"It’s a most distressing affliction to have a sentimental heart and a skeptical mind." - Nagulb Mahfouz
"As I write, it is Veterans Day. Coincidentally last night, November tenth, the annual Marine Corps birthday party took place at the Tratoria, a local Italian restaurant. I hadn´t gone before, not being much of a joiner, but went this time with Vi and Natalia. The assembled were nice people, well along in years, as am I. There were good food, patriotic speeches, and a birthday cake. We sang the Marine Corps Hymn, though “from the halls of Montezuma” was perhaps not a high point of diplomatic appropriateness in Mexico. A camaraderie exists among Marines, into which I fit oddly...
So I understand when veterans get together and give patriotic speeches at a thousand Legion halls around the world. Yet, listening to the speeches, I wondered at the near total disconnect from reality. We Marines, I heard over and over, had made sacrifices “to protect our freedom.” Made sacrifices or been sacrificed? How exactly, I wondered, had remote wars against primitive societies on the other side of the world protected our freedom? As so often, I marveled at the automatic assumption that America is somehow more free than other places. How more free than Switzerland, Australia, Japan, Germany, or Holland? I feel freer in Mexico than in the growing police state to the north...
How many Laos did we butcher for nothing, how many Vietnamese, how many Cambodians? Millions, literally. For nothing. Nothing. How many Iraqis? Afghans? Pakistanis? If any of it preserved my freedom, I am unaware of it. How many in the Legion halls, the Marine Corps birthdays—they are friendly, decent, likeable men—have any idea of this?
...The rest of the planet pays a high price for our freedom. This is no doubt justified because we are the city of the hill, a light to the nations, bringing democracy and human rights to a globe thirsty for improvement by us. I have just never seen it. I like the people at the Legion halls, at birthdays for the Marine Corps, but I may be a little less proud of what we did."
"MONROVIA, Liberia — Liberia’s Drug Enforcement Agency has arrested the head of the presidential motorcade for allegedly using an official vehicle to smuggle 297 kilograms (654 pounds) of marijuana into Liberia from neighboring Sierra Leone, officials said Monday. The motorcade commander, Perry Dolo, was arrested over the weekend along with three other men after crossing from Sierra Leone via the town of Bo Waterside, said DEA Director Anthony Souh. The other three men were a Liberian official, a Guinean and a Sierra Leonean believed to be a member of the armed forces, Souh said. He did not provide further details about the men."
"Several people asked my opinion on the FDA banning trans fats. I’m sure you can guess how I feel about that. Same as with sugar … yes, trans fats are bad for you, and yes, we should educate people about why trans fats are bad for you. But if people want to consume trans fats anyway, that’s their business. Once you give the federal government the power to ban foods (or food-like substances) it decides you shouldn’t eat, you’re asking for trouble. Give it time, they’ll ban butter and bacon."
"From a Daily Show clip where they attempted to find out which state was the most aggressively anti-gay between Alabama and Mississippi. They paid a couple of actors to pretend to be a gay couple, dressed them up in typical redneck clothes, and put them in a few scenarios where they would put their “homosexual relationship” on display for the general public. As it turned out, the general public doesn’t give a shit, and some members are actually incredibly supportive, despite the representing politicans from those states being absolutely sure gay people would never be accepted in their states, comparing them to other groups like “coloreds” that only recently became accepted. It was an amazing piece."
"But the powers that be have found turning adults into debt slaves as early as possible to be a brilliant bit of social engineering, forcing the young to stay in line lest they mar their employment prospects. And as long as the powers that be continued to be successful in pitting the young against the old rather than against their common enemies, a predatory and extractive financial services industry and a super-wealthly class that prefers to mine rather than develop the countries in which they hold investments, it’s unlikely that either group will escape the grim future that the neofeudalists are in the process of creating."
"Juliette: A dad came in with his 4 year-old daughter and told her to ask me ("the lady who works here") for recommendations. She did and I showed her a few comics I thought she would like while the dad kind of waited a respectful distance away so that it was really our conversation. Then he said to her "I just want to make sure you know you can always ask the people in the comic book store for recommendations and they'll be happy to talk to you." And all of a sudden I realized that he was making sure his little girl would grow up believing that she is welcome in comic book and nerd spaces instead of feeling like she's an outsider just because she's a girl. PARENTING FTW!!!"
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