, similar problem. In Europe, they continue to feel that if you throw money into new bond-buying, then somehow they will get OUT of debt. Scratch the chin on this one, folks. I owe a billion dollars, so if I borrow 2 billion dollars I can pay off the first guy and spend the rest. Then borrow 3 billion to pay of the second guy and spend the rest. You can not do this forever. Whether they are talking about national bond sales or a pan-Euro bond, it is still debt; no matter what fancy name you give it.

It is no wonder that each attempt at "containing the contagion" fails. The entire Union is ill, just some parts are more ill than others. The core is failing. Germany sees it, but too late to prevent it. They want to hold onto they money they have now and not see more of it get flushed.

Margaret Thatcher said it best, "Socialism works great until you run out of other people's money". Well said.

The situation is beyond them, now. They will have to suffer the consequences of promising what was never in their power to deliver in the first place. Happiness. You can not legislate happiness and contentment. Sometimes, contentment is reached through the struggle of living. If you play every game in "god" mode then it gets boring real fast.

Our "Super Committee" was truly doomed to failure, regardless of what they decided in the end. Shaving $1.2 Trillion over TEN years does nothing to keep you from going over the cliff if you are running a DEFICIT of $1.3 Trillion EVERY YEAR FOR 10 YEARS. The debt levels are already unsustainable. The situation is already beyond them. Truly.

The price must be paid. Reality must be satisfied. Debt must either be paid or defaulted upon. Government must shrink back down to about 8% of GDP if we even want a chance to survive in the near future. 48% and counting is what is causing this failure on a systemic level.

Don't put any faith in Congress to do the right thing. They have failed us for 75 years. Over a hundred if you include Theodore Roosevelt. They only thing they can do is make it worse. Of that I have full confidence.

Live well.

--Zavost

Known by their Deeds

2011-11-20T06:09:00.001-08:00

From the Stoa this morning, I want to think about those parasites, the OWS "movement" and its proper placement within history.

Yesterday, former President Bill Clinton voiced his approval of the OWS movement as it drew much needed attention to the plight of the poor and the vast, growing gulf between the rich and poor in this nation. As if no one has ever, ever, talked about this before...how about that.

Care to give up some of your book royalties? How about decreasing the cost of your speaking fees, Mr. Ex-President?

Current President Obama has also tipped his hat to the movement, encouraging Unions and other like minded groups to work together...

I have to ask, Mr. President...work together against whom? The rich? The powerful? The "man"?

You do realize that you are all of those? Hmmmmm?

Sure you do. You and your ilk try to channel and direct this odd blob of malcontents to accomplish your ends. Your ends are the punishing and bullying of your political opponents. Occasionally, the movement causes liberal collateral damage, but all of that is acceptable to their kind. Then again, they have yet to visit Mr. Jeff Immelt, the CEO of GE...

Squishy GOP like Bloomberg fawn and pamper the mobs and wring their hands about the rights of the protesters. Bank managers, the gainfully employed, and the innocent are accosted by this mob; but only those they are directed agains (most of the time). The crime, disease, drugs, etc that go on in and about the camps can not be ignored. This not a political movement like the Tea Party, this is a person trying to jump start a full blown revolution. Showering sparks on tinder of their own making.

When Bill Clinton swore to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, did it include fomenting rebellion against the same? When Barak Obama swore his oath, did it have anything to do with the FORCED redistribution of wealth?

No.

You have Anarchists, Socialists, Communists, Fascists, and the useful tearing up the fabric of an already decaying society. The EPA and its "Green" Reds pulling down dams and hydroelectric power stations, causing the death of hundreds of towns and cities that rely on those dams and backed up water for their economic livelihood. They are ravaging the middle of this country. The conservative core of this nation is being picked apart with hundreds of thousands placed on unemployment or government welfare. Conservative dependents on the public dole, powerless because they don't tend to riot like their liberal slaves.

We know you by your deeds, not your name or your title. When one takes an oath to protect and defend the Constitution, you protect what the Constitution stands for. You are not sworn to protect the People. The Constitution protects the People.

Think on that last sentence very, very, carefully. The Constitution was designed to limit the power of government and its ability to strip the citizen of their rights. The role of government is not to protect the people directly. Their role is limited by the Constitution as developed by We the People.

The biggest barrier to full government seizure of citizens' rights is that pesky old document. Liberals feel that it has outlived its usefulness. Not at all. We need it now more than ever.

The forces of authoritarianism and anti-republic sentiment is in full swing. Not since FDR has the American people been so threatened.

I'm all for calling things as they are. We are less free then we were in 1965. Our currency has lost 99% of its value since 1911. We no longer have the ability to launch humans into orbit, instead we have to rely on a political adversary and 1960's Soviet era technology to get there. We are limiting access to health care already due to massive government intervention since 1965.

Only the rich can seem to get elected these days. Only those who scream the loudest are heard any longer. Those that speak of sanity are silenced. Fairness and legal rights are now purchased or granted.

I know people always say that the next election is the most important election, but this one really is. We skid towards anarchy and rebellion. The loudest 5%, yes I said it you Fleabag losers, is causing all of this. Do not be misled by that low number. The Soviet Union was raised up on the backs of less, enslaving the other 98%. It has happened and it can happen.

The question will be: are we the people we want to be or will we be the people we are told to be. Simple enough. Freedom or slavery to the new political Oligarchs.

Live well.

--Zavost

Crony Capitalism

2011-11-16T10:10:00.001-08:00

From the Stoa this day, I see the orbits of fate beginning to come together. Threads of action are converging and bundling that will shape our future for a hundred years to come.

Remember, fate is not destined or pre-ordained at all. We make our own fates as individuals and as a collective, be it a family, nation, or culture. We may not be able to choose our larger fate, but if enough of us push in another direction, we may be able to mitigate the effects.

The other day I saw a multi-billion dollar purchase of IBM stock by the government-lauded, vetted, and loved, Mr. Warren Buffett. Mr. Buffett has a history of not liking IBM. Not liking tech stocks in general. So why the huge turnabout? Makes me wonder.

IBM has not done anything to warrant, in my opinion, such a move by anyone, let alone "Wizard of Smart" such as Mr. Buffett. IBM ditched the PC market years ago and has moved into software that services large companies and organizations....what was that? They moved away from the PC and got into software and service for large organizations. He paid high for the stock despite the preferential treatment. More than he would have paid for any other deal of that size...so what does he see that the rest of us do not? What is his "Return on Investment"? Perhaps it is not money but influence that he has purchased.

Wonder if they are going to plug into the government for all the tracking software and hardware they are going to need to properly control a large, 300 million+ population. Cradle to grave healthcare, CTG welfare, CTG interventionism. Interesting.

I think we all need to pay attention to IBM for the next few years and see exactly what they are up to. Heck, I read that the SEC even gave IBM a waiver for reporting these large stock purchases as Mr. Buffett was purchasing them so the price was not driven up by his activities. Kept his purchase price low. Favoritism? Naw. None there.

GE has lead the way with Crony Capitalism. They push for the elimination of incandescent light bulbs even as they are building new factories in China to produce the new CFLs. They shut down all their American production and put thousands of American out of work. Immelt is named to all the important Federal committees and steers things in his direction. Shame on us for not yelling about this.

GE Health shows a 57% increase in profits from the year prior and pays ZERO Federal income tax on this revenue because they are able to use accounting rules and foreign holdings to shelter the income. Not illegal, but very favorable to them. Something I can not do, for sure. This happens even as the IRS hires thousands and thousands of new agents to dig ever deeper into the pocket of the common American. This is not smelling very well.

While I'm at it, I've got another gripe I want to air out. Scientific projects are being cancelled to make room in a shrinking discretionary portion of the Federal budget. Projects that have run for a decade or more to the tune of $10 billion for the entire decade. $80 billion for the 30 year run of the space shuttle; only to be cut. Yet at the same time I hear about the government throwing about $300 billion here, and $250 billion there. Simply ridiculous numbers. And that is for a SINGLE YEAR!

TRILLIONS of dollars down the Crony hole, the populist hole, the agenda hole. Money that can cure cancer, launch Man to Mars, explore the Solar System for natural resources (preserving the Earth) an such, yet we hose it down a black hole that will only grow larger and the dependent folks continue to multiply.

Crony Capitalists will only multiply. Look at Wall Street Banks. They were the darling of the Obama administration during the last election cycle. Now they are eeeevil. The Feds will feed, but they are loyal only to their own ambitions. Companies will continue to court the Feds knowing the risks because the payoff is HUGE...nothing less than the public tax trough.

Look to the late 1800's for a historical example. It took the Feds to break down the monopolies that emerged at that time. Now, if you think that this was done in the interests of the people then you are sadly mistaken.

The monopolies were broken up because their power became so great that they began to challenge the very power of the Federal Government itself. Once broken up they were more easily regulated. Regulation does not seize the methods of production, but it does set the ground rules for their production. This is a de facto control of those industries. The Feds actually had to take a BAILOUT from Mr. JP Morgan (yep, that guy) to keep the government going after a financial crash. How humiliating to be propped up by a private individual.

Watch IBM. Watch Microsoft. Watch Apple. Watch Government Motors. There are eddies and currents in the fabric of our society right now that should be greatly concerning people these days. Watch the Occupy Wall Street folks and look for the strings that are jumping that puppet. The strings run through Obama and into those pulling Obama's strings. A massive matrix of like-minded and similarly governed NGOs and "non-profits".

Keep an eye out and prepare. Tough times are right around the corner.

Live well.

--Zavost

More Random Observations

2011-11-10T22:49:00.001-08:00

The Stoa has been on the road the last two days. Death in the family and all. These are good opportunities to re-evaluate your own life, as you ponder the ending of another.

While traveling, I frequently have to wait for connector flights. These can sometimes take hours. Many would see this in a negative light, but not me. It gives me a chance to watch the seas of humanity pass by, chatting about their lives and what is important to them in this frozen slice of time.

It also allows me to ponder things that have only been half-pondered in the past. For instance:

Every one of those people passing by have extended family trees. They all have grand parents, parents, siblings of some kind. They laugh and they wont. They tell jokes, and cry about the funerals they are en route to. I'm not much different then they.

Ethnicity does not come into play. I see Chinese fathers playing with their one daughter. I see a Korean mother counting to three before she is going to punish her son. I see black families, yes, families, move orderly through the airport. I see white dopers, stupid caps on their heads and everything, iPod buds growing out of the sides of their heads. I wonder how they paid for that stuff if they were always so high...

Seeing those people makes me think again on what it means to be a sentient human. I know I must be stealing from some classical writer here, and I apologize ahead for this one:

The part of us that makes everyone us is a spark. An energetic point, right between the eyes, for lack of any better geography. The body is simply the vehicle that allows it to move about within our material plane.

I feel that, like old worn-out cars, we eventually have abandon our bodies once they break down. We move on, perhaps finding a new vehicle later on. Another "model" to roam about in for the next 80+ years. It does not sound all that bad.

Perhaps we make arrangements on the other side before birth, deciding and selecting the model of vehicle we wish to tool around in. White, Asian...each has its own advantages, each has its own challenges. We pre-select based on our wishes. Ethnicity is no different then Ford, Chevy, or Nissan for instance. I must have selected based on size and durability. A svelte model was not in my cards.

As I helped to carry my Grandfather from place to place, finally ending up in the cemetery, I was struck by that symmetry. He was 90 and just wore out. It was time for him to move on and find another vehicle. I hope he spends some time with my grandmother, who has been waiting for him to join her for the last 5 years.

I see all of the extended family, many of which I have not seen since the last funeral. They are all older, and several are noticeably missing, having passed or being too ill to attend. There was a time, after seeing a slide show of his life, where his generational cohort were kids. Slicked hair and cocky attitudes. Pictures followed showing a young man courting a woman nearly 4 years his senior. Odd for the day. At that time he still had his own grandparents. His own parents, and his uncles. Over time, they began to pass, one by one.

Eventually, he was "dad" and "uncle". People came to his house to celebrate the holidays. The older cohorts were still around, though the vital webs of familial relationships had begun to break down due to deaths deletions. Then he was "grandpa", perhaps traveling to see his children and grandchildren. The focus was shifting from his cohort to that of his son's. Eventually, his friends and relations begin to age and die, joining those who had gone before, like his parents and uncles.

Today, with his passing, a complete chapter has now been closed. My father is the "patriarch" of that branch of the extended family, though the focus has already shifted away from him. The focus is on my generation now. His generation has already begun to fade. The GI generation hung on for so very long.

I am the patriarch of my family branch, though I am only 42. Odd, that. My focus is on my family. My children do not have this extended web and are poorer for it, I believe.

My daughter was born in 1997, my son in 1999. Both of them met my grandfather, their great grandfather, and my daughter actually remembers him. This man was born in 1921. My father in 1946. Myself in 1969, my children in 1997 and 1999. My son's eyes took in the memories of this man and will carry those memories deep into the 21st century. As long as we remain in the living memories of our descendants then we don't truly die.

My great grandmother was born in 1898. I remember her as she lived to be almost 100. My daughter has a vague recollection of her. This woman, who was born in the 19th century, is being carried around in her descendants, like my daughter into the 21st. There is something profound about this and it requires much time to ponder and to appreciate.

I am sure he is in a better place now, reuniting with friends and loved ones decades past. It was a wild ride and he was in the thick of it all. I'm sure he has much to discuss with them.

I wonder which model he will pick next time?

Live well,

--Zavost

The Passing of Family

2011-11-06T16:27:00.001-08:00

Atop the Stoa this night, I ponder the passing of family from this world.

The generational links that bind us form at birth and dissolve upon death. Those around us imprint something of themselves at every encounter. In my case it is the passing of a grandfather. His imprinting upon me differed, of course, from the rearing of my father. I saw him only infrequently before I became an adult. A year or so would pass as a child, and many years would pass as an adult from meeting to meeting. Eventually, we met only at the funeral of an extended family member.

He was a good man. A kind man. Intelligent, hardworking, WWII veteran. He raised three children and tolerated a powerful wife who wanted to see that he would return from the war before she committed to marriage. She worked at Studebaker for 20 years and at the University of Notre Dame for 19 years.

I saw him as a man who was serious, but able to smile when appropriate. My father's recollection of him is that of a father, who was stern and unable to give him a confidence-building pat on the back.

Regardless of his impact on others, I always looked upon him with a detached fondness.

Family is like that. Each one touches the others around them differently. My grandmother (his wife) was not very fond of much, or of me. The feeling was mutual, though I did have a lot of respect for her. When she passed in 2006, I studied her life with the eyes and mind of an adult, and not that of a child. She was a remarkable woman, though apparently cold and distant to her grandchildren. Looking at them as a pair, I can not be surprised that my father's life took the course it did, given how they shaped him growing up, though he did, of course have a choice.

The grandparent that made the most impact on me was my Grandfather on my mother's side. He passed in 1979 when I was only 10, and much of what I remember of him has to highly romanticized. Knowing that people are not all good or all bad, I can still accept him as the great man I remember him to be.

My other grandmother (his wife) is still alive at 92 and impresses me still. I find it strange that from my grandparents I see traits that I want to emulate (or learn from), and from my parents, traits I wish to shun. My grandparents remained married, each for more than 50 years, while my parents had a messy divorce when I was 20.

My grandparents saved for their retirement and their future. They bought much of what they owned without debt or long terms. They endured the great depression, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, and all the other political upheavals of their times. Yet, they were still upbeat and productive members of their society.

All four of them volunteered with the church, served the poor and helped their community. My parents have been less altruistic. It is not a knock on my parents, they are who they are and I accept them for what they are. I am who I am today because of them, so any negative attribute I assign to them is something that shaped me into the virtuous individual I try to be today.

The generation above us shapes us. The generations about us shape us. Our relationships with our grandparents are shaped by their upbringing 50+ years ago, translated through the generational lens of our parents, shaped more than 20 years ago. We are shaped by our grandparents as surely as we are shaped by our parents, whether we notice it or not.

We shape our children and will help to create the next "culture" in which they will in turn raise their children. Generational influence, hundreds of years up and down the generational chain.

Think about that when dealing with your children or your grand children. Your words, actions, laughs, smell, chocolate chip cookies...all of it becomes part of the memories that will pack down through the decades. Children, a century later may use an idiom or a hand gesture that would seem so in place a century earlier.

Good stuff to ponder, the next time you interact with a family member. Enjoy them while they are here, since it is much harder to interact with them when they are gone. Bite back the angry retort at Thanksgiving, allow them to mend a fence if they wish. Ponder this, class, for I will continue to ponder the passing of my grandfather for a long time to come.

Live well

--Zavost

Ongoing Language Deterioration

2011-11-04T19:33:00.001-07:00

From the Stoa this night I once again shake my head. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Words mean things.

It irritates me that one political party or the other feels the need to mould and shape a word and it's meaning to mould and shape an electorate. No, that is being generous. They demean our language to dupe a public who, for some silly reason, thinks that a word and its meaning does not change in one's lifetime.

Two items have my attention tonight. The word "black" in relation to race, and the word "starvation".

Centuries ago, the indigenous peoples of Africa, well, most of them, were called "Negros", a derivation of the Greek word for black. There was no seemingly negative connotation to that phrase, and I would assume that it is still appropriate to use today. People did create a negatively connotated word, but it was not Negro. Later, during the civil rights movement, they demanded to be known as "Afro-Americans" or "African-Americans". Funny, I never wanted to be known as a "Slovak-American" or a "German-American", though negative words do exist for each of those populations of people, despite their "Whiteness".

Bill Clinton in the 90's was given the title, "black" for his policies. That, somehow, despite is affluent white upbringing, he "understood" the black condition. Forget for a moment the powerful black leaders who needed him to keep the race enslaved to welfare and big government.

Then, along comes Barak Obama, a man who is the product of a white woman from Kansas and a Kenyan from Africa. Technically, half white and half "black". However, the media trumpets his blackness at the expense of his whiteness. No matter that he grew up in affluent Hawaii. We should all be so lucky. Somehow, he passes the litmus test for being "Black". Though the word "blackness" should be used, I believe.

Herman Cain appears on the stage and the media and the black leaders proclaim that he is not really "black". How about that? The word has completely morphed in a few short years from "black-race" to "black-beliefs". This is wrong on so many levels. How can someone who was born of a black man and a black woman not be considered "black"?

Black now has nothing to do with color or race, it is now a code word for someone who believes in a certain political mind-set. A belief in victimhood on a planetary scale.

I believe that this is reason enough for me to shake my head. White Red-Neck from Arkansas is black. A spoiled rich boy raised in Indonesia and Hawaii, half rich white and half rich African is an authentic American Black man. A self-made black man who does not prescribe to victimhood is NOT black.

On to the next word. Starvation. I saw a sickening commercial on Hulu yesterday that said that starvation is not about food, it was about power. Power that affects woman and children the most. "Woman and children hardest hit!", is all I can hear in my head.

This ad went on about how food is being used to control and demean women around the world. Hogwash. Bunk. Manure. Why are there more women on a diet then there are women in the world? Does hunger exist? You bet. Are men to blame? I can definitely agree to that. Though it is not done as tool directed AT women. It is a side effect of corruption, rebellion, and outright war. When men are fighting and killing for a cause they are not planting a field. When men come upon a village that is not their own, they WILL act up. Food is not a tool of oppression.

Starvation is the absence of food. Hunger. If you wish to be honest, just tell women that you want them to sign up for your organization so that you can get more of whatever you want at the expense of those weaker than you or your group? In the name of "social justice" for your "group" you will seize those same rights from others who have done nothing to wrong you, despite what you are told.

Ignorance, idiocy, lack of self-worth. These are all things that plague us in our modern day. If you are so worried about the oppression of women, then perhaps you need to address your Islamic compatriots. As a religion they are mandated to oppress woman. Allah ordered it through is pedophile prophet.

Why not look at that last sentence and take it for face value. Are more woman oppressed by men holding back a slice of pizza or are they being forced to wear a bag over their heads and obey the men of the household. Which is it?

I retire on this fine, wonderful night.

Live well.

--Zavost

The theater of the absurd

2011-11-03T19:05:00.001-07:00

From atop the Stoa this night I sit upon a step, chin in hand. Europe, oh Europe, what have you done?

The EU draws up a new "bailout" that is actually a transnational power grab and then wonders why the Greeks don't meekly accept their fates. Their Socialist Premier decides to put the issue to the people to see if this was ok with them. How about that; the SOCIALIST was more democratic than the EU.

The Germans and the French throw an absolute conniption and make some threats behind the curtain and the Premier buckles. Authoritarian practices sweep the field.

The only country that has figured out the only way to survive this situation is denied a lifeboat...pulled back on deck to go under with the rest of them.

You can not undo a BASE jump once jumped. The markets are collapsing faster than any government can react, not that this could have been avoided even if they had reversed course in 2005.

I will continue to watch from my Stoa and take care of my friends and family.

Live well.

--Zavost

Just Perhaps...

2011-11-01T17:23:00.000-07:00

From the Stoa this night, I look out upon the Shipyards of the Republic with some guarded optimism.

This morning I came across a video showing an ex-Representative that connected the Communist dots from his college days to his time as a Representative. In college he went to a Communist rally simply to cover it as a minor undercover journalist. What he heard made him shake his head at the lunacy of what they were going to do to undermine the Republic and put it out of his thoughts.

Fast forward 25 years and he recalls the rally, looks about him and realizes just how much of that agenda they did accomplish. He writes an article while in office and then has to put up buckets to catch the hail storm of fury directed at him. Someone sends him a book from 1958 detailing how a similar Communist rally was going to undermine the Republic and then he truly sweats.

Only then, after reading that old book, did he realize just how deep the roots of Communism sank into our Republic. He saw, spread out before him their blue print that would carry them to 1992, the year of his rally. Then he sees how far that 1992 rally has gone.

Society had been so rotted from within that in 1992 he didn't think the Communists had done all that much in the intervening decades. He thought that Communism was something of his generation to fight. How wrong he realized he was.

The light turned on for him, and he has been trying to turn on the lights of all those around him, as I do every day. Arguing against Communism and Socialism is self-defeating. You CAN NOT reason a person out of a position that they did not reason themselves INTO. You must teach them how to think. Don't think for them, that is what has gotten them into this mess.

Help them think for themselves. They will come to their own conclusions, if they have a good heart and spirit. No one willing wants to take what is not theirs, not deep down. Guilt is at variance with our normal state of being. To deny that guilt is to lie to themselves, which to me is the only kind of lying that is truly inexcusable.

Just perhaps enough people are waking up. Just perhaps the Tea Party has solidified it roots. Just perhaps the common American citizen can comprehend what they have given up. Just perhaps they will take responsibility for the mess their collective ignorance has inflicted upon this great nation.

Yes, it is your fault, just as it is mine. However, we must not dwell overly much on how we got here, but on how to get "there". We must get back to our solid, common sense roots. We must rekindle our religious roots and our solid distrust of big government. We must re-value the family while we revalue our dollar. We must educate our children, on mud floors or at the base of a Stoa, it does not take a lot of money. Two people talking is all it takes to educate.

Just perhaps it is not too late. We will come from the crash that is coming, the massive crash that was only delayed by the 2008/9 financial bailouts. The time of reckoning approaches, for it has only been delayed at the cost of trillions. From the ruins we will have an opportunity to shed all the fat and sloth and be reborn as the America we once were. In other words, those willing to work hard to put everything back together again will be in the positions of power. Hopefully, those will be the right people.

Good night from the Stoa. It has been a pleasant night and I trust that you will ponder what has been discussed this night.

Live well.

--Zavost

Not all change is good change...

2011-11-01T06:22:00.000-07:00

From the Stoa this night I wish to muse aloud about all the change that has been going on lately. 

The mis-named "Arab Spring" continues to grind along.  Egypt's President is in prison.  Tunisia'a President is cast out.  Libya's strongman is dead at the hands of the rebels.  Assad is clinging to power in Damascus.  Saudi Arabia is angry at Iran.  Iran wants to nuke everyone, despite being downwind from everyone. 

Putin is the virtual Czar of Russia today, for good or ill.  China flexes is muscle even as it falls apart from within.  Vietnam seeks closer military ties to us to warn off the resurgent China.  Change abounds.

Obama has the worst Presidential ratings since they were recorded at the 11th quarter of service point.  This despite the fact that he has the MSM covering for him.  Think about that.  George W. Bush had a rating more than 10 points higher than Obama at the same point despite having 99% of the media feed on his every cough. 

Change for change sake is not good.  This is unplanned change at best, intentionally destructive or self-serving change at worst.  You would hope that someone with the power of the Presidency would use this as a change agent for good.  Instead we have a President who viscerally hates this country and everything it has ever done.  Funny that, for if we had not "grown" as a nation, a half-white, half-Kenyan would NEVER have become mayor, let alone President.  Funny if you really think about it.

His change is purposeful and personal.  Regardless of our historical track record of success (our acts speak for themselves) he wishes to remake us into nothing more than another moribund Europe or a hapless third world nation.    His "change" was never our "change".  It really was his.

Is it a good change to see Ghadafi dead?  Well, yes, he was a very bad man.  However, the absolutes of philosophy fail us when discussing the real world.  Ghadafi was indeed a very bad man.  He ordered the deaths of thousands outside of Libya, and thousands more within.  He sponsored terror and developed chemical weapons.  He was also tamed over time.  After Reagan bombed him the 80's, wounding him and killing one of his children he realized that he was in a game that was over his head.  All the defenses he purchased from the Soviet Union were dissolved as if they were wet tissue.  He was on the path towards normalization and acceptance into the society of nations.  He even renounced his nuclear weapon project after seeing how quickly we disposed of Iraq and Afghanistan.  American strength was once again to be feared.

Now, as part of the "Arab Spring" the time is ripe for a radical islamic to take power, as will happen in Egypt shortly.  Just as Jimmy Carter created the weeping sore that is Iran, Obama will out-do him and turn the entire Middle East into one.

This "Occupy Wall Street" is neither new nor youth driven.  It is just another Communist rally, no different than one you might have seen in St. Petersburg in 1918, Berlin in 1922 and 1933.  You are seeing it in Greece today.  They are the disaffected, the incompetent, and the lazy.  Some are in it for the easy women and cheap drugs, but most are simply unwilling to risk personal failure in an attempt to be successful in life.  They call themselves the 99%'ers, but they are unwitting pawns in a game that Lenin and Goebbels would have found comfortably familiar.  No joke.  These will be the mis-guided muscle that will focus the attention away from the real group of people attempting to seize power.  The rabble can be dispensed with once they have the power, since they don't care about restraint in the way that most governments care.

Change needs to thought out.  You must have a goal fixed in mind and direct the change to minimize the "un-intended consequences" of that change.  Unfortunately, the folks sponsoring the OWS movement know exactly where they want this change to end up and they have plenty of unthinking, lazy, fools to help them get there.

It is time to retire for this day.  There will always be a tomorrow, even if I am not around to enjoy it.

Live well,

--Zavost

Sent from my iPad

Clueless

2011-10-14T12:09:00.001-07:00

Upon the Stoa this day, I marvel at the ongoing idiocy on display in the MSM concerning these interlopers urinating on the sidewalks of Wall Street. So many misdirected, misinformed, lazy, clueless, unwashed...I could keep going...losers in our society; unable to form a critical thought in their heads if they had to.

What is the goal of these modern day sit-in hippies? Redistribute the wealth? Are you kidding? There has been more of that since Obama slid into office than at any other time in the planet's history. Still not enough for ya?

Who is to blame for the high unemployment? Perhaps the unions for making the business climate in the country too expensive. Perhaps the Federal and State governments with Regulations and Taxation policies. Perhaps?

What causes unemployment? For starters, a company does not exist to employ YOU. No, it does not. Not even YOU hiding in the bushes over there doing only God knows what. It exists to supply a good or service to another individual or company. Period. It does not exist to provide pensions, bonuses or healthcare; though those are good incentives to hire top notch employees.

Unemployment comes about when the cost to provide that good or service exceeds the revenue generated by that good or service. Quality can be cut, but at the risk of driving away the customer. Other expenses can be reduced, but the biggest bang for their buck comes from reducing the staff; and when I say staff, I mean YOU. You and your costly benefits structure.

The government distorts the market by placing layer upon layer of regulation upon whatever industry in lays it rheumy eyes upon. When the private sector has to spend $1.6 TRILLION to comply with regulations, then that is money they ARE NOT using to expand. And when I say expand, I mean employing YOU, and your costly benefit baggage. Think on that. Think really hard.

Regulations are meant to protect a wide variety of things. People, the environment, both. However, in a free market economy, companies that build products that are shoddy or do not do what they promise they will do, will go out of business as the consumer takes their dollar elsewhere. Poof, problem solved.

These unwashed masses sitting in at banks, Federal Reserves and such only want money. Turns out most of all the money that Obama vaporized over the last three years went overseas or directly into the coffers of Federal and State unions, Federal and/or State budgets. Very little of it came our way. The only thing in front of us is a growing bill that will have to be paid.

"Create Jobs" they write on their signs (at least they can spell). A company will only create a job if there is a reason for that job. How silly are you? Jobs just are not willed into existence. They are borne from need. Think on that one again. If the free market needs more widgets, and the company can not make those widgets fast enough, they will hire more people to make those widgets. There is no "Social Contract" between business and labor. The relationship is based on mutual needs. If you are working at McDonalds, you are not bound to McDonalds. If Pig in a Polk is offering more money and better hours, you are free to leave McDonalds without so much as a goodbye. On the other hand, if vegetarianism has wiped out the profit margin for McDonalds and they need to cut staff to keep their heads above water, they are free to do so...once they have navigated an ocean of regulatory paperwork.

No Social Contract exists between labor and capital. Period. If you mess around with that concept, you get the mess the whole world is in right now.

I'm off now, to make my little part of the free markets system more free.

Live well.

--Zavost

Known by the friends we keep

2011-10-05T04:28:00.000-07:00

This bright morning from the Stoa I wish to attempt to untangle the threads that bind politics, economics, and good old common sense together.

Let's start with the situation in Syria. Power-hungry elite that controls the economy, the media, the military, the judiciary, and the legislation has been cracking down on the citizens who are demanding more freedom (or in this case, the desire to sink deeper into radical Islam). The United States, itself partially controlled by the above factors, FINALLY decides to sponsor and refer Syria to the Security Council in the UN for censorship. This does not help the poor schmucks getting creamed on the ground, but it makes everyone feel better who does not live in Syria.

Syria is economically poor. It does not have much in the way of resources and gets much of its funding from Iran, Russia, and China. Boy, that list just makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. It never was a real powerhouse of trade and has always relied somewhat on immediate border trade and weapon's deals to bring capital into the nation.

Common decency, let alone common sense, dictates that Syria not be permitted to butcher the innocent in the streets like this.

Unfortunately, the Arab/Islamic cultural values ARE different from ours. It does not make their acts any less heinous, but we must view the situation with clear lenses. Power is what makes their world revolve. Concessions are just an admission that you do not have to power to rule them. Think on that very, very carefully before you rebut.

I believe very strongly that all humans wish to live in freedom. We all wish similar things for our children and for ourselves. Culture gets in the way, though. Their religion is the antithesis of freedom. Their history is one of repression, forced conversion, and genocide. Since the fall of the Romans, life has been decidedly short and violent.

Russia and China both are ruled by power restrictive Oligarchies that have no interest at all with sharing power with the masses. They too are willing to go to great lengths to maintain that power. They have no desire to harm a trading partner or a loyal ally. They also see no reason to knock off an ally and replace him with an unstable Theocracy. They are not stupid. A bit on the evil side, but not stupid.

The United States is what it is. We do not deal with nor trade significantly with "evil" nations. Nixon opened the door on China and they have grown very, very rich on wealth transfers from the United States. What did we get? Affordable rubber dog poo, apparently. Did we see a lesson there? In an attempt to split the alliance of China and the USSR, we compromised our ideals. We split the alliance, which was very shaky to begin with, and set the stage for a world-menacing China. Way to go Nixon.

We have woven our beds close to Russia and China and we can not simply pull everything, however, we must remember who we are what we stand for. No compromise.

If China sponsors terror, either directly or indirectly, then we need to pull our economic assets out of China. Ditto for Russia. Unrestricted Capitalism is just as bad as restricted Capitalism. We do not allow the sale of items that can be used to develop weapons, but we sell the technology to launch missiles more accurately. Error.

If we continue to work closely with China and Russia on "common" goals then we are no different then they.

Think on that. Listen to your Great-Grandmother. We ARE known by the friends we keep.

Live well.

--Zavost

Odds and Ends

2011-09-30T10:52:00.001-07:00

Atop the Stoa today, I simply wish to unload a few items that are slowly swirling around the Arena of Ideas.

In no particular order:

What is going on in the metals market? I'm seeing massive trade inputs in the middle of our night. Not only that, but other major exchanges are closed at that time as well. The effect is huge drops in value just prior to COMEX options. What is up with that? Who benefits from that move? The FED? Investors? Something smells there.

I like Col. Cain for President. The man has my vote pretty well locked up. Gingrich? No. Too limp. Romney? RomneyCare...Hello? Perry? No way. Don't like him, can't trust him. Paul? Too Libertarian. Any man who is willing to throw away his military career by putting a gun to the forehead of a captured terrorist to get information out of him that will save even one of his men from harm proves to me that he has the integrity to make the hard decisions. He will make them with in a moral and professional manner. The moral way may not be the best way to handle something, just ask the KGB, but I believe that in the long run, our integrity is more important than wrapping up an issue conveniently. Cain for President!

Video games today. So many games are being written based on historical premises. In one way it is really a good thing because the pre-teens and teens may be motivated to actually look up the real history to see how the game compares. Kind of a sneaky, stealth way of getting them to learn. I'll take it. OR, it could be that the game designers don't have any original ideas of their own and find that lifting from history is a convenient way to come up with a cool game idea. I can see their brainstorming sessions including Patton with laser eyes or Lincoln with an Iron Boot. Again, whatever it takes to spark the interest in our children to learn and to extend themselves.

Where does Obama get off lecturing Europe on its debt crisis? How disconnected from reality is this man?

TV programming really sucks. Distorted stereotypes and inappropriate behavior. Sometimes its funny but usually it just has me shaking my head. I'll stick to my documentaries, Sci Fi, and history shows.

There is a great place around here that sells bait, tackle, and guns. All under one roof. Got to go in there and check it out. Thank you 2nd Amendment.

Sleep? Over-rated. Food? Must eat less. Cars? Like guns, need one for every occasion. If you are female, just substitute shoes.

Duty calls, all. Study up on your current events. Tests will be coming soon and you'll need to recognize them.

Live well.

--Zavost

In Time...

2011-09-22T06:27:00.001-07:00

Atop the Stoa this day, I would like to think about endurance and permanency. There is an old saying that goes something like this, "All things must pass in time."

Those who lived in the Northern French regions of the Roman Empire during the last generation of peace had little reason to think that their grandchildren would grow up in a world where the Roman Empire was but a hollow construct. New leaders, claiming the legitimate mantle of Roman legitimacy ruled their lands in reality and did as they pleased. The Empire, for them, was dead, even if it still endured in the core areas of the old Republic. Eventually, even that was gone and the Empire faded into legend. Those of that last Imperial generation enjoyed the wealth and technology of an Empire that had endured for nearly a thousand years. Those in the east, two thousand. Mind-boggling stretches of time.

In time, all things must pass. While watching an interesting documentary on Sun Tzu, I was struck by the number of times he was called the greatest, or best, or genius, and all that. Often times, on other shows, writers go out of their way to get the point across that this person was somehow the best, or that country was somehow the best at something. Sun Tzu was ultimately more important to the modern world than he ever was in China.

The Mongol Empire was the largest contiguous land-empire in the world. Largest, yes. Cohesive, no. It could no more be administered from the home lands then by any other region in their Empire. Also, culture worked against an enduring edifice that could live long past a single ruler, thus the various Khanates that sprang up in short order. They were also destroyed as the smaller units that they were, over time.

Many countries have had the title of "best" over time. The Egyptians lived a high quality life for THOUSANDS of years before Alexander the Great ended it in 335 b.c. The Greeks themselves conquered an empire that stretched all the way to India. They fragmented and assimilated over time.

Sun Tzu went a long way towards the unification of China, though this was elusive even into the modern era with the gross violation of territory by the West.

China has been around nearly as long as the Egyptians, though until the last few decades, no one saw China as the best of anything short of reproduction.

The Western powers each had their day in turn as well. Portugal, Spain, France, Britain, each had world-spanning colonial possessions. Germany rose in time as well, but being land-locked, it quarreled with the neighbors often. Russia, emerging from the Mongol yoke, spread out as well. Though big, they were backwards and never really attained the stature of a great Western power, even today as the Russian Federation.

People look at the United States as the greatest power to ever exist on Earth, and they would be right. If you look at things that make a nation or people great you see economics, military power, law, culture, etc. There is a matrix of traits that makes a country "great". The more of these categories you excel in, the greater your stature. Many countries are great at some things, though backwards and twisted on others, which bring them down as a whole.

The Aztecs had calendars nearly as accurate as our modern system, but they had a thing about cutting out your heart and pitching it down a ziggurat to please blood-swilling gods. Sort of pulls them down on whole.

The Chinese have excelled at many things over the millennia. Evolution and information dissemination were not among those. Gunpowder had been around for a while, but never really used in a significant way for warfare until a European got a look at the stuff and thought about all the walls a home he'd like to knock down. Writing, paper, navigation, astronomy; highly developed, though it took longer between discoveries than it did in the West. Their culture was highly compartmentalized and ideas were blocked by status, birth, and station. No cross-pollination of concepts or ideas among other geniuses. No wonder they were a rich nation that could not protect itself from the rising West.

As an American I would like to think that my nation has been chosen by God for a special purpose. I believe that everything has a purpose, for good or ill, and it is not within my cognitive realm to understand which is which. Our peace and plenty has been a boon for us, though it has made us soft. The seeds of our destruction are sewn in the genesis of our success. Our endurance as a nation and people are dependent upon the choices we make, short and long term, those around us, and historical or environmental forces largely out of our control.

There is virtually no genetic difference between the various "ethnic" groups of humanity. The political units we build are built by groups of people who differ only in their outlook on a variety of philosophical issues. Nothing more, nothing less. Adaptive cultures will endure, inflexible cultures will endure only as long as historical or environmental factors permit.

I pray that the United States can endure. Our experiment is only under 250 years old, born of concepts a thousand years earlier. Can we last as long as Rome or will we last as long as a Supernova. Brighter than all the stars in the entire galaxy, though winking out after but a short while.

Let us see together.

Live well.

--Zavost

Blah, blah, blah

2011-09-16T12:54:00.001-07:00

From atop the Stoa this afternoon, I wish to play some catch up. Even Stoics need to earn enough money to live...so I've been busy of late.

The "jobs" speech that Mr. Obama gave the other day was anything but a jobs speech. It had all the elements of a campaign speech and a stimulus speech. It had the ingredients of class envy, class warfare, lies about who is rich (a single person earning $200,000 is now considered a millionaire). It had hand outs to Blue States and to jobs that exist primarily to fund the DNC with campaign money.

It would take only a moment of thought, an ounce of reason, and a smudge of common sense to see that. The media does not notice of course. Obama shouts that Congress must PASS HIS BILL! The media goes to a Republican leader and says, "are you going to pass this jobs bill?" The Republican shrugs and says, "We don't have a bill to pass or decline." Talk, words, vapor. Lacking in all substance.

The jobs bill is intended to fund infrastructure, schools, teachers, police, firemen, etc. All the things that the $850 Billion dollar Stimulus bill was supposed to fund. The Porkulus was passed for the same reasons. Why do we need "Son of Porkulus"? How much money do you have to burn through before you realize that something is not working?

Then again, we have to remember that to Obama, all money is government money. All jobs are government jobs. All people are government people. There is this 'odd' classification of business and individuals called the "private sector" that has Obama baffled. To him, funding the Public Sector of the economy should be all he needs to do. He can't figure out why the Public sector continues to fail and the private sector continues to die (not that this bothers him).

I'd bet that if we took his speeches from 2009 onward about job creation, balancing the budget and limited taxation...ran them all together on hundreds of monitors (since he has had hundreds of speeches), they would all be saying the exact same thing over and over.

Make the rich pay their fair share. Put people to work. Reducing the deficit. Things have turned around. Raise more taxes. Employ the union. Blah, blah, blah.

Thats all I hear now. I can't stand the sight of him and his words make my ears bleed. He make sounds through the blow-hole in his face but they don't mean anything. They could be dolphin sounds for all I know. His actions are the same, over and over. Tax, spend. Blame and retrench. Pay off his buddies in the unions and punish the people who generate wealth. Over and over.

Just stop talking Obama, we are way, way tired of it.

Live well,

--Zavost

The Sleeper must Awaken

2011-09-12T12:44:00.001-07:00

It is another day upon the Stoa. The day after the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

The world of today is a very different world than the world of 9/10/2001. My children can not know what it was like to wave goodbye to a friend or family member from the boarding ramp at the airport. They never knew of a time where you did not have to take your shoes off or stand in an x-ray unit before you could even get close to the gate.

On 9/11/2001, the United States was punched in the nose by a punk who worked through others and hid in other people's countries. The Clinton administration had treated previous attacks like criminal actions and not the acts of war that they really were. OBL was not a vandal, he was not just wrecking things for the joy of it. He bombed the WTC in 1993 to kill Americans. Sounds simple. He tried again in 2001 and succeeded in bringing down the towers, hitting the Pentagon, and failed in his attempt to hit either the White House or the Capitol.

Problem was, he did it during a Republican Administration. OBL was quite surprised when Afghanistan as a Taliban nation was swiftly destroyed, barely escaping from Tora Bora as we closed in. Iraq was next and hundreds of covert missions of which we will likely never hear about were carried out as well.

The Sleepers were Awoken on 9/11/2001. Party affiliation was set aside, for a time, in mutual anger and sadness over the tragedy. Blood, food, clothing, you name it; all were donated to help out. Thousands joined the military in the hopes of being sent overseas for some payback when war was declared.

The wars have gone on longer than anticipated because of politics and "nation building", but that is another blog entry.

It was not long before the nuts came out and claimed 9/11 was an inside job, despite the evidence. A man so dumb that he could not turn a door knob planned 9/11. Cheney, a man so evil that he could not go hunting without shooting a friend for the fun of it, supervised the planting of explosives in the WTC and the Pentagon, disguised cruise missiles to look like airplanes, and then sprinkled the rest on the levees in New Orleans while he waited for their Hurricane creation/guidance machine to be perfected.

As the years went by, those on the left tired of playing nice and went back to being kooks. Under Bush, to voice your opposition was considered the highest form of patriotism. Under Obama it is treason. Eric Holder prosecutes the very agents who have prevented more than 25 additional 9/11's. Really, Holder? Really, Obama?

Some may consider those actions to be more than a little treasonous on the face of it, Mr. Obama.

One of my students asked me yesterday, "why were we attacked?" This could have been answered any number of ways rather directly, but in this case the direct answer was not the best one. This one had to be answered more philosophically. The answer was as easy as the question: we were perceived to be weak.

History is crammed full of wars that started because one side thought that they could roll over their opponent in a matter of weeks and claim whatever prize motivated their need for war. Just pick your war.

In WWI, Austria-Hungary failed to realize that Serbian treaties of mutual defense would be honored. Plus, Serbia put up one hell of a fight against the Austrians.

Hitler slammed into the Soviet Union in 1941 without even bothering to issue cold weather gear because he was so certain of a quick victory.

The Japanese hit Pearl Harbor in the hopes that we would not have the resolve to fight an extended war, especially since Germany would be pulled into a wider conflict.

North Korea invaded South Korea because of a belief that our drawn-down post WWII military would not prove to be a hinderance.

The United States went into Vietnam thinking that the North Vietnamese were simple guerrillas and could be swiftly defeated with American military might.

The Ayatollah attacked our embassy because he knew that Jimmy Carter would not do anything substantive.

Saddam invaded Kuwait because he felt that the rest of the world would simply accept a done deed.

No one willingly places their hand in a meat grinder. The radical Islamists poked and harassed as long as they knew they could get away with it. The Iranians let the hostages go as soon as Ronald Reagan was elected President. They knew that he would not tolerate the situation, and they were right.

The Jihadists bombed embassies and vacation sites around the world knowing that there would be no concerted effort to stop them as a movement. When Reagan pulled out of Lebanon in 1983, a young OBL realized that there was a limit to how much America would tolerate in the way of casualties. He went to war against the Soviet Union and learned the art of war in Afghanistan. He knew that he could operate openly against President Clinton and even tried to bring down the towers in 1993.

His mistake was hitting the towers again a year too late. A Republican was in office now and this act of provocation could not be allowed to stand. The Sleepers had Awoken and we had become the Wrathful Giant of Japanese fame. There was going to be payback and it was not long in coming.

That fire has dwindled, flared back only briefly when OBL was killed. The cries of distaste were sickening when the left derided patriots for showing joy at the death of OBL. The Tea Party had already been labeled a Terrorist organization by the left, despite the obvious breakdown in reality with that statement.

We must Awaken once more. We must shake off the stupor that the left has once again wove about us. I hate to think that it will take another 9/11 for this to happen. Obama, Holder, Pelosi, Reid; they are the true enemies of the State. When returning soldiers and veterans are considered prime fodder for home grown terror and the border with Mexico remains open then my statements stand. Try to call those extreme and you will simply prove your position.

Live well and remember what happened and why on 9/11. Live well for their memories.

--Zavost

Unintended Truths

2011-09-05T10:37:00.001-07:00

On this inappropriately named holiday upon the Stoa, I find myself chuckling, still, about a commercial by CNN. You know, the Communist News Network.

While I was puttering around in the kitchen, I heard an ad for the "CNN's GOP and Tea Party debate". Really? The Tea Party is actually running a candidate? I didn't know the Tea Party was an actual "Party". Does this mean that the DNC debates this year will feature a Democrat, a Socialist, and a Progressive? The difference between the GOP and the Tea Party is that there is a real difference in fiscal and social agendas. The only difference between a Democrat, a Socialist, and a Progressive is the speed at which you reach abject poverty and misery.

Of course the good ol' neutral journalists at CNN were not trying to imply that there was something actually wrong with the Tea Party, they just wanted to make sure that everyone knew that there were those on the debate that they liked and those they did not like.

These days, the progressives actually like the GOP because they are folks the "can work with". Those folks in the Tea Party just do not know how to "compromise".

CNN actually swerved into the truth on this one. They may not be able to recognize the truth when they trip over it, but it is there to be seen. The American public does indeed need to be able to recognize and sort out the GOP from the TP candidate. There are GOP folks running that are trying to drape the mantle of "outsider" or "Tea Party" over their shoulders (I'm looking at you Romney!). It is really easy for those of like mind to pick out the fakes.

If you ask two people two each claim to be the inheritors of our Founders' philosophies, a straight up question on taxes or freedom, just look for the fellow who waffles, or, talks for twenty minutes and does not say much. That will be the GOP. A Tea Party candidate will have an immediate answer and will not equivocate or get into nuance. This is what I've told you to start looking out for. The RINO GOP will fall to the TP candidate and the GOP will become what it once was, again. Just as the DNC was hijacked by the socialists, the TP will purify the GOP. CNN is actually afraid of this development and are trying again to peddle fear among the population. Sweet move.

Sometimes I think that the only way the truth gets out on the TV is either by accident or through smearing gone wrong. Not everyone who watches CNN is a kettle head. I wonder how often a few of those people cock and ear when they hear that crap and actually start thinking for themselves.

So on this day, first developed to honor the Unions in this country, I will bid you fare well. Things to do and things to eat. Look for the truth lest you trip over it.

--Live well.

Zavost

The Feeble FED of Fate

2011-08-31T12:21:00.001-07:00

The Federal Reserve is now the topic of discussion upon the Stoa this afternoon.

I get the impression that many folks around the country and the world sort of gave a feeble, mixed, "yea" when Bernanke said that interest rates will be kept near zero and that he remained mum on QE3.

Businesses yawned, since they don't have a liquidity problem. The bond markets dropped, gold rose, the housing market fell, and the Fed really does not know what to do with itself. The stock market rallied, but only because they are interested in short term profits. Money getting injected into the economy will pass through the stock market via more than one route. They will get a slice. Of course they are happy. This does not mean that their happiness is good for the country, though.

People saved more than they spent the last six months, which is good for the country, but then everyone really cheered when people spent more money in July then the last July. People were spending again, the Fed trumpeted. People saved less, put more on credit, and consumed more.

Let's think back to what got us into this mess. Cheap credit, check. Easy lending, check. Out of control consumer spending, check. Debt ratios not sustainable by raises in income, check.

So now lets see what the Fed is really up to. Keeping lending rates near zero, check. Printing huge amounts of money to bail out banks who get in over their heads, check. Encouraging people to spend, check. Discouraging savings, check.

What is the deal here folks. Between Barney Frank and Dodd ginning up Freddie and Fannie, the Fed with their irresponsible printing, one might get the idea that they are simply trying to re-inflate a bubble that popped and splattered all over the world. Why re-inflate it? You think prices will not get unsustainable again?

The American people as a whole know that they can no longer just spend and borrow and hope the job will come through with a raise or bonus this year. They are saving up to buy the next purchase. They are fixing their homes and their cars rather than sell them and buy a new one. They are eating out less and spending less because they don't know what next week will bring.

Businesses are mostly wise to what is going on as well as they are hoarding cash and not hiring. Banks are failing as much because of the cost of compliance with the new regulations anymore as they are due to old fashioned failure.

The people know what is going on. The businesses know what is going on. The Feds and the government seem to no know what is going on. They create the mess and then feel that they are the only ones who can fix the mess...a mess they blame on "capitalism". The Fed created one bubble after another and blamed the bubble popped sector for the mess. Regulators step in and choke the sector to near-death and then demand that the sector hire more people.

For the good of the economy is something I have heard as well. Give me a break. A company is not going to hire workers out of charity. They are in the business to stay in business. This means earning more money then they generate in expenses. Sounds simple. Obama and Immelt demand that corporations are healthy enough to hire again, even as Immelt puts thousands out of work (lightbulbs) and shelters his income from Federal Corporate taxation.

The Fed needs to be dismantled, as all the other central banks were dismantled in our history. They had it right each time. Why do people think that they are immune to the evils of any centralized system, be it a bank or a government?

Live well.

--Zavost

Egghead Idiocy

2011-08-31T06:14:00.001-07:00

Atop the Stoa this bright morning, I am telling myself that starting the day irritated is no way to start a day, especially since I have no direct ability at this time to affect change. There, feeling better already.

I state this as the fawning media, in this case, some writers at the WSJ are included, who can not say enough good things about Mr. Obama's choice for his chief advisor for economic affairs and business development. They will go on and on about how he has worked in the Treasury, taught at Harvard (this alone disqualifies him in my book), how he has his Ph.D in Economics and on and on and on. The man began teaching right out of University. The man has never earned an actual paycheck in his life. He is in charge of an economy he has never had to participate in?

I have known many people who were educated beyond their intelligence. Smart people, yes, but perfectly ill-suited to run anything other than a lemonade stand under the watchful supervision of the local 8 year old girl. I have a brilliant cousin that holds two Ph.Ds, yet lives a casual, ego-centric life. No entanglements with women or children, though he has both. Little interaction with the larger family and a rather flippant attitude towards most things not involving him. This is a man, who as a kid made a commercially available, child-safe chemistry set explode, setting his house on fire and blowing out a wall. He did it only to show that he could. He did not think about the results of his labor, he simply did it as a personal challenge.

We have Ben Bernanke, who wrote his thesis on the causes of the Great Depression, who is now staggering his way down the identical path towards financial ruin. Is he not smart enough to notice this? We have union bosses who are now working in government-owned entities. How messed up is that? Unions have a direct correlation between lack of productivity and lack of profits. Unions will suck a host dry until it goes out of business, and now we have union bosses holding large stakes in GM and Chrysler. Who's bright idea was that? Oh, yeah, it was the intellectual egg-heads in Washington that made that unholy alliance.

Gee, it looks so nice and Socialist on paper. Why is it not working? Since neither Mr. Obama, Mr. Geitner, Mr. Kruger, Mr. Krugman (I include him because he might as well work for Obama) have never really been involved in the private sector except to extort, regulate, and otherwise stifle it. More people under Obama are educated intellectuals and not business veterans than any president before him and it shows.

We need Trump as Treasury Secretary. We need someone from Microsoft or Apple as the Commerce Secretary. We need an Ex-military officer as the Secretary of Defense. The trend I'm citing here is experience over the sector they will be responsible for advising the President upon. No ivory tower weenie-tots. Experience. It was done before to great results and it can be done again.

Amateur hour is over, kids. Time to let the grown-ups back into the driver's seat. I don't necessarily mean you, either, Mr. GOP man. You go back to theorizing in make-believe university land where your actions will not destroy the country. Actually, stop doing that as well since you are turning out copies of yourselves like a virus. Go somewhere else and play your games, stop mucking up my back yard.

Live well,

--Zavost

Union Schmucks

2011-08-30T05:25:00.001-07:00

Today upon the Stoa I would like to discuss the auto unions, Ford Motor Co., and Government Motors.

I have read some of the most idiotic prose in a long time, and I read government documents frequently for my employment. Let's see, where to start. Ok, we have the UAW union boss afraid that his rank and file will rebel since they see him getting ready to place a deal in front of the members that maintains many of the agreements that were put in place to keep Fords from going under in 2007 and 2008. They are upset that they are not getting any big raises, nor are they going to go back to the seniority rules, pension rules, and retirement benefits of 2006. However, the Union boss thinks that if he is able to negotiate a $5,000 bonus for every employee then perhaps they will be less angry.

I can not stand idiots. Ignorance is forgivable, but willful idiots make the bile rise.

Being raised in Michigan, in the Detroit suburbs, I know too well what the rank and file UAW workers are like. They are not deep thinkers at all. They just want the good paychecks to keep coming, to keep getting bigger, and pay for all the toys they love to play with. Oh, and to take care of them when all the drinking and partying catch up to them when they are 50.

One would wonder if the rank and file are capable of understanding the events that have brought them to this point, here in 2011. Decades of draining the blood of the big 4 (AMC, GM, Chrysler, and Ford) saw the demise of AMC in the 1980's, due to the insurgence of the Japanese auto companies, lazy quality, and crappy designs. Rather than reserve the strength to fight off the competition, they allowed AMC to vanish. The Japanese gained a foothold and placed more pressure on the American auto companies. Chrysler had to get a government bailout lest it join AMC in oblivion.

The American industry became moribund, existing only to feed the parasites called UAW workers. Market share continued to erode and eventually Chrysler finally succumbed to the free market forces. Like a hot potato, various owners passed it around until it is now owned by a prior bicycle company in Italy. Oh, how they fall.

GM died convulsing under the tender ministrations of the government, carved in such a way that it would never have passed legal muster if done solely in the private sector. The GM of old is truly dead, only debts remain and broken warrantee promises. The new company, also bearing the name General Motors (2.0) struggles to get out from under the grip of a government, now reluctant to give up its direct ability to manipulate an economic sector (gee, who could have seen that coming?)

Only Ford truly remains as the last auto company in the United States. It seems fitting. They were the first to use automation and to bring the automobile to the masses, they should be the last to do the same.

The union rank and file circle the crippled giant, looking for any signs of vitality. Here in 2011, they see a faint pulse, as the company is doing a little better, and immediately cry out for the blood to be drained and distributed again. They have been denied and will be denied no longer.

The UAW boss may have some understanding of both worlds, which is why he is reluctant to put too much strain on Ford. GM and Chrysler, he knows, may not bow to their demands as easily as the Rank and File believe. Now that the UAW partly owns those entities, they will be reluctant to shave off THEIR profit margins for the unwashed dues-payers. They have businesses to run and margins to make, now. The rank and file can not be permitted to damage them they way they wrecked the companies when they were actual corporations. No, they are in for a rude awakening, which is why they focus on Ford.

Now, back to the $5,000 bonus. This may mollify them for the moment, but bribes, and this is what it amounts to, have a habit of getting bigger and bigger. The less-dim among the rank and file may note that the $5,000 is nothing compared to what they would get in their check if they actually got the raise that they demanded. When that happens, look out Mr. UAW man.

I depart the Stoa for the moment.

Live well.

--Zavost

What they could have been

2011-08-29T13:08:00.001-07:00

From atop the battered and leaf-strewn Stoa (Irene, you bitch) I ponder how many degrees from "normal" one can be before they are labeled "criminal" or "wizard".

The other night, with power flickering, walls shaking and trees leaning ominously over my abode, I pondered the differences between a criminal mastermind and a business "wizard" like Buffett or Trump.

In very few words one can say that one follows the laws of the land to obtain their wealth and the other one does not. Well of course. However, what I'm looking at why an individual would choose to earn their money one way or the other.

Both describe the "high" of the challenge; the quest for riches is simply the residue of combat. The accumulation of wealth is merely the "score card" to demonstrate their prowess. Why would one choose to do so within the "rules" and why does one feel the need to this outside of the established set of rules.

Let's take Donald Trump as an example of someone who has demonstrated a way of making money within the rules. This man has been bankrupt on more than one occasion, only to fight his way back to wealth. This man has demonstrated the ability to survive as an apex predator within a tank full of apex predators. He has destroyed his opponents, crushed their abilities and bereft them of the ability to make more money than him.

All of this has been done without jail time. Billions of dollars over decades and not one week in jail.

Let's look at Bernie Madoff now. This man made billions as well. Made other people rich too. He was able to cook the books and juggle like no one else around him. He threw off the regulatory hounds on more than one occasion and was able to continue his crimes undetected for decades.

Unlike Trump, he made his money in a manner similar to Buffett. Moistening his finger and choosing which stocks will go up and which will go down. Some say this takes skill, others say luck. All I know is that Trump builds things that I can put my hand upon...but I digress.

Bernie Madoff used his intellect and connections to hide his wrongdoing while raking in money. Bill Clinton used his intellect and connections to wriggle out of Whitewater and other stinky deals. If these people are so smart why can they not play by the rules? What are the rules really but a maze of regulations in which the successful are able to find the loopholes and still make money?

Did I just answer my own question? Are the criminals among that class of geniuses simply lazy?

I love questions that have simple answers, but that answer does not satisfy me. There must be something more because these people work hard...very, very hard to cover up what they do. Could it be that the rules are boring to them and by breaking the rules they add another layer of enjoyment? Does breaking the rules make one richer, faster?

On the other end of the spectrum, you have your common criminals. I have noted a high level of intelligence among them as well, despite a poor education. Many of them, if given a chance earlier in life, could have made something much more out of themselves. Am I advocating Socialism? Hell, no. If you think that then you have not been reading my articles.

Mentoring goes a long way towards giving someone a goal to surpass. It is the dream of every master that the pupil surpass them, as it is the dream of every pupil to surpass the master. There is something here that I will have to ponder upon for another entry...

I still have to wonder what drives a person into criminality. I'll stay away from Federal law, since it seems that by stepping on the wrong patch of grass will get you years in jail...I'll just leave them alone.

Easy money? Quick success? A distaste for the rules? Thrill-seeking?

I'm just as stumped as before. Sometimes a criminal is merely a matter of perception. To me, Che Guevara was a bloody lunatic communist who simply loved the thrill of dealing death; observing expressions on one's face upon death. NUT. To others he is a knight who fought for justice. In his mind, he was the hero, not the villain. Does the criminal have the same thoughts? Does Madoff simply feel that the rules are stupid and irrelevant?

Do they justify the breaking of the rules as part of a larger problem they they are rebelling against?

I'm beginning to think that they simply feel that the rules are put in place to protect the little guy from their predatory intellect. To break the rules is to "stick it to the man" and to make money despite the attempt at shackling them. Perhaps it is just another layer of thrill, the fear of getting caught, the thrill of sticking it to the system while they rake off billions. This would answer for the vast number of corrupt politicians as well. Only chumps follow the rules. Only the intelligent know which rules to follow and which rules to beat over an opponent's head.

Perhaps that is it. Thoughts, class?

Live well.

--Zavost

We Must Abandon The Earth.

2011-08-26T06:53:00.001-07:00

From one of my many information sources upon the Stoa I have come upon a very interesting story. The article was written by a fellow that is about 20 years older than me.

This means that he is old enough to remember the energy of the space race, the pride of Apollo, and promise of Skylab. I was only two weeks old when man landed on the moon for the first time, so my joy was the Space Shuttle program that Obama took the axe to last year.

"They" promised much in the way of the future. "They" being the SF writers of the 40's through 90's. Those novels were written by GI, Silent, and Boomers who all had that initial spark and drive for the stars. They understood the perils and the wonders of leaving our home behind.

This article was not about the energy of yesterday, but the letdown of today. If space exploration had continued on its spending path, we would have been launching manned missions to Mars from the surface of the moon by 2000. We would already have manufacturing and fabrication plants in orbit producing the materials that we would need to further colonize the moon and Mars, not to mention taking care of our people back on Terra without having to dig up the mountains (do you hear me, hippies, in West Virginia?).

Instead, our efforts were squandered in an attempt to take care of those who were deemed unable to take care of themselves. It all sounds so altruistic until you realize that government dependency is just another form of servitude. Not so altruistic after all.

Carl Sagan and others used to use the argument that for the cost of a single ICBM you could send several unmanned missions into space, and if Defense spending were reduced, that money could go into further manned exploration.

For such intelligent people, who already had a collective (i.e. Socialist) bend, I'm amazed that they overlooked the obvious.

Defense spending was also space exploration. The military needed satellites in orbit for the Internet, GPS, weather prediction, missile defense, and also just good old fashioned spying. They also failed to notice that small reductions in the rate of GROWTH for social programs could have funded the same space exploration missions. No reductions in spending, just the growth of spending. The entire 30 year Shuttle program cost less than 300 billion dollars. A fraction of THIS YEAR'S Medicare spending. A FRACTION!

Now, lets get all Socialistic, but from a more altruistic angle.

We will have to agree on certain foundational agreements:
1. Humans are polluting the Earth with our very presence, let alone the residue of our technology.
2. To save the Earth for the other life forms, we must either commit mass suicide, in such a way that we become food or fertilizer for the animals; or we leave.
3. No other countries, other than the US and/or Europe need to participate, though ALL will by the end, and I'll tell you why.

Rather than bending our national will towards "solving" a social problem that has been with us since time immemorial, we bend our national will towards evacuation. Yes, evacuate the Earth to save the Earth.

We reorganize society to the needs of evacuation. Over time, the Federal government may have to nationalize certain industries or create a nexus where corporate coordination can occur. We need to give ourselves a window, like 50 years or so to vacate the property. Nothing motivates like a deadline. Socialists would love this plan.

Our schools begin to graduate the skill sets needed for Genetics, Metallurgy, Aeronautics, Astrophysics, Astronomy, Geology, Biology, Xenobiology; the spectrum of science and industry must be ramped up at all costs. Those without jobs are GIVEN a job in this new mobilization. If you can only drop a seed packet into a preservation capsule then that is your job. No idleness. If you are uneducated, then you will have a job commensurate with your skills, whether it is decontaminating the Uranium ore processors or cleaning out the biodegrading sump pumps (think poo pumps) then that is what you will be doing.

Gangs? Forget it. Drugs? Nope, no time, those dealers will be busy working. Criminals? They will be put to work, be it in forced labor mining camps (not as bad as it sounds...this isn't the Soviet Union after all) or the assembly lines. Heck, how many people will actually realize their potential in this new, driven society? Many, I promise you.

All consumer spending will be geared towards providing useful items for colonizing the planets of our Solar System, with the full expectation of building near-light speed vessels within 50 years. Not as far fetched as it sounds. Ion propulsion drives have that ability NOW. Bet you didn't know that. How much better would we be if we funded it with full mobilization in mind? Your Xbox 360 would not have useless games, it would have simulator programs, teaching children how to control thruster nodules, control magnetic fields, and understand the dangers and hazards of stellar radiation. Fitness programs would ramp way, way up as millions volunteered for pilot and crew positions on the hundreds of missions that will be flown EVERY YEAR. Participation like you've never seen it. The creation of the infrastructure, the Star Ports, and the Terran industry required to build this endeavor will be breath taking.

Space is not just the final frontier, it is the ultimate high ground.

By building hundreds of space stations, manned and ARMED, we will have uncontrolled supremacy not over just the orbital tracks, but everything beneath it. We don't have to drop nukes on cities to destroy them...that is messy. We can just shoot orbital debris or small asteroids at targets on the surface. End of story and no radioactive fallout.

Countries will be forced to sign on with US, to merge their resources with us, since we will have the insurmountable edge in space technology. Religious fundamentalism? Keep it back on Earth, pal. No time to rail against the infidel when there is a deadline to meet.

Eventually, every nation will have full employment, geared towards evacuation.

By the 25th year, the moon will have robust facilities and launch bases to push out on to Mars. Some may head towards Venus with solar harvesters, intent on filling energy cells and capacitors or setting up robotic manufacturing and refining facilities. Automated and manned facilities in the asteroid belt, slinging rocks back to Venus for processing (don't want to miss and hit the Earth...Venus won't care or notice that we nuke it by accident once in a while).

Before long we will be around Jupiter and Saturn, colonizing moons nearly the size of Mars and the Earth. What wonders will we discover or uncover? Technology will advance in leaps and bounds. New discoveries fueling the expansion. Lessons learned will lesson the amount of life lost in the journey and make our expansion more effective and efficient. The quality of life will rise for everyone and not just a few.

Back on Earth, things will be winding down. A cold calculation will have to be made at one point. As teams of people return to the surface to dismantle the infrastructure, harvesting what we need in terms of salvage, a decision will have to be made by those that insist on staying behind.

In my estimation, they will either have to be eliminated in cold blood, or told that they have to live in the absence of technology. Period. Mankind has risen out of near extinction on more than one occasion to dominate the planet. Monitoring stations will have to be left behind in orbit. In fact, we should maintain extensive colonies around the Earth indefinitely. If the ones that are left behind begin to re-discover fossil fuel technology then they will have to be interfered with. Perhaps even recruited to join their older brothers in space. After the first few generations, the inhabitants should be given the option of joining the movement into space, though their education will take longer if they don't start until their teenage years.

Perhaps over time, everyone will leave home and join the rest of the species in space. We will take animals and plants with us and seed them wherever they may take. The Earth will be free of us and free to evolve new forms of life, which we will watch over and keep safe from asteroid strikes (though would that not be interfering?).

We must bend our will towards leaving the Earth and realizing our potential as a race, instead of plumbing the DEPTHS with reality TV and tax/government servitude.

Think on all that and the implications on culture, society and technology.

With those thoughts, I leave you. Hello, Irene.

Live well.

--Zavost

Alternative Histories

2011-08-25T11:39:00.001-07:00

Atop the soon to be windswept Stoa this morning (thank you Irene), I wish to talk about some of the grand 'what ifs' that never were.

Last night there was a show about what the US would be like if the Germans had won WWII. I have actually written extensively about just that topic over the years and I felt the show took a simplistic view of things. I'll assume that you know the history and will simply start running down a list.

The show made the assumption that D-day could have been stopped had Hitler allowed the Me-262 to go into production years earlier, instead of shifting resources into bombers. I have to state that D-day, in its historical form would not have happened. D-day would never have been launched without air supremacy, which, if the Me-262 were already a known quantity, could not have been achieved.

It would, however, have allowed Hitler to have the much needed air supremacy over Britain when he needed it most in 1940. The Battle of Britain would have been won, and Hitler's military could have done a reverse D-day 4 years earlier (Operation Sea Lion).

The show also went on to say that if Hitler had gotten the Atomic bomb first, they would have used sub-based missiles to launch on Boston and New York. Doubtful in the extreme.

The only reason why we got the bomb first was because Hitler drove out all the Jews and non-aryans who happened to also hold advanced degrees in Theoretical Physics, Applied Physics, and Mathematics. They clumped here and allowed us to get there first. The Germans may have discovered Fission first, but their path to the bomb was a dead end. Plus, even the V2 was not powerful enough to deliver the type of bomb they would have been able to build.

Another point I'd like to make is that the American people would not have surrendered so easily. Yes, the loss of life would have been terrible until we could have evacuated the large cities, or increased our naval patrols along the coast to catch their subs. They could also have delivered via long-range jet-bombers, which they were developing, but again, we likely would have been able to catch those.

We are simply too big for them to have controlled, much less conquered. I think the show was just showing what the US would have been if Bush were in power for another 4 years...

Also, the Soviet Union would have likely fallen since there would have been no Western Front with the fall of Britain. He would have been free to pick apart the sleeping bear...and fight his partisan war there for the next 70 years, since the Soviet Union would also have proven to be too big to control effectively.

Now, on to other things.

I do wish, often, that Martin Luther King Jr. had not been assassinated. I weep, knowing that the blacks of today do not live in the vision he preached. His apostles, Jackson, Sharpton, and others have simply used race to enrich themselves and to score chicks. What could have been.... They will have to answer to him when they are called back to the other side. They will have to deal with their failures, if not in this life, then in the next.

I wish that JFK had not been assassinated. I doubt that he would have done 1/3rd of what LBJ did to the economy, Vietnam, and the Black culture. He would hardly be welcomed in the Republican Party of today for his views on Communism, let alone the Democrat Party.

I wish we could have kept up the pace of manned space exploration. We would already be on Mars today and looking to the asteroid belt for natural resources. I am sure of that. Don't doubt me.

I wish that the MSM had kept with the philosophy of Franklin and not become the Marxist mouth piece that it has become today.

I wish that religion were still a part of the American fabric. Many of the social ills facing us today did not plague us when we practiced a religion...any religion.

I wish that the Roman Empire had extended its solid control over all of the Saudi Arabian peninsula. This would have mainstreamed the Arabs of the day. After the fall of Rome, the flow of time would have been such that a Mohammed would likely never have risen to prestige. Think of a world without radical Islam. Heck, all he had to do was fall off his camel and history could have been better.

I could go back wards and look in contemporary years. We all have to understand that you can not draw effective 'what ifs' if you don't look at the broad trends of history. Sometimes history is too big to move. People like MLK are able to make a difference when the world has become ready to listen. There have been lots of people like him over time, but the Civil Rights movement was HIS time. He stepped forward and filled the role history needed of him.

Hitler came to power only after the ground had been prepared for him. His Munich rebellion in the 20's was a good example of this.

Look to affect the future and do not dwell over much on the past. It is prologue. Actively write your own future in today's present.

Live well.

--Zavost

Wealth does not a leader make

2011-08-23T11:25:00.001-07:00

Sitting upon the Stoa, I read and observe much. One item I constantly see is the one to one connection between reality and whatever a copy editor decides to print. Political leanings are easy to see. Fairness is easy to see as well. Protestations aside, I can tell very quickly where a publication stands.

One article talked at length about Vice President Joe Biden's visit to China and how China is 'revealing' its leadership credentials. It spoke about several high level Chinese leaders who are "poking their heads out on the international scene". The article went on and on about how China holds so much of our debt and that we deserve to have someone watching over us who appears to be more responsible about managing money than we are.

Crap, crapola,craptascular (hat tip to Klavan), is what I call that last paragraph. China stopped purchasing our debt in any serious amounts years ago, thus QE1, QE2, and upcoming QE3...monetizing in the absence of "loans" from China. China has serious issues internally with infrastructure loans to government-owned corporations and other entities. So many that I would need another posting to cover them all.

China is doubling its military spending every other year for "defensive" purposes only. Right. If the US has chosen not destroyed China by now, it is not going to. India is not a threat nor is Russia. They have proven already that they can crush internal rebellion. So just who are they "defending" themselves from.

Likely, they are creating a world-class military (with all that American money we gave them in return for rubber dog poo since 1980) to protect its economic interests in the near future. They have been buying up oil rights around the world, making trade deals in Africa and South America...all that needs to be protected in the future.

The Chinese are not a benevolent people. They do not have our history of restraint. I can hear the various arguments taking shape around me, but I'm right on this. China will bully and bend other countries to the point that they are nothing but vassal states, not just dependents. Just because they hold a lot of wealth now does not mean that they are not the people who conquered Tibet in our modern times. It does not mean that they are not the people of Tiananmen Square fame. Has anyone heard from the guy who stood in front of the tank? Anyone? Didn't think so.

They listen only to their own council and will pursue only their own goals. All nations act out of their own self-interest. That is a fact.

The United States is a Judeo-Christian nation that is more interested in peaceful trade and co-existence. The Chinese invaded Vietnam in 1979 just to test out a new ranking system in their military. We value life, as a people. Mao willingly starved tens of millions in pursuit of a theory that was abandoned in 1980.

These papers and sites I read with their writers panting about the rise of China best study a few points of history before they go gaga for China. How about they try to get an exclusive interview with the guy who squared off with the tank. Bet he is still unavailable.

Live well.

--Zavost

The Past is Prologue

2011-08-21T05:50:00.001-07:00

From the Stoa today I wish to discuss Americans, America, and Generational turn-over.

I finished reading an article by an interesting fellow. Anyone who reads Rudyard Kipling is a realist in my book, and this fellow is a realist. You can read his entire article on "American Thinker, 082111", Martial Virtues and the survival of civilizations by James G. Wiles.

He hits on some very good points, points I've made for years, actually. There is a point in his article where I wish to expound. He goes into great, and very useful detail, about the larger political policy shifts on entitlement from the Civil War forward, but I wish to discuss the human and generational aspect of his article.

Here is the paragraph where I will continue my version of his article, in parallel with his own: "Thus, is it the chicken or the egg? Over at Canada's National Post, Fr. Raymond de Souza reviews Mark Steyn's important new book, After America. De Souza asks the correct question. Did the expanding state wither the individual, or did the withering of the individual lead to an expansion of the state?"

An outstanding question made by a man I respect, as much as I respect Mr. Steyn. Good men.

Now, this is where Mr. Wiles explores the macro sweeps of time, economics, China and such. I want to get back to the marrow the question that was posed. What did come first?

In a nutshell, the people who had the power to make those changes came first. I look at the wrecks that are called "citizens" of the welfare state and I see so much failed potential. So much waste in terms of money, humanity, and progress, both technological and cultural. But they are weak people, reliant on others for their support. Part of the hostility and sense of self-entitlement comes from, I believe, their conscience grinding on their every waking moment. It is not an easy thing being dependent upon others. They are not so stupid to not realize that the only reason they are able to eat, have a roof over their heads, and are able to drive to the next booze party is on the charity of others. Forced charity, that is, by a Democrat or well-intentioned useful idiot Republican.

Ponder that for a moment. The Democrats realized that they could create an eternal underclass, dependent upon them for money, food, booze, and shelter while in return, they keep voting for them to into office. However, it was not until the end of WWII and the 1950's that this really became possible.

Yes, there was T. Roosevelt and Wilson that lead the Progressive charge in the early 20th century, both from different motives, but that movement failed in large part. The prosperity of Coolidge allowed people to forget the terrible evil represented by Progressivism. T. Roosevelt was Progressive because he was sympathetic to the little man. He felt that guaranteeing charity and safety they could then grow to be who they were destined to be, as he did. Wilson was Progressive because he felt that this inferior rabble needed a shepherd and he was going to create the political over-class to see after them.

FDR warped the fabric further with his Socialistic power grab, but had much of his work undone in the Supreme Court. Enough got through, though. Enough was passed to doom his grandchildren. So that is the political rise. Policies that lead to the welfare state were passed by powerful people of each party. Each for their own intellectual reasons. Wilson, though, was more realistic in his forethought, though. This makes him a very bad man and Teddy a very ignorant one.

Our forefathers knew that cultural change was but a generation or two away. Evolution and extinction, just a generation away. Lenin and Hitler knew this. Reagan and Jefferson as well. By indoctrinating the children, you will change the far future. Those are just two evil examples, but lets explore the less evil examples.

Let's assume that LBJ was not an SOB out to turn the blacks of the 1960's into Democrat plantation slaves and assume that he passed his sweeping policies out of altruistic sources. His intention was to create a society where people were productive and inclusive. What he created was single moms and absent black fathers. People are not stupid. Humans have had about the same level of intellect for 50,000 years. They may be poor, ignorant and uneducated, but this underclass is not stupid by any measure of the word.

They saw quickly how the system could be gamed to their advantage. They were rewarded by not marrying. They were rewarded for every child they brought into the world. If you give away free money to a group of people, you will grow that group of people. Simple concept.

The British Empire went from being filled with tough-minded, industrious individuals to arrogant wastes of genetic material. You may know them by all the statues scattered across the GLOBE, reminding those who see them that the British were once a great people. Now, they are just like the inner city black and rural white trash. An ever expanding underclass that produces nothing but more underclass; and consumes ever more resources. The recent riots in London and elsewhere are flares warning everyone that something is seriously wrong with this way of life.

Social Security was started to help the elderly and to lessen the burden on the family that had to care for Grandma. It started at 65, which was well into elder hood and beyond the average life expectancy for that day. Over time, politicians saw an opportunity to expand the program to include more and more people for more and more reasons. People lived longer even as benefits were expanded. I'll continue to assume that this was done out of a Christian sense of altruism.

Medicare and Medicaid are similar examples. Programs that started with the best of intentions but have been expanded, fattened, and distorted until the very fabric of society has begun to unwind.

In the 1960's, I'm sure there were many an elderly black that shook their heads at the loss of pride their youngers had to suffer by going on the dole. I'm sure the first ones on the dole must have felt a sense of loss as well. However, it is THEIR children that grew up accepting that hand out. They never had to work for it, nor did they ever work for their keep. Now they feel entitled to that money, and angry that it does not grow along with their appetites for the finer things in life. Let the theoretical rich pay for everything, they are the ones who put me in my situation after all...they are more correct than they suspect.

So what came first? The children of the Great Depression, the ones who then went off to fight WWII and Korea; they are the ones I'm looking at. They had such a hard life as children that they did not want their children to suffer the same way. There was the economic boom after WWII and the Boom in children. They were going to create the world anew. Yes, they did GREAT things, that generation. But they also expanded these programs and spent the economic expansion well into the future, in the hopes that things would keep expanding. Their altruism and good intentions have lead to the expansion of this serf-like underclass. Our "Greatest Generation" has undone our Founding Fathers.

Think about that. The Yin and Yang of things. Our saviors and our destroyers.

I look forward to reading the future history of things to see how this plays out. We are not dead yet, as a martial people. There is MUCH life left within us yet. I am ever optimistic.

Live well.

--Zavost

The Omnipotent Federal Government

2011-08-20T09:05:00.001-07:00

From this Stoa this day, I wish to discuss how the government "knows" things and how the government disseminates information within itself.

Contrary to popular belief, the government does not know everything about everyone at any given moment. Sure, they CAN find out everything about YOU if they have a desire to. Take Joe "the Plummer" for instance.

No, the government is huge, bloated, fractured and does not communicate well with any given segment of itself. However, there are certain things that certain administrations take a special interest in. Any liberal Democrat administration loves to focus on domestic terrorism, guns, the restriction of civil liberties in the interest of granting civil liberties, etc.

So, given this intense interest in guns and the people who may use them, think white, male, religious, Tea Party; I have heard the most asinine thing in a long time. And I hear a lot of asinine things.

Eric Holder, heir of RFK and J. Edgar Hoover, states that they were unaware of the "Fast and Furious" program that ran guns down to the Mexican drug lords currently working to overthrow any semblance of civilization in Mexico. Man, that one is a whopper. Police agencies, FBI agencies and the like have been detecting these weapons and throwing up flares that US made assault weapons are ending up at crime scenes. This was ignored by those in the government that were running the program, and this means you, Mr. Holder and Mr. Obama.

These weapons were ferried over the border, knowingly by the Obama administration, for whatever reasons they wish to profess.

How do I know that the government must know? Have you ever seen a reality TV show where someone buys a regular old gun? Sometimes it takes weeks to actually get your hands on it. Paperwork and all that. The government demands to know who you are and what you are doing with that gun. How about automatic or assault style weapons? Now we are talking many weeks to months to obtain.

So how does someone, even in the government, make an "unofficial" transfer of thousands of assault rifles, many seized from gangs and drug lords here in the States by Federal authorities to illegal elements within Mexico?

You mean to tell me that Mr. Holder does not know anything about that? You are joking, right?

This is bigger than Watergate. This is bigger than any old birth certificate. Why is the MSM giving Obama a pass on this? Tens of thousands of people have died in Mexico as a result of these weapons and everyone just yawns?

A hurricane hits New Orleans and the MSM speculates, or gives airtime to those who do, that the hurricane was manufactured by a secret government program and that President Bush was able to steer it to New Orleans because of it being predominately black and Democrat. Media swoons and begins to dog Bush relentlessly.

An oil well pumps millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico and Obama gets a pass. Thousands of guns turn up in Mexico that should be in Federal storage lockers and Obama gets a pass. Holder gets a pass.

Palestinians kill dozens of Israelis over night and the PA gets a pass. Assad cleans out a Palestinian 'camp', tens of thousands of people go missing and scatter and Assad gets a pass. Israel responds by bombing a legitimate military target to kill a PA militant and they get dogged by the anti-semites of the world.

The world may be a cold and miserable place, but at least that world makes sense to me. One where reality is manufactured, sterilized, and packaged by the Federal Government, with the aid and assistance of the MSM then it is a reality that only George Orwell truly understands.

You have much to answer for, Mr. Holder, Mr. Obama. I'm not your judge, but the voters are. The legal system will not always be under your control and influence. Even Roman Consuls were subject to legal reviews when their terms were ended. Yours will end and the legal system will eventually catch up to you.

Live well.

--Zavost

Money Motivates

2011-08-19T20:17:00.000-07:00

Upon the Stoa tonight, I again shake my head in disappointment. I have worked in the healthcare industry for almost 20 years and have seen what people can do to each other. I've also seen the industry evolve.

As the years have gone there were times where there were medicine shortages, but they were few and far in between. Over the last 7 years, the frequency has picked up. Today, there are hundreds of drugs that can not be ordered or administered due to production or ingredient issues.

How does this happen? The reality of economics slamming head first with the reality of piss poor governmental policy and regulation. Due to the expense of labor, the expenses of litigation, and the difficulties of regulation; plus a thinner and thinner margin due to overseas competition, American manufacturers of some of the worlds best medicines have stopped producing them.

R&D dollars are spent on blockbusters, not aspirin. The American medical system now must rely on unreliable supplies and manufacturing centers. Centers that are overseas and in plants that may or may not meet our standards. This is intolerable. This is America. ObamaCare has not even kicked in yet. Just wait for that.

So what is the answer to this? Well, Obama feels that, wait for it...More government is the answer. They want to purchase the dry ingredients, store them, and then distribute them when they are needed. Right. Drugs that are in short supply already and they want to stock pile them. What is wrong with that reasoning?

Here is a crazy idea. How about companies are given tax breaks based on the amount of older drugs they produce? This would actually free up cash for the ongoing development of newer drugs. There are more ideas but it is late and I wish to hang up my toga for the night. Sure hope I don't need routine medication any time soon.

Live well.

--Zavost

Chamber a round for S&P

2011-08-18T05:47:00.001-07:00

As the smoke billows about the Stoa from the fire at the Great Dismal Swamp, I wish that I were not always so correct on things. No this is not bravado for I am way more humble than you; comfortable with my Stoicism.

I said some time ago that Europe's troubles started in 2007/8 when the PIIGS began showing debt structuring pain and that the Euro was not nearly as strong as everyone thought it was (another item was right on about). It was the rating agencies that shot up the flare warning people that all was not right in the old country.

This was just prior to the debt market/credit market meltdown here in the States, of which the rating agencies had fears of, yet failed to shout loud enough to be taken seriously. There may also be a lot of cases where leadership from within the agencies muted the call in order to keep the money coming in return for good credit ratings.

Either way, it is time for the agencies to pay. Did the Feds have any problems with the PIIGS downgrades of 2007/08? Nope. Did they have issues with the agencies warning the world about the Euro? Nope. Did the Feds have any issues with European insolvency? Not really, we just printed up a few hundred billion greenbacks and floated them a loan.

All this chaos cause by "the rating agencies" and the Feds just shrugged and said, "what are you gonna do?" The Europeans were ticked because the agencies have their headquarters in the US and they felt that there was something fishy going on.

Well, the credit downgrade finally came to us and we were appalled. Appalled, I say! I just waited for the coordinated stories to come out and today I've finally seen enough to know the effort is underway to "Alinsky" the rating agencies.

Lets see, in the span of 48 hours I have seen:
The Justice Department is investigating S&P for not reporting the risk of the credit/debt swaps of the last 12 years.
The JD is investigating S&P for silencing reports of the same by their leadership.
Cities and other municipalities are blaming the agencies, Moody's in this case, for downgrading their bonds, sometimes giving them "super downgrades", that is, a multi-level reduction in their credit-worthiness.

There are so many more. The flag dropped and the MSM is away and running with sob stories and stories of evil agencies. So predictable.

The Feds feel that by shooting the messenger they will dampen the message. Actually, they are only ignoring reality. The rating agency is the fire alarm, designed to warn the government and public when the debt situation is getting worse (among other things).

Taking an axe to the alarm does not put out the fire.

Why the Super-downgrades, I was asked? Good question.

Well, before the melt down in 2008, the agencies just sort of worked in the margins of society and people did not pay them a whole lot of attention. Decades of service and only the financial type business or government folks really knew much about them. They had been mandated years ago to make sure that things like the Great Depression didn't happen again, by giving fair warning for when the indicators were turning south. Well, it seems like they were not a very transparent bunch, because most people didn't care much about what they did. When the agencies began having to rate these "securitized mortgage debt swaps" they didn't really know what to do with them. On the face of it all, they didn't really pose too much of a risk since the risk was being spread around.

Then the debt vehicle began to evolve and the debt swaps got more complicated, fractured (sliced smaller to make more money) and the trading velocity and penetration to other markets gathered speed. I'm sure many within the rank and file of these agencies began to have their doubts, but there were so many requests for ratings that they were making some serious cash.

So, fast forward past the carnage. Fast forward past the people being foreclosed on by a bank that can not even prove they hold the deed for the mortgage. Fast forward throughout the Trillions in stimulus spending that went down the black hole.

Enter onto the scene, the architects of the financial crisis, the dynamic destroyers of wealth, Dodd/Frank, or Frank/Dodd, depending on who is in charge that day. They will bring transparency where once there was opacity. They will bring fairness where once there was discrimination. They will make sure that those who were wronged by their bungling can SUE to get their money out of these agencies.

See where this is going? Under Dodd/Frank, the agencies can be sued if they exposed clients to risk that should have been easily avoided. Their activities are now out in the open for all to see.

So, what is a consequence of these regulations? Since the agencies are now at increased risk of being wrong, they will err on the side of caution. This means that in years past the agency may have given a municipality the benefit of the doubt. NOT ANYMORE. So, once S&P downgraded the credit of the United States as a whole, the agencies began to pull down the ratings on States and cities. Actually, those downgrades were long overdue and already under way prior to the S&P announcement.

They have seen the government books, Federal, State, and Local and understand how they "finance" their debt. We are in the fast lane towards Greece and the rest of Europe. The agencies are simply laying on the horn and shouting warnings to change course.

Think about all that. Political grandstanding within the realm of national finance is NEVER appropriate. Their actions are mucking up things across the board and delaying the efforts of the market to correct itself.

There are many reforms that need to be undertaken, but most of those are the surgical removal of government and government regulations. The market will take care of itself and has proven that it can time and time again. Study up on your Calvin Coolidge.

With respirator on, I make my way into the smoke banks.

Live well.

--Zavost

I'll bet Syria is acting on Israel's orders

2011-08-16T16:10:00.000-07:00

From atop the Stoa this evening, the bile rises. As the hypocrisy of the Obama administration increases, so does the concentration of acid in my stomach.

Assad, the familial ruler of Syria, has been shooting the crap out of his country, butchering anyone who sneezes in his direction, and generally getting a pass for it from his good friends, Obama and Co.

Today, tanks rolled in, and over, a Palestinian "refugee" camp in Syria. I guess some of them were caught saying some negative things about Assad butchering fellow Arabs. Therefore, "send in the tanks!"

This act has been caught on camera, cell phone, telephone, and eye witness. However, the PA denies that anything untoward is happening in the city, despite the fact that everyone in authority is unreachable by phone, internet, or personal visitor. Guess the visitors are too busy trying to not get shot by their buddy in Damascus.

The Israelis know it is going on and are staying out of it. Wise move. Hamas, who has its headquarters in Damascus, was also saying that there was nothing to see, move along, move along. If they said anything other then that, I think they too would drop off the airwaves in short order...if they have not already.

If the Israelis build a house or apartment building, ON THEIR OWN LAND then they are assaulted by everyone on the planet, including liberal Jews here in America. Assad rolls tanks over Palestinians and Obama yawns. Ghadaffi gives up his nukes, disavows terrorism and Obama launches a war against Libya. Not saying I'm a big fan of Libya, but at least they were no longer exporting terrorism.

Obama and his administration treats the Tea Party and anyone who vaguely disagrees with him as terrorists, yet when Assad begins blasting thousands of his own people, Obama can't find a negative thing to say about him.

The PA nut cases and Jew-haters in the Middle East went so far as to say that last summer the Israelis had trained sharks to attack Arabs in the Red Sea. I'm not making it up people. Those nuts actually said this with a straight face. Somehow, these sharks were able to tell the difference between Jew and Arab and everyone else. Eeeeahhhhh, sigh.

Obama has a moral compass. He does act according to his nature. The MSM and the other slavering sycophants can't paint over the piles of corpses that Obama ignores. Period. Think hard about where that compass points. Who are you going to believe? Him or your lying eyes?

Live well people.

--Zavost

The Day the Earth Didn't Notice

2011-08-15T12:18:00.001-07:00

Atop the Stoa this day, I am forced to remember the movie I watched pieces of last night. It was the 2008 remake of the Day the Earth Stood Still. I had told myself in 2008 that I had no interest in seeing it as it was revealed to me by others that it was basically another movie about environmentalism. Interest lost.

However, yesterday I stumbled across it and decided that the special effects were cool and that I'd see what they did with Gort. He was cool, I'll admit.

I have to say that the original was more believable than the remake. The premise of the remake is so full of holes I don't know where to start. Well, I guess the place to start is at the beginning.

The point of the movie is basically this: we have proven to be incompetent shepherds of the planet and aliens have decided that they have to call an exterminator on us so that they can save a "rare" planet that can support complex life. They have determined that they have more of a right to the planet then we do. Kind of like when Europeans determined that they had more right to gold bearing lands than the Indians. They could have the dusty scorpion infested land in Oklahoma and North Texas. Well, until we found oil there, then they lost those rights too, but I digress.

First off, the Earth has not been like it is today for the past 3 billion years. It was not like this 300 million years ago, nor was it this way 65 million years ago. Heck, it was not this way 15,000 years ago! Earth supported life during all of those time frames. Different life than today, but life nonetheless. The Earth has nearly been rendered uninhabitable on several occasions. In the Permian, volcanoes and gasses from the ocean bed nearly exterminated all life. There has been at least one, and perhaps two times, where the Earth became an Ice Ball due to orbital wobbling. Where was Klatuu and his people then? Where were they 65 million years ago when the asteroid in pact in Mexico nearly exterminated life on Earth? Asteroids have caused more than one mass extinction. Where were they all those times?

How about volcanoes? Do they have a trick about neutralizing the gasses that they emit? Gasses that on an annual basis exceed the levels that humans have produced since we learned how to burn wood?

Why does this guy need to use a car (a Prius no less!) to smush a cop and then bring him back to life, when he knows that the guy is going to be nanite kibble in a few days?

The Earth has been both vastly hotter and far colder than it is today. There have been times where life has been abundant and times where life has been scarce. Even if humanity is killing off everything it does not consume, eventually, mankind will either go extinct itself or it will wander into the stars and leave its crib behind. The Earth will be free to re-evolve all sorts of new life forms.

The Earth is vast and it is old. It has the scars to prove it. It will neither care or notice the little vermin scratching away at its upper most dermis.

If Klatuu were telling the truth, he would tell the leaders of Earth that he has claimed the Earth for the collective uses of the aliens around Sol. Is this not Imperialism? Is this not what every liberal abhors, even when they commit it? They have determined that we are an infestation. They have determined that we are violent and need to be irradiated (contradiction). They are the ones with the doomsday weapons, despite their obviously peaceful and benevolent nature. Why do they need Gort if they are all such peaceful little aliens?

Like I stated, the first movie was far more likely in my book to occur. I can see aliens coming here and telling us that they have noticed our probes, our nukes, and our penchant for killing each other in ever increasing numbers. I can see them coming here and telling us that if we so much as lift a pointed stick at one of their worlds that they will turn us into a glowing ember in 10 minutes. That I can understand. That I can believe.

Calling Exterm-a-Sapien is not likely...at least not due to environmentalist concerns. Land, resources, huge amounts of water? Yes. Polluting the water? No.

Live well.

--Zavost

A Nation of Immigration Laws

2011-08-15T05:16:00.001-07:00

Atop the Stoa this fine morning I find myself slightly shaking my head in disgust and sympathy.

Having just read an article in today's WSJ, I felt I needed to unburden myself before I can start a productive day. Sometimes, ignorance really is bliss.

We are a nation of Laws. They have not always been fair laws, nor just laws, but laws nonetheless. This is why our Framers gave us the ability to petition to have laws changed, so that behavior that was once illegal can be made legal. Such as taking a bath in the winter in Montana. May have been illegal before there was hot water or reliable housing there. Heck, probably before there was running water.

Our immigration laws were passed due to the dominant beliefs/values of the constituents of those law makers (I sure hope so). Since the 1960's, the hippy generation began to dream of a world without borders and began to "selectively decide which laws they were morally obligated to ignore". They chose immigration, bathing, shaving, and hair-cutting.

The country was flooded with illegal immigrants from the early 1960's to recently. Reagan gave amnesty in the hopes that this would stem the flow. Proof that even the Great Reagan was no God was the fact the signed this worthless document into law.

The laws have been on the books, sometimes made even tougher when a politician wanted to be seen as taking a tough stand on immigration. However, those laws, like the earlier ones were simply not enforced.

Every time there are deportations, the liberals and the MSM (did I just repeat myself?) bring up sob-stories about families being torn apart, children staying in the country while one or both parents are deported....and on and on.

The illegal immigrants ARE NOT the victims here. The true victims are the children of those illegals that are born here (though that law needs to change as well, but that is another blog entry), and those legal immigrants and natural born Americans who are unable to find work.

The government is not responsible for the trauma and dislocation that a deportation can cause. Think on this. The blame lays with the illegal immigrant that came here unlawfully and then had children here. They are responsible for this, not the children or the government.

Businesses say that illegal immigrants do the jobs that Americans will not do. That is a myth. It is true that Americans may not do the work for the illegal wages that are paid to aliens, but that is no proof that they will not work for the legal wages. After the ICE raids of companies from 2009-2011, those companies had to shed thousands of illegal immigrants. The companies then announced that they were able to replace all of the open positions. This tells me that Americans did indeed wish to perform that work.

With millions of Americans out of work, this is the right thing to do. Punish the employers and deport the aliens (though this current Administration refuses to deport them). Sorry, but it is the law. Laws that are less onerous than the immigration laws of Mexico, Germany, or Turkey.

If this seems cruel, then we must decide, AS AN ELECTORATE what to do. Strike down the laws and erase our southern border? Then do so. Build a wall so high and deep that rain has trouble getting over it? Then do so. Either way, as long as it is the will of the people and elected officials do WHAT THEY WERE ELECTED TO DO.

Sounds simple.

I do feel for these people, but it is our law. My wife immigrated here legally. So did many others I have met in my life. If you want to live here, there is a LEGAL way to do. Just do it.

I am sorry that your homeland, of which you are so proud of, is a corrupted sh*t hole where decent life is impossible. Change that. I am sorry that your elected officials simply rob the electorate. Change that. I am sorry the drug cartels are ripping apart your country, fighting the government for the right to fleece your people. Change that.

Don't come here and put an American out of work because you are a willing slave. All those people that the article talked about, those that lived here for ten years and more; they bought homes, sent their kids to school and used the healthcare of this country. They also paid taxes (I hope so), but all of that was wrong. This was their fault and the fault of liberals who chose not enforce our own laws. They were wrong to come here illegally in the beginning, and they were wrong to have children and lay down roots in a place where THEY KNEW they were there illegally.

It is time for me to improve the American life this day. I depart.

Live well.

--Zavost

Bachmann, Step One: Win Straw Poll in Iowa - Check

2011-08-14T06:00:00.001-07:00

Perched atop my wet and humid Stoa this morning I take with a note of pleasure the victory of Michele Bachmann in the Iowa Straw Poll. I generally do not put much into those, however, the candidates do. If they do not do well in this poll then donors drop away and back stronger candidates, the candidates themselves change their approach (or themselves) in order to do better at the next poll.

I listened to many of the candidates yesterday and I still feel that Bachmann is the best. I also like Mr. West, though I don't know if he will be able to hang in the race against a Romney or a Perry. I see Romney and Perry as more of the same cookie cutter pressed GOP candidates since 1991. Romney and Perry look "too much" the presidential image. I don't trust that. Nor do I like the glaring fact that Romney passed universal healthcare as governor and has wrecked his state's healthcare system. The experiment has been a good one and it has shown that it does not work. Not like observing Europe was not proof enough.

I don't like Perry either, as he has to trumpet to the world that he is religious. I prefer the person who lives by their Christian values. One where their positions on issue make clear where their heart and mind stand. Perry has been trying way to hard. I also think that his tenure in Texas has not been what it could be. Yes, Texas is doing better than most states, but I don't put the credit in the Governor's office, I give credit to the average Texan. Perry has severe RINO tendencies that are being masked, just as Romney's were masked in the last election, though he didn't fool me.

I like Rand Paul, though he is not running. I don't know enough about Santorum, though I've heard good things. I don't think he is going to make it in the primaries, so I'm not going to spend too much time studying him. Ron Paul is ideologically pure and I do like that, I just don't think that it is the right way to go now. We've been bingeing on world politics, money, taxes, money, power, power, immigration, etc. for so long that going cold turkey will do more damage than good. People like Ron Paul want to pretend that we are not affected by what happens in the larger arena of the world. Ignoring the rest of the world does not mean that the rest of the world will ignore us. We need a Bachmann who will give us a swift hard jolt of reality, but not break our grip on day to day life. That will simply doom her in the same way as Obama jolted the average American with his uber tax and spend philosophy. Rand Paul would then be a great follow up to Bachmann. He would continue what she started. Perhaps a VP post for Mr. Paul and then the big chair himself in 2020?

One can only dream. Gosh it is beautiful for miles around the Stoa. There are plenty of students of all colors and races, willing to listen, if not agree. Listening is all I ask. Agreement is irrelevant. It is what one does with the information and how one filters it through their reality bubble that is relevant.

Live well and enjoy the day.

--Zavost

Idealists, Realists, and Useful Idiots

2011-08-13T08:47:00.001-07:00

I find myself pondering, upon the Stoa this morning, the difference between someone who is an Idealists, a Realist, and a Useful Idiot. In my travels, I have found that many of us are one, the other, or two of them all at the same time.

When politicians are speaking, they cloak themselves in morality and righteousness. Their views are the correct views, their beliefs, reflective of the people voting for them, are the RIGHT beliefs. Does the politician believe what they are saying or do they say what they say just dupe their audience?

I believe that, for the most part, an Idealist believes what they are saying. A realist says what they feel they need to in order to manipulate those around them to act or believe what they feel they must. Neither good, nor bad, at this point. Simply a belief that what they know is best. The Useful Idiot are those who act or think with out really thinking. The one that sees a Democrat ad depicting granny going over the cliff in a wheelchair and then make the assumption that a Republican will make that happen if a Democrat is not elected.

Sometimes, an Idealist can be used, and often is, as a Useful Idiot by a Realist. In fact, I would assume that they are the natural flock of the charismatic realist. However, as I alluded to earlier, there are good realists and bad realists. A good realist is a George W. Bush. A person who feels that they must "abandon the free market to save the free market". Sounds like his idealism was taken advantage of by a well-intentioned realist. A bad realist is someone like a Mayor Emmanuel. He knows exactly what he is about and does not give a whit about who has to be squashed to get where he wants to go. An idiot Obama was perfect fodder for him to use. An Idealist that is too dumb to realize just how dumb he really is.

I worry about this latest crop of Republicans running for office. I worry about the Tea Party, though not in a bad way. I think that many of the Tea Party are Idealists that wish to roll back the clock on the Republic. I fear that the forces of culture and history have been underway for so much time that this movement will take a hundred years to restore the Republic. Even then, you can not step in the same river twice. Everything has changed since the founding of the Republic and it can never truly be restored. The spirit of the Founders can guide us, but we are on our own in creating the next, just, Meritocracy.

I believe that the MSM is full of Idealists who have been weened on Socialistic dogma and are too blind to really understand the implications of that which they seek. They talk to Cubans, yet seem to miss the fact that they are impoverished and desperate people. Why bring this same misery here? You think we will do a better job?

I believe that Bill and Hillary Clinton are Realists of the pure-type. Bill is a criminal that knows how to survive just about anywhere. He says a lot of things that are meaningless to him. He is interested in money, power, influence, and women who are not Hillary (no complaints there, Bill). I can deal with a Bill Clinton because I can understand him. He was smart enough to change course when his party was hammered in 1994. Not so with Obama. So sure that his is the just and right course there is no reasoning with him. He will pull us all down the same empty black hole his heart sits within.

I wonder about this crop running for President. The Governor of Texas holds prayer sessions even while he sells the rights to toll roads in Texas to companies outside of the United States. Bachmann is an idealist who is founded in her self-being and could be manipulated by crafty people within her administration. I like Paul, but the younger one, not the father. All in all, I'd rather have a Bachmann than anyone else, Palin included.

Things are busy upon the Stoa this day. With my thoughts left half formed, I depart. Another day.

Live well.

--Zavost

The Fish starts to rot from the Head

2011-08-11T08:17:00.001-07:00

Atop the Stoa this day, I ponder all sorts of things related to civilization and society. The old saying, adapted for the title of this entry is technically wrong, since fish rot from the guts first, but I liked it as a useful metaphor. Let me begin for the class today.

Professionals: I read the other day that the number of medical research studies, many performed by physicians and research scientists, have been retracted from their professional journals. Journals such as Lancet, an ancient publication going back over 170 years. In the decades prior to the 1990's, perhaps a handful of articles around the world would be retracted. This year alone, by July, more than 200 had been pulled. 200 research studies discredited in seven months. How many years of work went into just a single study? How much money went into producing that study?

75% of the retracted studies were pulled due to sloppy research and lazy science. 25% were due to suspected fraud. Either way, those numbers are huge considering the history of pulled studies in the past. I know, I know, with computers it is easier to catch fraud and slop. On the flip side, computers should make it far easier to put together a quality study in the first place, so I ain't buyin' it. Lazy. Incompetent. Unqualified.

Government: Up until FDR, we were on a metals based currency, just as the Founders intended. After the depression and WWII, we abandoned it, completely in 1971. Since then, we have slowly inflated our monetary supply while depressing the value of our money. Intentionally, I submit. Why? To get what we want. To buy the things we wanted as a nation and to create the programs we wanted as a nation. Irresponsible, yes. Failing monetary systems world-wide!

Education: In the 1970's, the liberals really began to tear apart our standards of education, turning our schools first into experimental labs in brain washing, and today into full indoctrination camps. Jimmy Carter nationalized the schools on Union recommendations. Collectivist? Yes. A well intentioned improvement for our children? No. In the 1980's, universities had to spend a year re-teaching students the basics before they could get to their core studies. By the 1990's, the average time to graduate was 5 years, if at all. Education became big business with government subsidies and favorable laws. What is a Bachelor's degree worth today? Well, it is worth a 1959 High School Diploma is what it is worth. What is an MBA worth today? Well, I'd have to say it is worth a Junior College degree from 1964. Our children were dumbed down and rather than prod our children to do better, we lowered the standards, and the quality, of the advanced degrees.

Cultural Ethics: Criminals get their own movie rights, book deals, and in Eliot Spitzer's case, a TV show. Hollywood stars are taken as experts, even though the only thing they are expert in is portraying the thoughts and words of other people. In the 1930's, we created financial laws to prevent or reduce the likelihood of another Great Depression and then Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton disable the safety features because they got in the way of their economic plans. The rating agencies are there to neutrally examine financial vehicles and entities with regard to their business health, not politics, yet Obama calls for their dismantlement. So, he essentially blames the agencies for not calling the debt equity swaps as dangerous, yet he is trying to shut them up for calling out the dangers of unsustainable debt. Talking about taking a sledgehammer to the fire alarm simply because it is too loud. Ignore the fire at your own risk, Obama.

What is all this about? We are rotting. We are rotting from the head. Our doctors don't seem to be as good as they once were. Our engineers don't seem capable of building or planning things like they used to, despite all this technology available to make it easier. We can not build Space Shuttles any longer. Heck, we almost were not able to build the next generation of Nuclear Warheads because the scientists had ALMOST forgot how to build the triggering mechanisms. OOOOPPPPPSSSSS!

In the old days we elected a Washington, a Jackson, and a Lincoln. Today we elect a Carter, a Clinton, and an Obama. Can you imagine Jimmy Carter on the back of a horse, elderly and ill, riding out to Pennsylvania at the head of an army to put down a rebellion on taxing whiskey? No. Can you imagine Clinton taking a bullet, and keeping it lodged in your chest for the rest of his life due to a duel of honor? Hell NO! The duel would likely have been about him groping or raping someone's wife or girlfriend. Does Obama match up to a Lincoln? Hardly. Lincoln freed millions, while Obama enslaves millions (tax slaves). Lincoln restored the Republic and held it together through a civil war. Obama may be the cause of dissolution and civil war.

The quality of our leaders is lacking. The quality of our Graduates is lacking. The quality of our Presidents is lacking. The quality of our people is lacking. Religion is a swear word and hard workers are called "over achievers". You might as well call them academic "uncle Toms". Success is punished and sloth is rewarded.

How can Obama still call us a AAA+ country when we should have lost that status back in the 1970's? Just because we are the United States of America does not mean the the laws of economics are somehow different for us.

Pride goweth before a fall. We have been falling for a long time now and when we land on our faces it is going to hurt.

We are still well placed to be a superpower for the next century, easily, if we just get our financial and cultural house in order. Look at London, Paris, Athens. Those cities are well ahead of us in the debt and decay game. Why would we want to move in that direction ourselves. Veer off.

Start demanding higher standards from our educational staff, not disabling testing requirements. Make THEM accountable to the children, under their tutelage, that can not read. Parents are just as responsible by looking to the schools to be daycare centers. Then again, if the family was not required to work two jobs to put food on the table, then this issue may not be an issue. Put religion back into the schools. We are a Christian nation. I'm Catholic, but I still feel that any bible is better than no bible. No discrimination, belief in something is better than belief in nothing.

Ponder this, my students, and ask yourself: did you earn that "A"? Did you really understand that math problem? Did you really read "Moby Dick" or did you just cheat and watch the movie? Do the hard things. Put away the calculator, do it long hand from time to time. Remember the fundamentals and they will never steer you wrong.

Live well.

--Zavost

Whiners of the World UNITE!

2011-08-09T12:23:00.001-07:00

Around my Stoa this day I see the palls of smoke wafting over from London and its burbs. Smoke seems heavy in the air these days as many cities across Europe, North Africa, and the Near East burn almost regularly.

Somehow these people seem to think if you burn down a building that employs people then they will give YOU a job. Somehow these people seem to think if you burn down a government office then they will give you more welfare.
Somehow these people seem to think if you blockade a government office then they will give you goodies.

Morons.

Quit whining, get a haircut, get an education, and be a PRODUCTIVE member of society. We can't all be on the dole. Someone has to pay those crushing taxes and I don't plan on being the last one that has pay out the last dollar (dollar? whats a dollar anymore?).

In Athens, they are rioting because the government is being forced to cut its over-budget spending, read debt driven prosperity. The Greek people have become used to not having to work. They have become used to an ever increasing dole from the government. Gravy times are over and now they are pouting...with gasoline bombs. So, they riot in the town squares and burn businesses down, tear up government offices and then demand more goodies. Goodies that forced the government to cut spending in the first place...what am I missing here? You do get it, don't you? Those days are gone. Cut your hair and take a bath.

In London they are rioting because they say a policeman shot someone, even while they tear up London, shoot people on their own, and shove the police all over the place because the police have no orders to use RUBBER bullets...am I missing something here?

In London, they are burning down the place because they are afraid for their jobs and way of life. Some of that life has been subsidized by the public budget. Sorry, folks. Those days are gone. Put down the pint, brush your teeth, comb your hair and improve your life.

In Israel the people protest over the government not building enough subsidized housing for their immigrants. Why are you providing homes to immigrants again? Let them worry about where they are going to live...oh, you WANT them to live on the front lines of the Arab protests. Where is my free house, where is my subsidized housing...oh yeah, I actually have a sense of SELF WORTH! Wash the yamika, field strip your rifle, and get back to life.

Every time you demand something from the government, you are demanding that something be TAKEN from one person and given to another, be it money, time, or goods. Do you people understand that? If the government has to increase spending, it borrows (which YOU pay back) or it taxes (which YOU pay now). Housing? Education? Healthcare? Yep, all of it has to be taken from someone else.

What if a person just started pulling up your flowers and rolling a car out of your garage? You would call the cops, right? However, if a faceless person in government demands you pay increased taxes so that someone who is not willing to work for their car can have one, then you might as well cut out the middle man and just let the guy TAKE your car.

If a government cuts its welfare subsidies because they are BROKE, then causing millions of dollars in damage is not going to magically create money for you to spend. Forget for a moment that you just torched the store you were going to spend that money in. Dumb ass.

Socialism, in even its most well intentioned forms (and doses), is ultimately fatal to the patient. It breeds sloth, envy, greed, gluttony...heck, I'm really starting to work my way through the deadly sins here, aren't I? It stands, though.

To be blunt, if you give free money away to people who don't work, you will get MORE people who don't work. If you tax (or over-regulate) people who do work, you will get FEWER people willing to work. Common sense, right? Not to difficult to engage a brain cell or two on this and come up with the answers.

Get used to the fact that you will have to work for a living. Get used to the fact that you may have to rely on the family for help, aid, and comfort during your trying times. The government is a massively inefficient way to distribute wealth around a society. That should be done through the free market forces and activities of CHARITIES (thus the word charity). That means that you will have to get a job to participate. Now, shave, shower, and put on a clean outfit. Go to school, quit WHINING and get a life, don't take one.

Live well.

--Zavost

Different Paths

2011-08-08T12:20:00.001-07:00

Atop the Stoa this hot day, was and am, pondering about life's paths.

The thought came to me last night as I was dressing a nasty laceration on a little girl's shin. The mom brought her over to my home knowing that I was in the medical field. Her husband is on deployment and she was not sure what to do or if it needed stitches. I could see that she was nervous and a bit queasy about the blood and the sight of the wound and I did my best to put both her and her daughter at ease.

We in the medical profession forget that seeing muscle strands and fat cells exposed on a leg is not a normal thing for most people to see. It is as normal for me to see that stuff as it is for me to see a blue sky. It pays for us to remember this, since part of our duty as caregivers is to place our patients at ease so we may treat them better.

As usual, my mind wandered afterwards, thinking about the mother and this stoic little girl (she did not cry once as I cleaned out her wound). Her life's path brought her to my front door. She did not possess the basic first aid kit needed to dress this wound (neither of us had the Tetanus shot required either), nor did she have the training to do it properly.

This is not a mark against her at all. We all have different skill sets and talents based on our upbringing, life circumstances, and ambitions. Near as I can tell, she is a home maker. I adore this profession, not because I am a knuckle-dragging Neanderthal, but because I see "moms" as being the societal glue that holds the generations together. They transmit the cultural values onto the next generation. They tame the aggressive little boys into individuals who DO NOT hit girls or try to rob them at night. A mom's love may have changed Hitler's outlook on life to be a little less bleak.

Some women are not cut out to be house-moms (hausfrau). My wife, for example, pegs a large portion of her self-esteem and value on her professional training. Being a house-mom is torture for her. Not because she is not good at what she does, she is an incredible mom, but because she knows she is capable of contributing so much more; and the children will not be children forever. Her path is different from my neighbor's path, and rightly so.

Looking back, my path has been a winding one, full of ups and downs. Some more down than up, but so what, it has been a good life over all. I have a wife of almost 20 years, two healthy and intelligent children, I have my health, even if I am too heavy, and I have my iPad 2. Life is good.

I currently share my path with my wife and children, and hope to remain on this path for quite some time. Some day, my children will take other paths, just as I took my own away from my parents. My wife not only took a new path, but had to take an international jet to get on my path. The day will come someday when death takes me or her from our joint path.

My neighbor appears content to be a military wife. She has 4 children and appears to be a good mom. I'm sure that life is not all honey and roses for her, just as we all have our ups and downs in life. She is on a path and will remain there until she chooses otherwise.

Our current President also had a winding path. One that took him from his father, who gave young Barack something like 17 half-brothers and sisters around the world, and dropped him on a tropical island with his mother. A mother who then abandoned him to the ministering of black supremacists, and if the rumors are correct, at least on child molester. His path took him to the Office of the US President. Not bad, even if he is the most ill-suited person to ever, and I mean EVER, hold that office. President William Henry Harrison was a better president by far.

Look at the old photos you come across out in the world and think about the people in them. Most are likely dead. Same as with all the old black and white films with people in them. Each and every one of them was a baby once, with their own doting, or lazy, parents. Every one of them had the promise of a fresh world for them to explore and conquer. Some succeeded, but most did not. Some had full, rich, and fulfilling lives, but most did not. Historically, the world has been a cold and uncompromising place. Society, a mosh-pit of competing interests and desires. Anyone who can find joy in this world has succeeded in life.

Even if you spend your whole life in a library reading books, you know, those things not in e-format, and never marry, then you have had a happy life; if that is what you desired to do. If you rose to be the CEO and lived through 5 divorces and have 8 children through 6 different women and that is what you wanted to do, then you have succeeded. We all have our differing levels of ambition and commitment to our desires. If one is able to look inward and find that which they want to do in life and are able to do it, then they will have a fulfilled life. Sometimes, responsibility to one's family or organization preclude your ability to lead a fulfilled life, but at least you can still lead a happy one. For me, being happy is my life's fulfillment. An interestingly circular logic there, but it works for me.

Live well.

--Zavost

Loose Lips...

2011-08-07T10:19:00.000-07:00

Atop the Stoa this day I purse my lips in irritation and disgust at the attitude of the current administration.

I do not believe that the Taliban attack on our helicopter carrying members of Seal Team 6 and members of other Seal Teams. How many helicopter missions fly in and out of the bases on a daily basis. Even if the Taliban anticipated, planned, and ambushed this mission, what are the odds that the one helicopter hit was the one with the teams on it?

Historically, our heroes work in the shadows of history. Our government, as a matter of policy for decades has always kept the names and unit designations of its Special Forces out of the public record. Not because they wished to hog the glory, but to keep our missions secret, to keep those members safe from reprisal, and to keep their families safe from reprisal.

The President of Afghanistan has been having family members assassinated on a fairly regular basis. One half-brother was killed by a long-time body guard, one that was thought to be above reproach. What is the odds that one of these individuals passed onto their contacts within the Taliban the fact that not just any Seal team was on the move, but Seal Team 6 specifically? The odds are quite high, actually. Enough for me to feel fairly certain.

The person in our government to spill this bit of information was none other than the Vice President himself, Joseph Biden. Even as an Admiral refused to discuss the team, Joe Biden spilled it out for the entire world. On purpose? Possibly. Does not really matter now. His discretion and ability to keep his mouth shut in the past was non-existent, so it is not like it should come as any surprise.

None of the members of Seal Team 6 that terminated Bin Laden were on that helicopter, so this tells me that there will be more attempts on the team, and not only that, but I believe that in short order there will be attempts on the family and friends of ST 6. Failing that, they will begin targeting the families of any special forces personnel utilizing domestics. My old home State of Michigan may have several willing parties as it is the site of the largest population of Muslims living in the United States.

This is one of those times that I wish I were wrong. Let's hope I am. I do.

Live well.

--Zavost

Michele Bachmann: In perspective.

2011-08-05T12:12:00.001-07:00

Atop the Stoa this day, I would like to think about perception, perspective, and reality.

Michele Bachmann has been in the news of late, as a Presidential hopeful, a Tea Party Caucus organizer, mother, and wife. The latest I read about her was not what her policies as President would be, or what her agenda currently is in the House of Representatives, but the fact that she played with the child of a supporter on camera.

I'll set the stage for you. Michele Bachman, the Presidential candidate, is in Iowa seeing supporters and being seen by the populace. A supporter comes up to her and offers up her baby in time-honored tradition. Instead of kissing it on the forehead and moving on to the next donor/voter/bundler she takes the baby in her arms and plays a bit with it. Dangling out her bracelet like a mobile for the child to play with. Heartwarming, yes?

Her liberal detractors (Democrats, Republicans, etc.) point out how hypocritical and disingenuous that image is of the Spirit of the Conservative Tea Party. I mean, the image of a contemporary conservative is one that plants a boot on grandma's head while shoving down a disabled person so they can draw a crosshair on an abortion clinic doctor; not one that plays with a baby.

I have always wondered if the people that write that stuff actually believe what they write, or if it is just all media template. I contend that if they believe everything they write then they are ignorant, hate-filled shells that must yearn for meaning in their lives. No one can be so consumed with hatred for another that allowing a baby to play with your bracelet becomes worthy of expensive media air time.

Michele Bachmann needs to be put in the proper perspective and context. She is a mother, and a foster mother. She and her husband have raised many, many children over the years, and raised them well. Quite an accomplishment in this day and age where children tend to be savages let loose to wander the cultural landscape. She has a solid and happy marriage. She has a great career that is personally fulfilling to her. What more could any feminist want? I'll bet she chats with her husband over dinner, when they can, and even talks about the gossip of what is going on in D.C. I can also bet that her husband must put in his two cents from time to time. I'll also bet that she has family and friends that love her very much.

She is also a conservative of the Reagan model. She knows who she is, what she is, and where she is going. The is rooted in herself. She is rooted in her faith and in her abilities. She does not have to ponder the wider issues of a problem that hits her desk. She does not have the "Long, dark tea time of the soul" that many of us have when making a difficult decision. Her faith and her core have the answers already. Moral or immoral? Right or wrong? The answers are not always so easy, though. Many are counter-intuitive. Do I sign a bill that gives single moms a living wage, regardless of whether her job is a McDonalds or at a lemonade stand? The answer is a clear, "no". Sometimes giving someone an easy way out simply enables lazy or un-realized individuals to remain unimproved. If the single mom wants a better life, she needs to better herself, not take hand outs. Women who are sure of themselves are not, "bitches", they are confident. Why is it that a confident and forceful man is considered "in charge" while a woman is a "bitch"?

Likewise, Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama are both mothers and daughters. I'll bet they want the same things for their children that Michele Bachmann wants for hers. They have friends and confidants and husbands that have their two cents to put in all the time. They too are rooted in their belief system, though it is a different system than the one I believe in. They do not have to ponder their moral beliefs as they are sure of who and what they are.

Where I diverge from them in a major way is how one presents themselves in public. Michele Bachmann, the conservative, is Michele Bachman the conservative in public AND in private. She is the same person in front of her family and in front of political donors. When asked a question about conservatism she is proud to call herself a conservative. Will Hillary call herself a Socialist? By any definition of the word that is what she is.

In my opinion, she is "suited" to do what she is doing. An elected, public official must be honest and forthright. Throughout history, politicians have been synonymous with "scum", and for good reason. We are America, damn it, and deserve better. I'd rather have a hundred people just like Michele Bachmann then a single Hillary or Michelle Obama. Why, you say?

Hillary and her husband invented the political game of "triangulation". Its only purpose is to irritate the fewest number of people. If you actually accomplish something, then great. Hillary is a woman who claims that she was named after Sir Edmond Hillary in recognition of his climbing Mt. Everest. Does she not think that we can look the two dates up? She was 6 years old when he climbed Mt. Everest. Can we say useful lie? She stuck with a cheating husband only because she knew he was going somewhere. She had invested too much time and effort into Bill and moved to Arkansas, of all places. She placed her ambition above her sense of morals. Big, big issue for me.

Michelle Obama sat in the VP suite of a hospital simply because her husband was a senator. What is her college degree in? Sociology, with a minor in African American Studies. She got her JD, but is no longer allowed to practice law. So what was she doing to collect that paycheck other than being a senator's wife, you know, someone who can help the hospital with all the pesky government regulations....
Michelle and her warped sense of Social Justice are just offensive when thought about in an intellectual and rational manner. This tells me that she is completely aware of how philosophically bankrupt the concepts are and that the reason she follows Social Justice is that it is an avenue to power and influence. Wrong answer.

Bachmann is someone who may not tell you everything, but she will not lie, even as a lie of omission. Hillary and Michelle would lie to me about the time of day if it served a purpose.

Are they good people? I'm sure that Michelle and Hillary are good to what THEY consider good people, while Michele is good to all people. Not because of politics or 'triangulation' or because of whatever. She is good to everyone because she is a moral and just person.

Character. Principle. Morality. Regardless by what method they come to possess those characteristics, leadership and decency descend from those traits.

Bachmann is suited to her role. Wiener was not. Politicians that go down to scandal go down because they were hiding character flaws that made them ill-suited to the position of public trust. Please, think on that. We hire leaders into private sector jobs based on their "suitability", why not our politicians? Oh, yeah, they lie, don't they?

What I'm talking about is instinctive and not too difficult to grasp. Think on it and don't listen to the TV. If you had to leave your wallet, key to the safety deposit box, and your baby while you ran to the store, who would you leave those items with? Hillary, Michelle O., or Michele B?

I know who I'd pick for that and I also know who I would vote for President.

Live well.

--Zavost

The Race to the Bottom

2011-08-04T10:00:00.001-07:00

From the Stoa this day I sit in my beach chair and watch things slowly settle around me. No, I'm not watching the fog settle, I'm not watching angry crowds settle; I'm watching Western Civilization settle. Again, no, I'm not watching them "settle" for the god-awful deal just signed in Washington D.C. either.

No, I'm watching a once powerful entity, shot through the heart, bleed out onto the proverbial ground. We are unaware of our mortal wound and struggle to remain upright, surprise and confusion clouding our countenance. Soon, we will fall over and the world as we know it will grow dim. The light of the Western World, the United States of America, is dying.

What will be left? Well, Obama and the Arab world would like to see a multi-polar world where there are no hegemonies, simply countries of like-minded spheres of cooperation who get along with each other (fat chance). The reality is that Europe is going to fragment again, if it ever really was united. China will dominate for a while, but without the US or European markets to buy its stuff they will collapse under internal revolutions. India stands a chance, but will likely be too distracted with Pakistan and the rest of the Muslim world assaulting it on all sides. Africa will slide back into its eternal poverty and slumber. The Muslim world, without the West or a global economic machine to purchase its oil, will collapse into terrible violence as all the promises made to their people over the last 60 years prove to be hollow promises.

Not a nice place to live. The experiment of a Representative Republic will have failed once again due to the ignorance of those who participated.

What is making me sound so morose today? Article after article talking about how great Boehner is, how screwed Obama is, and that our national debt, 24 hours after the bill was signed, hit 100% of GDP.

Obama GOT his debt hike. Boehner got promises. Big difference. G.H. Bush was promised spending restraint by Democrats as well and we see where that got him. The can has been kicked and our national nightmare continues.

The collapse of the dollar and the burning of our food for fuel is what is driving many of the Arab nations into rebellion. An Obama administration sympathetic to the enemies of our country helps too.

Much of the world's commodities prices are benched to the value of the dollar. Oil is not getting more expensive, the dollar is losing its value. Gold is not more expensive, it is the dollar falling away from gold. There is a boost to our import/export business on a weaker dollar, but all that seems to have done, now, is to make other countries race for the deck to keep their "competitive advantage" in place, as Adam Smith would have said. China has been strong armed into allowing its currency to rise, narrowing the gap that the dollar, the Euro, the Yen, and the Swiss Franc have to fall, but race to the bottom we all are.

This is not sustainable. This feels like a poker game that has gone bad and just will not end. The rules are incomprehensible and we have taken to bartering our natural resources as collateral since our paper money is growing less usable. Paper money in general is becoming discredited.

The Tea Party and its like-minded ilk see the dangers and are trying to yank the wheel away from the two lunatic parties that have set us on this path to poverty and insolvency. In the process they are being called, in public and private, "Terrorists" by the Democrats, pains in the asses by the establishment Republicans.

Will we survive? I don't know. I'd like to see the history files from the future and read about what happens over the next 10 years. Does the Tea Party force control away from the Progressives, both Democrat AND Republican or are they sent back to the country side and told to be happy with their recent "victory"?

We are staggering about, hemorrhaging blood at an alarming rate, still unaware of our mortal wound, except for that instinctive part of us (the Founder's Legacy, the Tea Party) that knows we are in trouble.

Live well.

--Zavost