Sunday, July 31, 2011
YOUR government at "work"?
Nantucket COMEDY Festival
PROGRESSIVE (not the insurance company)
Philosophy does not mean much in today’s youth oriented culture. In fact, I doubt you can get one in ten high school students to even define the word. It was, however, important in my educational process back when dinosaurs ruled the earth.
FRIEDRICH HAYEK (no relation to the luscious Salma) wrote The Road to Serfdom in the early 1940s. It reached a wide audience, considering it was a "philosophy" book, because it was serialized in the popular Reader’s Digest. Hayek was a frequent guest of Ronald Reagan at the White House and was considered influential to the President’s political thought. He also helped turn Chile (South America) into a free market economy by taking an official position under Pinochet. His writings also profoundly influenced Margaret Thatcher of Great Britain, also known as England, on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, for all you current high school students. Though he was against “Conservatism” in it’s old stuffy definition, and was a classical free market liberal (with a little "L") he approved of modern day conservatism though he preferred the word liberal. And when he used the word liberal it was the real liberal not that socialist (BIG “L”) liberalism that is not liberal but believes in formulaic big government tax and spend . The Big L liberal is what we see today self described as "Progressives." He earned (unlike our President , the PEACE Laureate who got the prize 15 minutes after he took office never having done a damn thing to earn it) the Nobel Prize in Economics. His influence remains after his death, particularly at the London School of Economics, and The University of Chicago. His theories are integral to modern day liberal Conservatism so long as it is not of the stodgy “old school” rigid persuasion Reactionary "lets keep everything as it is" Conservatism. Liberalism today (progressives) are not liberal at all and have an official dogma. If you are a non believer in the party line, you are, in their view, either stupid, or a racist. Or a stupid racist. It is amusing to watch Liberalism in action. They went back to their old early 20th century term, Progressive, and re-branded because people wised up and were getting tired of hearing the same old Liberal redistribution welfare state crap and could not help but notice it's complete intolerance or anything they disagree with, hence "anything but LIBERAL.".
I know this is all confusing but all you have to remember is that Liberals, with a big "L" are not liberal at all nor are they progressive unless you think rehashing old soviet ideas of wealth redistribution is progress. Conservatives are liberal in their thought unless they get mired in the "no change" trap. SO that's it, Conservatives are liberal, but Liberals are not progressive even though that's the name they have given themselves...again.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
JAPANESE CAR, OBVIOUSLY
I thought DINOSAURS WERE EXTINCT
EMPLOYING the UNEMPLOYABLE
GOVERNMENT has TOO MUCH POWER
ACK of the DAY
CLASSIC CARS IN NANTUCKET
DRESSING UP IN NANTUCKET
Thursday, July 28, 2011
The TAVERN
RUN IT OFF
Back when I was playing football, any time someone got an injury where the bone wasn’t sticking through the skin, the advice from the coach was RUN IT OFF, which meant something like “KISS the BOO BOO” only you did it yourself by running around until the pain went away. Surprisingly it worked most of the time, including for concussions. I got a healthy respect for the human body’s ability to heal itself and for this primitive form of physical therapy. We did not have a team doctor, or a sports nutritionist, and no physical therapist. The “trainer” was self taught mostly and had hot packs, ice packs, and ace bandages. Admittedly we had very few 300 pound players who could run like sprinters but we also had very little equipment. My first helmet had a somewhat flexible plastic shell and no face guard. I never had a mouth guard. (Want to count my teeth?) Even the last helmet I used in the early 70s only had a double plastic bar across the face and some air filled padding here and there inside. To quote Paul Simon, “It’s a wonder I can think at all.”
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
George Bernard SHAW
This is the true joy of life.
The being used for a purpose
Recognized by yourself as a mighty one.
The being a force of nature
Instead of a feverish, selfish
Little clod of ailments and grievances
Complaining that the world will not
Devote itself to making you happy.
I am of the opinion that my life
Belongs to the whole community
And as long as I live,
It is my privilege to do for it
Whatever I can.
I want to be thoroughly
Used up when I die,
For the harder I work the more I live.
I rejoice in life for its own sake.
Life is no brief candle to me.
It is a sort of splendid torch
Which I've got hold of
For the moment
And I want to make it burn
As brightly as possible before
Handling it on to future generations.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
IMPERIAL PRESIDENCY
Monday, July 25, 2011
OLD ADAGES
Refuse to be intimidated by the adage, "Anything worth doing is worth doing well." This is one of the most ridiculous statements ever made. The truth is, most things worth doing aren't worth your best efforts. There are just a few really important things that are worth doing well. After that, a greater number of things are worth doing adequately. Even more things are worth doing in the most haphazard fashion possible just to get by. Of course, most things aren't worth doing at all, best left for the misfits of this world to pursue.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
REMOTELY Possible
LIMITLESS the MOVIE
MY GOOD FRIEND, it's been a year
Shneim asar chodesh – Twelve months
Those mourning may observe a twelve-month period counted from the day of death. During this period, most activity returns to normal, although the mourners continue to recite the mourner's kaddish as part of synagogue services for eleven months. In Orthodox tradition, this was an obligation of the sons as mourners, not for women. There remain restrictions on attending festive occasions and large gatherings, especially where live music is played.
A headstone (tombstone) is known as a matzevah ("monument"). Although there is no Halakhic obligation to hold an unveiling ceremony, the ritual became popular in many communities toward the end of the 19th century. There are varying customs about when it should be placed on the grave. Most communities have an unveiling ceremony within a year after the death.
At the end of the ceremony, a cloth or shroud covering that has been placed on the headstone is removed, customarily by close family members. The service may include a brief eulogy for the deceased.
It has been a year and though I can forget where I put my keys, or parked my car, I will never forget my friend Bob. I am having my own goyeshe version of a memorial tomorrow. There will be music and drinking fine wine and eating 5 meals on that day. And there will be cake.
NIGHTMARE on Calle Ocho
The KITTY went to the BALLET
Saturday, July 23, 2011
ADIOS AMY WINEHOUSE
STRAIGHT WHARF RESTAURANT
PEANUT BUTTER and JELLY
TRIATHLON in JULY
What the heck, why not tie up traffic everywhere in town on a Saturday during the busiest tourist season, July. It is the hottest day in the past 2 months. I guess Mother NATURE isn't a fan either. This could have been so much more fun for everyone if it had been done in late August or early September. Note the temperatures for the rest of the week.
GREED IS NOT GOOD
BUSINESS is BUSINESS
HEY CONGRESS..here's your solution right here
OLD can be BETTER
The Code of Hammurabi is a well-preserved Babylonian law code, dating to ca. 1700 BC . It is one of the oldest deciphered writings of significant length in the world. The sixth Babylonian king, Hammurabi, enacted the code, and partial copies exist on a human-sized stone and various clay tablets. The Code consists of 282 laws, with scaled punishments, adjusting "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" as graded depending on social status, of slave versus free man.
Nearly one-half of the Code deals with matters of contract, establishing for example the wages to be paid to ox driver or a surgeon. Other provisions set the terms of a transaction, establishing the liability of a builder for a house that collapses, for example, or property that is damaged while left in the care of another. Approximately a third of the code addresses issues concerning household and family relationships such as inheritance, divorce, paternity and sexual behavior. One provision appears to impose obligations on an official; this provision establishes that a judge who reaches an incorrect decision is to be fined and removed from the bench permanently.
When is it time to SUE the BASTARDS?
KING OBAMA The FIRST
ALWAYS ROOM FOR....
Philosophy professor stood before his class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly he picked up a large empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with rocks about 2" in diameter. He then asked the students if the jar was full? They agreed that it was.
So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles, of course, rolled into the open areas between the rocks. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.
The students laughed. The professor picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. "Now," said the professor, "I want you to recognize that this is your life.”
The rocks are the important things - your family, your health, your children - things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.
The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, your car. The sand is everything else. The small stuff. "If you put the sand into the jar first, there is no room for the pebbles or the rocks.” The same goes for your life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that really matter.
Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to exercise. Take your wife out dancing. There will always be time to go to work, clean the house, give a dinner party and fix the disposal. "Take care of the rocks first - the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand."
But then...
A student took the jar, which the other students and the professor agreed was full, and proceeded to pour in a glass of beer. Of course the beer filled the remaining spaces within the jar making the jar truly full.
The moral of this tale is: “No matter how full your life is, there is always room for BEER.”
GRASSHOPPER
Master Po: [after easily defeating the boy in combat] Ha, ha, never assume because a man has no eyes he cannot see. Close your eyes. What do you hear?
Young Caine: I hear the water, I hear the birds.
Master Po: Do you hear your own heartbeat?
Young Caine: No.
Master Po: Do you hear the grasshopper that is at your feet?
Young Caine: [looking down and seeing the insect] Old man, how is it that you hear these things?
Master Po: Young man, how is it that you do not?
Another SARASOTA Landmark
Friday, July 22, 2011
VENTUNO (21) Restaurant
Thursday, July 21, 2011
ASTEROID headed for EARTH
GOOD SPORT
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
PATRIOTISM is for the BIRDS
SACK of JAWEA
Subject to all the flexible quality standards of internet self-publishing.
A Primer In Politics For The Incredibly Disenchanted
Alas, I'm afraid my blog is more neglected than one of Charlie Sheen's children. There are several reasons. Babies, busy, ran out of funny. One of the bigger reasons for this extended neglect has been that I've been working on another book. The final edits are on their way to the publisher, Simon & Schuster. The book will look like this:
Please sear the image in to your memory so that you recognize it when you stroll into a book store. Assuming book stores still exist when the book comes out.
Speaking of: It will come out in June 2011. Or July 2011. Or August 2011. It's hard to say. Every time I ask someone I get a different answer. The good money seems to be on July. Let's just say July.
As you can see, it is called The B.S. of A: A Primer in Politics for the Incredibly Disenchanted. The assumption is you are among the incredibly disenchanted. Like my last book is a humor book. Unlike my last book, which was ostensibly directed at my son, it is ostensibly directed at everyone.
It's about politics, as the title suggests, and I tend to poke fun at a lot of things. There's a good chance I poke fun at some thing or politician you like. I hope that doesn't make you mad. It's all for the greater good of being as objective and non-partisan as possible, which is what we're sorely lacking these days.