Okay so we’ve all seen pictures of pretty dogs that make us smile and go oooo and ahhh, right?  But have you ever seen anything as cute as my Prudie? Of course not! Yet in a world that is clearly on the highway to hell Prudence doesn’t care. And why is that you may ask? Well of course I’ll tell you!

I read somewhere that one of the things that makes dogs (okay, and pretty much all other creatures as well) so loving and equanimous about life is that they have no concept of time. I know, I know, we all understand that dogs can’t tell time, an hour or a day is basically the same to them. What I mean is that they have no idea about the past or future, they only understand the present. That means, of course, that they also don’t know about the great bugaboo of humans, mortality. You know, if we weren’t constantly obsessing about the fact that we’re all going to tip over at some point our current life could be really . . . swell. Think how simple life could be that if instead of worrying about the election or your neighbor’s yard or if your friends like you, you could simply love your family and friends and they love you - and when in doubt, take a nap - sweet!

There is an ironic and interesting side story to the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, of which Prudie is one, and that is that they don’t have a real long life as dogs go. On average they only live about 10-11 years - a large majority of them die young of heart problems. You know why? Because we humans bred them like that. That’s right, in our God-like behavior we cross breed dogs and plants and damn near everything else as it suits our whims and, well, if makes us happy then who cares about them!? Luckily, Prudie doesn’t know or care . . . because she’s a dog!

Well, I’m not going to worry about it either then. She’s only three now and if she doesn’t know about the future then I’ll pretend I don’t either. We’ll take our walks and our naps together and hope for the best.

Would that the rest of life were so simple!

      

Agnotology: “Culturally constructed ignorance, purposefully created by special interest groups working hard to create confusion and suppress the truth.”

From Barry Ritholtz, “Big Picture Blog” (a truly brilliant source of information you can’t find yourself.)

Derived from the Greek root agnosis, it is “the study of culturally constructed ignorance.”

“People always assume that if someone doesn’t know something, it’s because they haven’t paid attention or haven’t yet figured it out,” Proctor says. “But ignorance also comes from people literally suppressing truth—or drowning it out—or trying to make it so confusing that people stop caring about what’s true and what’s not.”  (emphasis added)

Fairly amazing, and when it comes to certain issues, its dead on.”

Dear Leader here.

I dredged this up because the conventions these past two weeks have reminded me how sorely screwed up our political and societal issues are. We have selected the two most disliked and distrusted candidates in our HISTORY. I say “we” only in the rhetorical sense because I certainly didn’t select them – did you? To say we have a dysfunctional system is to understate the situation like, “Oh, this amputation is just a flesh wound.” 

We are told by folks - lurking just behind the curtain - not to worry our pretty little heads about it; they will tell us who to believe in and who will lead us. Ironically, both Trump and Sanders did identify the problem . . . yet both came up with the wrong answer: Trump wants to turn us into a modern day 3^rd Reich and Sanders into new Soviet Union, two completely failed models. And of course, Hillary just wants to be President - God it’s a pisser!

Anyway, I have no idea if this word will catch on but I have no doubt about its accuracy. You can see the special interest groups at work everywhere trying hard to keep us stupid. These interests – and they come from all sides – are called “special” because that’s what they are, they are for things especially for them, not you or me. Big business, big unions, big politicians, big media - left and right, you name it somebody big is behind it. And this is no conspiracy, they are flat out in our face about their power. Perhaps we deserve it.

And now the freaking internet allows millions of ignorant (or dumb - two different things) numb nuts to spread all the lies at the speed of light (excluding me, of course.) All working on keeping us in the dark.

Perhaps this election will serve some larger purpose to point out this problem – but we’re still in trouble for at least the next four years.

God bless America – and God help us all.

Foolishly I started thinking about my recent FB post about making America great again (hey, that would make a great campaign slogan!) and a couple things occurred to me.

                                                      Deja vu all over again!

First, what the hell does that mean, to be great again? Obviously it implies that things aren’t so great now. So then when were they great? What should we be aspiring to? The fifties and the fakey Father Knows Best lifestyle? The sixties when we baby boomers were running wild and Vietnam raged on? The seventies with disco and Whip Inflation Now? The eighties with Ronald Reagan, Star Wars and Iran Contra scandal (and being great again?) The nineties and Bill Clinton and . . . oh never mind, you get my point.

To some extent I think as individuals most of us have some romantic attachment to a time in the past; it is the rare person that says NOW is the point in their life that they have the greatest fondness for (although I understand those lucky people do exist – and sometimes I am one!)

This also comes up all the time when you see these lists like “who is the greatest golfer ever?” (That one’s easy.) Or who was the best baseball player. How do you compare people who had different rules, different equipment – lived in different times? A smart person doesn’t because you can’t.

So what defines greatness for our country? Exactly. Like those "who’s the greatest" lists, it depends on who you ask. We can make a judgement about what great is as I did in comparing inventing FB to putting a man on the moon (I think there is no comparison but I’m sure you could find those that consider FB the greater achievement and that’s okay too.) That’s the point: opinions are like noses, everyone has one. (Although I grant you that today many of us assume that our opinions are the same as truth or facts but that's for a different post.)

I guess greatness is like pornography - you’ll know it when you see it!

The second thought is related to the first. There is no point in trying to point the good ship USS America to some mythical place in the past. No matter how much you wish you could go back to a better, happier, more contented past it ain’t gonna happen for you and it ain’t gonna happen for the country so get over it!

That leaves us all with the very difficult task of figuring out where we want to go in the future. It’s kind of hard to know how it will work out though: as Yogi Berra said, “It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.”

Given the candidates that we are stuck with it’s REALLY going to be difficult.

Good luck, friends!

July Morning - Uriah Heep

Sorry, just couldn't resist this. Men of a certain age who spent time in yet another country that we tried to bring democracy to so many years ago will certainly remember this tune - especially on a July morning. I can remember exactly where I was when I first heard this song - in Bangkok on R&R.

                                  AC -130 Gunship somewhere over Vietnam

Not much has changed in the world except maybe the haircuts. I wish I could be around to see what songs the guys and gals from our Iraq and Afghanistan adventures remember when they're old and gray like me.

But if it's the "Thong Song" then I don't want to know.

Music really is the only real time machine that we humans can depend on. They say that taste and smell can really spike a memory and I'm sure that's true but it doesn't matter what you are doing or what you did, I guarantee that if you hear a certain song it will take you there immediately. Some times it's good and sometimes it's bad - but it is dependable. 

Thank god for music and musicians or we would be stuck with our own frail memories of days past.

Say good night, Dick!

Come on, Thelma, get the kids packed we're gonna go see Noah's Ark!

I have got to make some new travel plans for the summer, Noah’s Ark is opening up in (ta da!) Kentucky.

By that I mean it’s the real ark. Well, okay a replica of it but this is the real deal - It’s 300 cubits by 50 cubits by 30 cubits which, I think, is pretty big so it must be real!

I know that there are some out there who don’t think that the Ark story is true but really, how difficult is it to believe a guy and his kids were able to herd seven pairs of every freaking creature on earth onto a boat and take care of them for 40 days? Sheesh, come on! Anyway, the guy who built this is a former science teacher from Australia so it must be true. (Former might be a key word.)

In this exhibit, apparently there are also little statues of many of the creatures that old Noah took on board (they couldn’t display them all because there wasn’t enough room. No, wait, hmmm.) Well, anyway, they did have room for the two dinosaurs (I’m impressed that they could figure out which was a girl dinosaur and which was the guy but that’s another story.)

                    Kids enjoy seeing replicas of the dinosaurs just like those on Noah’s ark

Again, I know what you’re thinking; how in the heck were there dinosaurs around when this event apparently happened just a few thousand years ago but dinosaurs died out 65 million years ago? Well a lot YOU know! I mean everyone knows that the earth was created in seven days about 6000 years ago. Again, sheesh.

A lot of folks are going to visit and bring their kids which I think is great. Kids can understand what old Noah and his family had to go through for 40 days and 40 nights with all those stinky animals. Also they now have "proof" of what their mom’s and dad’s and the Old Testament have told them versus, you know, actual science and facts and things. Science? We don’t need no stinking science!

Well, the REALLY good news is that they built this fine example of truth not far from the Creation Museum which is (oddly - or not) also located in Kentucky. Perhaps they can float the Ark down the Ohio river a ways and join the museum that very earnestly tells the true creation story (said seven days and seven nights as well as how the Adam and Eve’s kids played with their pet dinosaurs.)

I, for one, think that combining these two attractions could really help with this country’s problem of too many people using critical thinking - how about you?

Here we are, wracked once again by violence, anger, sadness and confusion. And I, once again, have little to offer. Why should I? As much as we Americans love simple solutions – just build an app or invent a new machine! – certain problems are immune to simple solutions. If they were they would have already been solved and this disconnect between blacks and whites is certainly one of those type problems.

There is obviously a lot of angst, anxiety and anger in the country – and the world - that has been building for years. It seems, however, that this particular issue predates all that; it is certainly related but I think it’s different.

It’s clear that something is going on given the number of blacks that are being killed in officer related shootings. Statistics show that 509 people have been shot and killed by police so far in 2016. 95% were male and 24% are black. Keep in mind that roughly 13% of Americans are black. To say this disparity is strictly racial profiling seems to me to be incorrect. On the other hand, just by statistics, it seems impossible to conclude that profiling – or at least some different treatment than for whites – doesn’t exist either. How to resolve that I do not know; everyone seems to have different descriptions of the problems and therefore different solutions.   

Here’s what I do know: like so many problems the country faces, this one seems intractable and for the same reason; it’s like we live in the Tower of Babel. No one speaks the same language and that’s makes it pretty difficult to solve a common problem.

I think that’s because even though we are all Americans, it doesn’t mean we all live in the same country. I know, I know, other people much smarter than me have said much the same thing but it doesn’t make it any less true – we all live in our own little tribes (I refuse to use the term community.) For example, I am an older, white, middle class guy and my friends tend to be the same (most are richer and almost all are better golfers.) We all live in middle to upper middle class neighbor hoods and our children are doing okay. When I was younger, I still existed in pretty much the same bubble. I was born and raised in a small town Minnesota with nearly zero exposure to anyone who wasn’t just like me (except the rich kids who lived in the west end!) I was fortunate enough to spend many years in the military and spent lots of time around various minorities and got along famously. But even that was a tribe and the military tribe which, like police, is fairly insular and protective of itself regardless of race – as it often has to be.

An anecdote. Early in my time in the military, which was relatively shortly after the terrible riots and turmoil of the late sixties, we were required to attend race sensitivity training or something like that, and not once but several times. To this day, I have never met anyone who went through it, either black or white, who felt that this training did anything to improve their understanding or acceptance of people who were not like them. Now why do you think that is? It’s not from lack of good intentions but trying to “help’ people overcome tribal instincts of a lifetime is really hard. 

So we all live in our own little tribes and we presume that everyone else experiences life pretty much like us. The truth is, no matter who you are or what your tribe is, most others don’t live lives like yours. It doesn’t mean that many people can’t overcome their tribal instincts and really do have some empathy but a lot of us can’t - or won’t - for one reason or another.

So here I am today. I try, I really do, but I can’t even pretend to say that I really understand the life situation of people not in my tribe rather it’s race, sexuality or financial status. Oh, I understand intellectually and accept most of these things intellectually - but “walking a mile in their shoes?” That seems almost impossible despite my best efforts. If that makes me a bad man, then I’m a bad man but I am doing the best that I can. Is it possible that I'm the only one like that? 

So where does that leave us? Damned if I know. Just like abortion or gun control, racial issues are so deep seated and belief-based that common problem solving simply doesn’t seem to work. These are frustrating problems; we all know something isn’t right but tribal instincts of one type or another just seems to prevent us from addressing them.

Herbert Stein, a famous economist, once said, "If something cannot go on forever, it will stop." So here’s something else I know: it will stop. It may or may not be pretty but it will stop.

And I’m pretty sure it won’t stop with more hand wringing, finger pointing or singing kumbaya. 

In any event, like a lot of other things going on in the country, let’s hope we can figure this out before it stops with some sort of a revolution. 

I now relinquish the soap box to someone that may actually have some ideas and return to my usual cynicism. 

The End of the Summer Affair

Well, there goes that warm, fuzzy feeling from the 4^th of July.

You know, I was feeling forced to comment on the “shocking” (sarcasm on) decision not to indict Hillary Clinton for her “extreme carelessness” with the whole email thing but then I said to myself, why, who cares what I think? The whole thing stinks, both candidates stink and the opinions of all the talking heads stink. Especially the talking heads. So why should I add my stinking opinions?! I can’t think of anything that will make me feel any better about it let alone anyone else. Especially when I have something really important to talk about today.

It is with a heavy heart that I must share that I fear she has been cheating on me. Oh, I’ve suspected it for some time, all the telltale signs were there: visiting me at odd hours then disappearing, telling me how great I am and I’m the only one – and then doing her best to crush my ego. And the oldest trick in the book; she’s no longer interested in “it.” By “it” I mean, not responding to my touch when I need her the most. The bitch!    

Golf is a demanding mistress and even more so when she has lost interest in you. Wait, what did you think I was talking about? Oh my God, no! No, but golf, on the other hand, has no morals, no scruples, no loyalties - and very few birdies. I can no longer deal with the almost total randomness of our relationship: perfect drive, duck hook in the woods; par, bogie, par, double bogey; heights of joy, bottomless despair – all in about an hour. I tell you I can’t take it anymore, one of us has got to go, it’s her or me!

I have to admit we’ve been through this before, in fact, almost every year about this time we become estranged. I don’t know, maybe we’re seeing too much of each other. Or maybe one or the other of us has become too demanding. In any event, it’s time for us to take a break from each other and just have some space for a while.

I know I will need to find something to take my mind off of her (and wondering who she is playing with today) and maybe make her jealous by taking up with a sexy, new pastime myself. Of course to make me forget her it will have to be much like her: expensive, frustrating, fickle and very time consuming. Hmmm. Wait, I know just the thing – go shopping! Head out to Mall of America every day and hit as many shops as I can, there must be like thousands of them! I can pay through the nose for things I don’t need, get bumped into, ignored, gouged and irritated - I’ll hate it. My god, it IS just like golf!  

It won’t be long though, I’m sure, and we’ll rush into each other’s arms again, share the thrill of the intimate tryst of hands and clubs and whisper sweet curses (okay, I'll whisper curses, she's not much of a talker) and we'll be happy again.

That is until the harlot runs off with my money and self-esteem again. 

Damn, how I love that woman!

Happy Independence (from Fear) Day!

You will find very few people who are more cynical about the direction of our country – and for very good reason - than me. Yet, oddly, you will also find very few people who are more optimistic about how it will turn out. Why? Because America has always been able to figure out how to solve our problems, one way or the other. As Winston Churchill said, “You can always count on Americans to do the right thing – after they’ve tried everything else.”

We face a ton of problems at home and abroad yet it’s not like we haven’t faced this and worse before. We survived the Civil War, the Great Depression, WWI, WWII, Korea and Viet Nam. And we will survive ISIS and every other assault on modern life that comes our way too; that’s what we do.

I know that most of us are disgusted with the direction the country has taken and the choices we have for leaders and rightly so – in a country of 330 million, these are the two best candidates we can come up with?! But we forget that we’ve survived a number of really awful presidents in our history. To name just a few, Millard Fillmore, Warren Harding, John Tyler, George W Bush and, apparently, the infamous Muslim, African, Communist Barack Obama. Trust me, we’ll survive the Donald or Hillary too.

Don’t be confused by false messiah’s, we have a lot of problems but if anyone will solve them it will be us - doing it together. We will do it by not losing sight of all the things that have made us great: we are not a fearful people, we are optimists; we are country of immigrants where everyone wants to get ahead; we are willing to try and fail in order to try again and succeed. And we stick together when times are tough. 

I know sometimes we kind of lose sight of these things but somehow we always seem to get back to the simple truths that Thomas Jefferson wrote 240 years ago; we are all created equal and have rights that no one can take away from us and that’s what the 4^th is all about. America has changed and will certainly continue to change but one thing won’t; until proven otherwise, this is still the greatest nation in the world.

So go ahead and have a beer and a hot dog on the 4th, you’ve earned it. (And let’s hope  that good, old Winston continues to be right!)

Happy Independence Day, my friends!

Experts? We don't need no stinking experts!

I was thinking about writing another letter to the editor (so far they haven’t asked me to stop writing but I expect it any day!) It was in regard to the now famous “Brexit” vote and the confusion swirling around it. It seems that both sides of the argument did a fair amount of fear mongering (read: lying) about what it would mean. My letter was going to be about the fact that it’s really hard for any of us to tell when we are being lied to anymore since truth and beliefs have either come to mean the same thing or, more sadly, perhaps neither means anything.

And apparently it doesn’t even mean anything if you are a so called “expert.” Experts said things would be terrible while other experts said it would be great. It’s too soon to know for sure but it seems to me that only one view can be true but I don’t know.

What I do know is that the internet and social media has allowed ALL of us to become “experts” (despite lacking any actual knowledge of the subject we are expounding upon) because our beliefs are certainly equal to actual facts, right? We email-forwarding, blogging, Facebook-Instagram-Tweeting posting goofs have the ability to inflict our “knowledge” (read, beliefs) on our unsuspecting friends and those strangers unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of our nonsense. So now people that actually ARE experts aren’t to be trusted if their expertise disagrees with OUR “expertise” (read, beliefs.) Then I read this article:

Why Bad Ideas Refuse to die

Apparently even many actual experts aren’t really experts. Well, they ARE experts but . . . you should read it. Here’s the Cliff’s notes:

A lot of things that pass as facts have been disproved over and over but still hang around – “zombie ideas” – because it’s in the financial interest of some group or other to have it hang around.

In the same vein but even scarier, even the OTHER experts who decide if something is a fact (or not) aren’t always driven by the pure desire for truth, justice and the American way. Turns out that the process of determining if a theory is true can be be driven by the same, venal, money grubbing process that gave us our current health care system, financial system, education system and political system; can you guess what it is? Yes, brilliant – money! If you can produce a study that shows an outcome that someone somewhere will pay to support, it has a leg up with all the other eggheads who review these things. Great sigh.

So if you are uncertain about what to believe or not believe perhaps you’re not dumb or uninformed. Maybe you are a victim of our modern times where truth has become a commodity that goes to the highest bidder – facts? We don’t need no stinking facts!

Actually this is perfect; Americans love to be victims and show an amazing ability to be ignorant, now we can be both with a clear conscious!