Mickey Z
Cool Observer
Sunday, December 18, 2005
The Xmas Truce: 1914
It’s a good reminder of what individuals can do to make their world a little better. What a great shame the generals were / are such intolerant, unfeeling people.
Posted by Chris Wood on from Manchester, England 12/18 at 09:01 AMThis episode usually gets a bit of TV coverage on a state owned channel in countries like France and Germany around this time of year, presumably to stress the “family ties” of peoples of Europe. One wonders the effect if similar programming were broadcast about honorable behavior toward and by non-European peoples during conflict…
Posted by sk on from 12/18 at 10:56 AMSeems like I saw a movie that included this episode. I’ll see if the ol’ synapses can rally a little memory in support of pulling up the title.
I always wondered what sort of mind-control the soldiers must’ve been under, to fraternize, sing carols and play soccer with the “enemy,” then, like dogs jumping to a whistle, commencing to slaughter each other a few minutes later. Fear, no doubt—phony notions of patriotism and loyalty, prospect of ostracization back home, prison or being shot for treason. I wonder if the Hundredth Monkey Effect would apply on the battlefield—would the elite send whole battalions before the firing squad for laying down their arms?
As a Buddhist, I recognize that, if Buddhism ever really caught on in the world, the blood-soaked religions would have to wipe it out immediately. We’re tolerated now because we seem so unthreatening, sitting around on cushions all day, seeing everything in terms of karma and practicing the art of non-attachment.
Back in my pot-smoking days (say, pre-1995), it occurred to me that marijuana criminalization is a reaction to the mellowing properties of that herb—as well as the universal language of friendship that it represents. There’s something subversive about it, the way it invites relaxation and creates a common ground between folks who would otherwise pass by as total strangers. The last thing anyone wants to do when sharing a bowl is go to war with the person he or she is smoking with.
They don’t call it the Peace Pipe for nothing....
Posted by Hawk on from Boulder, CO 12/18 at 11:12 AMI guess marijuana and Buddhism have a few things in common. Peace, sharing and a stand against the tyranny and the bullshit.
A friend of mine’s grandad was in WWI, in the trenches. They were more frightened of their own generals than the enemy; savage, sad and true. Men were shot for things which are wholly understandable. It’s a grievous world, sometimes.
I worry more about military conditioning today. I don’t think the WWI Tommies were subject to a great deal of training, but today - well, who hasn’t been awed by the start of Full Metal Jacket? Imagine such cruelty!
Posted by Chris Wood on from Manchester, England 12/18 at 11:25 AMHere’s an essay by Katha Pollitt on the “peacy” nature of modern religions in relation to conflict (interesting comments on some religions that are seen with rose tinted lenses by many folks here):
btw, I knew a Sinhalese Buddhist who had been a junior officer in the Sri Lankan Army--and had participated in and/or seen who knows what during the dirty war there--who committed suicide during the “Holiday season” 11 years ago…
Posted by sk on from 12/18 at 11:39 AMHawk, the Peace Pipe was tobacco, not pot. But I certainly agree on the soporific effects of the drug...why fight, we can laugh!
Elites have always walked a thin line between docile and somnolent, hungry and starving for their cannon fodder. IMO, the war on drugs is simply an employment scheme for sociopaths. The elites know full well that legalizing and taxing the “illicit” drug trade would put “paid” on the bottom of the debt bills we’re paying, and that Simply Cannot Be Allowed because then, how would they justify the gang-rape of the working class?
Joe, from last night: Thanks for the kind words about the stories I told. You should send Hawk some of what you were smoking, in a gesture of amity.
Chris, was wondering where you were yesterday. The sword story is hiLARious!! People are always people, and war is designed to make us, the lumpenproletariat, forget that fact. Look at the Iraq War propaganda. Carefully orchestrated to demonize some “insurgents” and “rebels” as perpetrators of inhuman car-bombings, leaving Our Boys and Girls innocent in the carpet bombings. And that works logically because...?
SK, such a program would be off the air in seconds. THEM being honorable? Don’t be silly, WE’re the honorable ones (not only Murricans are guilty of this mind-set).
James, from yesterday’s post: Yeah, sucks when the captcha-typo monster bites your ass, huh?
If I lived in NYC, you would be so very sorry you started the whole Hamsun thing because I was so determined to find Growth in the Soil that I was rooting through boxes of books in the VERY, VERY COLD garage until 2:19am CST. If I could reach you, I would tape ice cubes between your toes and under your armpits in revenge. Aren’t you glad I live 1250 miles away?
Oh, and the upshot is that I found my copy, well really the one I inherited from my sister’s college years, and it was printed in 1972 or 1973...crumbling thing with marginalia from an annoyed Tri-Delt coed.
Got a defense of Hunger? Bring it. If it’s just that you enjoyed the book, well okay, you’re entitled.
MZ, the Christmas Truce an urban legend...? That’s on a par with the Holocaust deniers, and the Aremnian Genocide deniers. Absurd. The evidence does not bear out the conclusion in any of these cases. Oh wait, it doesn’t in Iraq either. Oh dear...our own Government, the best in the world, on a par with the Deniers!
Dearie me, whatever shall we do? Rebel? I’m “game”....
Posted by Mudge on from Dear, dead Austin 12/18 at 11:43 AMHello Chris, SK, Hawk, and Mudge.
Mudge, I wasn’t implying that the Xmas Truce is an urban legend but if the Snopes site saw fit to prove it isn’t a legend, I must assume that some out there must see it that way. Thus, I figured it couldn’t hurt to add that link to the mix.
Hawk, I do not know enough about Buddhism to offer a “deep” opinion but I will say that I’m always skeptical when any group of humans is universally given a pass by getting labeled peaceful. Here’s an old piece of mine where I talk about Tibetans and the Dalai Lama: http://tinyurl.com/aeh3h.
Please understand: I’m not launching a salvo at Buddhism in general, just taking a look at what can be done under the cover of pacifism. We humans are endlessly devious.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 12/18 at 11:50 AMMickey: IMO, all religions are human organizations, and are therefore susceptible to human shortcomings. Buddhism, which takes many forms, is nevertheless lorded over by various priesthoods, and these priesthoods have very little to do with the Buddha’s original teaching. In fact, the priesthoods actively (though possibly unconsciously) prevent the Buddha’s actual teachings from seeing the light of day—because if they actually taught what the Buddha taught, their elite status would be flushed down the drain.
When I say that I’m a Buddhist, I refer to it as a practice strategy that offers a valid and rewarding path through life (as far as I’m concerned). Many, many Eastern traditions champion ahimsa, or nonviolence toward all living beings, and anyone who commits to living the ideals developed in these traditions is at least making an effort toward a better world, from the inside out. That’s something I can “respect.”
The religious hierarchies, however, can bite me.
Posted by Hawk on from Boulder, CO 12/18 at 12:01 PMMudge said, “Hawk, the Peace Pipe was tobacco, not pot.”
When someone offered to break out the Peace Pipe in my neighborhood, it did not mean tobacco… “man.”
Posted by Hawk on from Boulder, CO 12/18 at 12:03 PMPoint well-taken, Hawk...and you’re in the early lead for line of the day: “The religious hierarchies, however, can bite me.”
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 12/18 at 12:06 PMMZ, not firing at YOU, but at the idiots who deny some well-documented historical facts ever occurred. Snopes took it on because there are fools out there in the world passing around emails saying it really didn’t happen. The moon landing gets the same treatment. It’s so annoying...but it puts into perspective some basic human assumptions. There IS NO OBJECTIVE TRUTH!
We fight like banshees over moral theories propounded many centuries ago by people who may or may not have existed and, as we can see from this discussion’s subject, we can’t even agree that events documented by multiple observers and from multiple sources and possessing extensive paper trails are factual. Since most Holocaust deniers I’ve encountered are “Christians,” (a proposition I reject out-of-hand) I always ask them if they’re not a little concerned that the example they’re setting might not extend to their own faoundation documents...?
I am unpopular with such people.
SK, I liked the Pollitt essay a great deal, and thanks for the link. The last lines are especially worthy of note:
“It’s enough to make one nostalgic for the cold war--as if the thin film of twentieth-century political ideology has been stripped away like the ozone layer to reveal a world reverting to seventeenth-century-style religious warfare, fought with twenty-first-century weapons. God changes everything.”MZ’s posited existence of human deviousness seconded. All in favor say aye...or “eye”...
Posted by Mudge on from Dear, dead Austin 12/18 at 12:11 PMOhhhhhhhh, I get it, the Peace Pipe, ohhhhhh. I’ve only had one pot of coffee, sorry, Hawk.
Back to an idea of Joe’s from last night...I think I’ll have a itty-bitty asterisk tattooed under the outside of the pinkie knuckle on my left hand. As a badge of my Expedability. Maybe in green ink.
Any ideas on the feasibility of the Expendables Discussion Group?
Posted by Mudge on from Dear, dead Austin 12/18 at 12:19 PMHi folks, or should I say “aye”?
Yesterday was busy at a work’s party for a woman who’s leaving; she’s a lovely woman but she was damn rude to me yesterday. Not to worry, we all become different people at times and I think I may have been a teenty bit slow on understanding something - hey ho! Tomorrow will bring it’s wind, and the right people are always supportive.
I think this goes back to a post by Mudge about the way to react to people - it’s a necessary part of a happy life, I think, and to think the best of others & self. I got a reminder of this yesterday, because I have to say I felt shit about what she said ... not to worry.
Posted by Chris Wood on from Manchester, England 12/18 at 12:21 PMMickey: I just read your Dalai Lama piece, and it is excellent. The stuff about Shamir is spot on, as well. You got it.
My teacher, who shall go unnamed, was run out of the Sangha for teaching what is actually in the Sutta Nikayas (the discourses of the Buddha, which have only in the last 25 years begun to be translated from Pali into English), and for insisting that Buddhist orthodoxy has turned away from the original teaching. He is in the middle of a three-year solo wilderness retreat, heading into town once a week or so to check email. He’s received death threats from monks on numerous occasions, so he’s made himself busy by codifying his interpretation of the buddhadhamma (Buddha’s actual teachings) before someone puts a bullet in his head. His efforts will lead to a book that proves very embarrassing to the orthodoxy.
So yeah, the Sangha is not only corrupted, but it died within a couple hundred years of the Buddha’s physical death—which is to say, it’s been dead since about 250 BCE. What’s come down to us is yet another opiate of the masses.
Posted by Hawk on from Boulder, CO 12/18 at 12:24 PMHawk, that’s a terrible thing. Who can say what is right, at least to the extent of killing somebody else over it? I had no idea Buddhist monks made death threats, too! Ah me.
Posted by Chris Wood on from Manchester, England 12/18 at 12:27 PMOne weeps not save when one is afraid, and that is why kings are tyrants.
Marquis De SadeNow there’s a thought!
Posted by Chris Wood on from Manchester, England 12/18 at 12:40 PMJust a thought but I´m amazed and somehow confused that most of the known man-made disasters and oranized cruelty of all history were started and/or instigated by educated and intelligent persons or is it that the old,worn-out road to hell is paved with good intentions(to comment on warmongers with generals versus ordinary people becoming soldiers and continue a bit on my last post, yesterday).
You could of course argue that most ordinary, down to earth, working class people are too lazy, dumb or unmotivated to make any changes in their surroundings and history or is the fact that they found and nurture the most important and real things in life instead ( ...and btw “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” - Margaret Mead.).
Of course a lof bright and intelligent persons have done a lot of good for other humanbeings through history (to numerous to mention here)but I would guess that they are easily outnumbered by likeminded who sold their soul and mind to the highest bidder or as the band Killdozer put it “intellectuals are the shoeshine boys of the ruling elite”?
To quote Nelson Mandela it would be nice if:
“A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.”
and..."The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of
comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and
controversy.”
- Martin Luther King Jr.Posted by The poster formerly known as "Old Glen". on from 12/18 at 12:40 PMI meant organized! (wtf is oranized?)
Posted by The poster formerly known as "Old Glen". on from 12/18 at 12:42 PMHello again, Expendables: here’s my take on Mickey’s Dalai Lama piece.
It reminded me of the Nazi expedition to Tibet in 1939/39....
Posted by Hawk on from Boulder, CO 12/18 at 12:49 PMFelonious Monk HA! HA! HA! HA! hey do you listen to Thelonious Monk?
bono and the gates were named persons of the year by time magazine: http://www.time.com/time/
Ancient Shock and Awe: http:tinyurl.com/cdgnt
iraq pullout: http://tinyurl.com/929t4
Posted by tm on from in a grove 12/18 at 12:50 PMHi Chris: It realy is a terrible thing—but eye-opening in a positive sense, in that any romanticization I may have had about the “blessed bhikkus” has been thoroughly nuked.
This is not to say that there aren’t some truly wise and wonderful monks out there—some of whom are making an honest re-assessment of where the orthodoxy has gone off track. “They” give me hope.
But the core has been corrupted to the point of absurdity. Very sad.
Posted by Hawk on from Boulder, CO 12/18 at 12:51 PMoops forgot the slashes Ancient Shock and Awe: http://tinyurl.com/cdgnt
Posted by tm on from in a grove 12/18 at 12:52 PMOld Glen, your statement:
“...most of the known man-made disasters and oranized cruelty of all history were started and/or instigated by educated and intelligent persons ...”contains a “misspelling” that I think could be the Divine in action. I say we change your “oranized” to “onanized” (or masturbatory) cruelty. People are horrible to each other because it gets them off. Power corrupts, after all.
Chris, you asked Hawk:
“Who can say what is right, at least to the extent of killing somebody else over it?”Exactly. Elegantly phrased, accurately conceived. Kudos.
Hawk, I am glad (in a perverse way) to have someone remind the assembled that Buddhists, protestations and pretensions to nonviolence aside, are human, and therefore murderous louts in ugly robes that show their skinny legs.
Posted by Mudge on from Dear, dead Austin 12/18 at 12:53 PMFelonious Monk
Love it....
Posted by Hawk on from Boulder, CO 12/18 at 12:54 PMMudge:
“Onanized cruelty”,so that´s what power is about?
For once I can´t say “whatever get´s you off.
Posted by The poster formerly known as "Old Glen". on from 12/18 at 01:02 PMHi everyone, no news about the cat, more tomorrow… and Mudge, check it out:
http://tinyurl.com/8xfpd
His Nazi-ism has often been in some doubt with some things I’ve read, and he at least wrote Hunger long before he ever mentioned it… before he was my age, even.
Damn it damn it, yeah you’re right it’s so frustrating, I’ve needed to talk to someone about that book for so long-- don’t have energy to recount it all now, let alone read the rest of these posts and MZs main one. What a crappy week. ALWAYS copy/paste/save long post to reduce the captcha risk! That’s the best “policy”.Posted by James on from Hell's Kitchen 12/18 at 01:02 PMHawk, it always surprises me that the good people in any religion can devote their lives to standards which are often cruel in their neglect. I can’t talk about Buddhists here, I don’t know enough. But I was raised Catholic, and some of the priests were splendid people, others narrow minded and spiritual automatons.
That said, if a path beckons strongly, why not follow? I would like to think I’m quite spiritual, but it’s music, people, words and sights that moves me most often, not any one religion. But that could all change tomorrow - remember that Zappa line? A mind is like a parachute, to work it has to be open.
Thanks, Mudge. It has to be the ultimate arrogance to say, because I am correct, you must die.
Posted by Chris Wood on from Manchester, England 12/18 at 01:16 PMtm, thanks for the link to the story about “shock and awe” c 3500 BCE. I found this especially revealing:
“There’s no record of a battle, since writing hadn’t been invented yet. In such cases, it’s often difficult to determine whether destruction was the result of warfare or of other calamities such as accidental fires.‘But in our case, it was unambiguous,’ Reichel said. ‘There’s very clear evidence of violent destruction.’”
So if, as I’ve posited here before, language develops to increase the speed and efficiency of gossip, writing develops to tot up the spoils of war...? I mentioned a book, The Severed Wing, here before. Its author (Martin Gidron) posits that, absent the turbocharge of WWII, the world of 2000 would look much like the world of 1950 did for our ancestors. War brings “progress,” I guess; it seems to have done since we started playing at it with such dire consequences.
Posted by Mudge on from Dear, dead Austin 12/18 at 01:16 PMOld Glen, surely it is largely the intelligent, educated people who will have the power to wreak havoc? Why they choose to do so? Some years ago I worked with a lady who had been a psychiatric nurse for 25 years, and she claimed the senior govenment people have to be pathological to do what they do.
This was the first time I considered such an idea - of course, it makes good sense, but it took someone with experience of mental health issues for me to actually recognise it. Rather like the film The Corporation, arguing that corporations would be considered psychotics if they were individuals. How true, how sad, though.
It also must come down to interpretation. Think how many genuinely peaceful people have read the Bible, but how many have died because of it. That to me is the biggest head#### I ever heard.
I read here a few days ago a great quote (think it was Rousseau, not sure): What greater wisdom is there than kindness?
Posted by Chris Wood on from Manchester, England 12/18 at 01:20 PMMudge - how true - war is an economic necessity, it seems. How messed up can you get? But, like a lot of people say, if it wasn’t for the profits there wouldn’t be the bombs.
It was particularly, graphically, disgustingly illustrated in the 1980s, when I became aware that arms factories in the UK are in marginal constituencies with great financial needs. How scummy.
Posted by Chris Wood on from Manchester, England 12/18 at 01:22 PMHi everyone…
“Felonious Monk”....I love it....I think I’ll put some on now.James....what about doing the captcha word first, before you type your comment?
My view on religion is this. Everyone should respect everyone else’s relgious beliefs and concentrate on judging the actions of people and governments. About the Christmas cease-fire, I don’t know but I am facinated by the fact that the taboo against killing can be so easily removed and ordinary people can be turned into killers via a little “basic training”. Maybe if we took a baby at birth and never exposed him/her to our warped culture it would be more difficult to turn him into a killer.
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 12/18 at 01:26 PMI often do that, just too worn out to focus online as I wish I could… maybe later again today, after I’ve been outside for awhile or something. Really great discussion here today, everyone.
Posted by James on from Hell's Kitchen 12/18 at 01:32 PMChris Wood:
I´ve also heard that many (of our)leaders could be considered psychotic but I guess and hope that it´s more common among businessmen and not so widespread among politicians yet,but who am I to know?Posted by The poster formerly known as "Old Glen". on from 12/18 at 01:39 PMJames, rest. It was a rotten week for you, so rest. Consider yourself hugged.
This line made me cringe: “How much did Knut Hamsun actually know about the atrocities committed by the Nazis and how much was he lulled into it all by his wife?” (from a review at the link to Hamsun{/i] the movie on Amazon)
Why is it better to believe Hamsun was a dupe than a collaborator? If that’s true, he’s so weak of character that he’s unable to resist being used in the service of evil by others. I have always found that stance repugnant in the extreme. Eichmann, he of the “I was just following orders” comment in Jerusalem, seemed always to me [i]MORE culpable rather than less, assuming this statement was true.
What could possibly be more reprehensible than rejecting one’s absolute control over one’s own moral universe?!
Hamsun-as-dupe has less appeal for me than Hamsun-as-collaborator. Hunger was writen in the late 19th century, and while much of the Baltic world’s intelligentsia was swayed by Nietzsche. He, Hamsun, was influenced by this philosophical climate AS AN ADULT (remember he was 41 at the turn of the century!) and found himself in sympathy with it. I find it unsurprising that, as Nazism wrapped itself in a trailing cloak of Nietzsche’s glory, Hamsun as an 80-year-old would be able to to sympathize with the NORWEGIAN Nazi party. From there, it’s the work of but a moment for a younger, faster, more vicious person to transfer his praises to the GERMAN Nazi party.
Max von Sydow was excellent in that movie.
What specifically did you feel the need to discuss about Hunger? Just email me the idea, I can go on for pages and MZ’s site ain’t all Hamsun, all the time. rrmdd (at) yahoo.
Posted by Mudge on from Dear, dead Austin 12/18 at 01:39 PMChris, dunno about psychotic, but certainly they’re sociopathic. Corporations and leaders both.
Old Glen, yeah, I know a lot of people who respond to consensual sadomasochism with horror and revulsion and outrage...and who see no irony in their support for “the troops” in Iraq, claiming that no photographic evidence of atrocities on the ground or from the air are trustworthy enough to warrant changing their minds...yet those same people made judgments about sadomasochistic activity based on the same sorts of images.
Onanized cruelty.
RMJ, good afternoon, a pleasure to see you. I, being a cynic, think a child raised away from our culture is exactly as likely to become a murderous sociopath than if s/he was raised in our culture.
Posted by Mudge on from Dear, dead Austin 12/18 at 01:50 PMChris, forgot to address:
“It was particularly, graphically, disgustingly illustrated in the 1980s, when I became aware that arms factories in the UK are in marginal constituencies with great financial needs. How scummy.”Well, yeah; but the plants are located in those areas for many reasons. How else to build support at a governmental level, as you’re noting; how else to put an industrial outfit that’s doing very dangerous things in a first-world country, than to select a part other industries have abandoned? And, since the hoi polloi are grateful for the jobs, no nittery nattery enviro-weenies to deal with as the chemical consequences become apparent.
Sociopathic behavior: “My good before all else.”
Posted by Mudge on from Dear, dead Austin 12/18 at 01:57 PMMudge, you’re right, of course. It was the way it was done that repelled me - by making (what should be) such an unacceptable trade legitimate, even welcome. Rather like hiring homeless people to commit murders - “hey, it gives them a sense of self worth to work.” Jesus!
Posted by Chris Wood on from Manchester, England 12/18 at 02:07 PMCan anyone give me any info on depleted uranium shells? I’m writing the Iraq stuff (as usual) and would be most grateful for assistance.
Posted by Chris Wood on from Manchester, England 12/18 at 02:09 PMForgot to mention, in re religions. A friend’s daughter, in her mid 20s, became a Seventh Day Adventist, and very devout too. Naturally she tried the conversion thing, but no dice.
We debated for about an hour, after which she pronounced that I was an “emissary of Satan.” A little harsh, I thought, but there you go ...
Anyone else been denounced as diabolic recently?
Posted by Chris Wood on from Manchester, England 12/18 at 02:13 PMSociopath = an egoist to the extremes.
If so I guess our culture breeds a lot of them and unfortunately in many areas they are leaders.Posted by The poster formerly known as "Old Glen". on from 12/18 at 02:38 PMChris, you mean apart from James? Oh, I’ve been called a demon, accused of spreading Satanism (I don’t accept Satan’s existence, which makes this charge particularly hilarious), informed times without number that I’m on my way to Hell (see above comment re:Satan)...by people of all sects of Christianity and, in a different way, by Orthodox Jews, Lubavitchers, and Muslims, too!
I have a nasty habit of asking where they get their authority from, I absolutely reject the “authority” of anyone’s Holy Scripture where it conflicts with my moral compass, and I am sexually unconventional, politically liberal, and culturally relativist.
Oh, how they dislike each of these traits, the fundys...and the Grundys...but wrap ‘em up into one large, smiling package and there’s trouble brewin’ yessiree bob, trouble it is.
Posted by Mudge on from Dear, dead Austin 12/18 at 02:39 PMSounds like you’ve got it like it should be, Mudge. Let’s see now, what can we put together as a manifesto for what is both right & reasonable as well as downright offensive to the (great phrase!) fundys.
Posted by Chris Wood on from Manchester, England 12/18 at 02:43 PMHow weird is this: Captcha is “arms” oooooo spooooky
A link to Divided We Fall, an excellent WWII movie, set in Czechoslovakia (in Czech, natch). A Christian couple grudgingly gives house-room in their DINKY apartment to a Jew fleeing xetermination. Much, much learning later, all three people are transformed for the better...and the worse.
I find that I enjoy Czech films a lot more than, say, German ones, definitely more than Russian ones, or even many French ones. Underappreciated cineastes, those Czechs.
Posted by Mudge on from Dear, dead Austin 12/18 at 02:47 PMChris, exactly what do you need about DU? There is a lot of information about it out there. Just last week at a vets meeting we discussed and rejected support for a bill in the legislature about it. The bill was too weak for us. Have you seen the photos of the babies born to mothers who had been exposed to DU? Gotta see ‘em.
Hi Mudge...Hugs to you. If environment has no bearing on the way any of us turn out, then you are opening the free will vs determinism debate. Are you saying that the propensity for violence is ALL in our genes?Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 12/18 at 03:01 PMRMJ - can you tell me what DU does to people, or give me some links? & why the #### it’s used - aren’t normal bullets & shells effective enough? I know DU is supposed to be armour piercing, but how many times has it been used on civilians?
Posted by Chris Wood on from Manchester, England 12/18 at 03:04 PMChris, I like the beginning of the Hippocratic Oath: “First, Do No Harm.” In place of that pasty “I am the Lord thy God, thou shalt have no other deity before me.” It’s that sneaky little “before” that makes Catholicism (my natal sect) able to venerate the pantheon of the saints.
“Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife” is a commandment I’ve taken to heart lo these three decades. Notice, it says nothing about not coveting they neighbor’s HUSBAND, so I figure that’s a keeper. You straight people are on your own, Hell-bound. Hey, I’m likin’ this!
I like “Thou shalt not kill” pretty much as-is; although, if applied rigorously, it would mean starvation = weaning = species disappearance. “Commit murder?”
“Remeber the Sabbath Day and keep it holy.” No mention of WHICH day is Sabbath day, so it’s good with me...we need one day a week to be contemplative, IMO, no matter the means of contemplation.
I can’t think of any other Ten Commandments I think are worth spit. Anyone else? Other traditions?
Posted by Mudge on from Dear, dead Austin 12/18 at 03:13 PMRMJ, in the nature-vs-nurture debate, I am a fence-straddler. A certain number of people will be born without the capacity to empathize with others. They are sociopaths. A certain number will have a weak tendency toward empathy squashed; a certain number will have it nurtured; the vast majority will fit into the “equlibrium” category, where the organizm has selected for the Utilitarian “greatest good for the greatest number” stance.
There is obviously an immediate evolutionary advantage to sociopathy; but in the long run, it’s a losing proposition.
And I do not discount the unquantifiable role of the numinous, that unmeasurably tiny thing I call a soul. I really do believe we each have one. I think it’s beaten and abused and forced out of some people. But it’s there, in my experience, even when one thinks it can’t be. If reincarnation is correct (as I believe it to be), there will never be an end to the ills of the world because there can’t be until every soul is enlightened.
The evidence suggests that’s unlikely to happen soon.
Captcha=church! I swear!
Posted by Mudge on from Dear, dead Austin 12/18 at 03:23 PMMudge, some intriguing points there. Anytime I think of the Ten Commandments (which are important enough to rate capital letters, wooooo!) I remember an old Punch cartoon - two vicars are talking in front of the list and one says “I see adultery’s dropped to number 7.”
Covet is an odd word. Lust is so easily felt. To say don’t do that is a denial of human nature, which I believe occurs quite a lot in religion.
In terms of the sabbath day, Jesus gave his friends a drink and said “do this in memory of me.” So surely having a beer with friends & feeling spiritual ought to count, right? Above me is my mother’s old statue of Christ, with a beer can on one side and the sleeve from a bottle of expensive whiskey on the other.
Other traditions? The Japanese have a great creation story. Instead of Adam & Eve, the first man & woman didn’t live on the earth. Earth wasn’t made. The woman speaks first, a big no no, so the man goes off in a huff and ignores her. So, to make amends, the woman gives birth to all five continents to appease him.
What????
Strange but true, so I’m told.
Posted by Chris Wood on from Manchester, England 12/18 at 03:24 PMChris, DU is one of my favorite topics. The story about the radioactive tank # 9 and how it can affect sperm is very interesting. http://tinyurl.com/bk2yn Also, just google Halflife of Depleted uranium for a lot of info.
Basically, DU is used because it is strengthens when put into the structure of tanks or bullets. If inhaled it can have very serious effects...cancer, birth defects etc. Check out the halflife of DU. Using DU should be recognized as a very horrendous war crime. The legislative bill that we rejected last week would have called for the testing of US soldiers when they return from Iraq. I, and others did not like the way it was written because I believe that the tests should be done on Iraqis. I think that a couple of States have passed legislation requiring the testing of vets but no one ever thinks about Iraqi civilians. If the Intent of Internation Law was upheld, I believe that the US would currently be being charged with War Crimes because of its use of DU.Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 12/18 at 03:34 PMWell, I guess you guys decided to start without me, today. I’m offended, but willing to forgive…
This page is a truly wonderful read. If the family wasn’t lurking about, I’d fire up the pipe and reread it all in a different state of mind.
Hawk -
I’ve often thought the same thing about pot - and I’ve been thinking similar things about cigarette smoking, of late. Anything which tends to bring people together must be eliminated so that our attention and loyalty can be turned toward State & Corporation, where it belongs… Most of the stoners I’ve known, and I’ve known “several,” have been quite non-violent… until they decided to stop into a bar, on the way home. It’s no accident, methinks, that there are alcohol dispensaries every few blocks, but it’s illegal to sit down with friends for a smoke…Mickey -
I’m deeply grateful for your front page posts, today. Such stories as this are of ever increasing importance to me. Thank you…I mentioned, some time ago, seeing the film “A Very Long Engagement,” about WWI… ( The movie was an amazing experience ) Though all war is horror, that war seemed like all of the world’s collective nightmares and sadism and madness combined…
Posted by joe on from Oregon 12/18 at 03:37 PMHellllooooo Expendables. Boy, I’m blown away by this discussion and it will take a while for me to join in. At the moment, I’m still trying to digest Bono and Bill Gates as persons of the year.
Chris, here’s something I wrote on depleted uranium: http://tinyurl.com/85zxn
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 12/18 at 03:38 PMRMJ, I really appreciate the link - many thanks. Part way through the article now, but my eyes are tired (long weekend) & I need to put reading away for a bit.
What about DU in bullet / shell form?
(sorry, I’m a cheeky bastard, aren’t I?)
Posted by Chris Wood on from Manchester, England 12/18 at 03:41 PMMickey, unfortunately the link doesn’t work, but I appreciate the thought. Cheers!
Posted by Chris Wood on from Manchester, England 12/18 at 03:47 PMMudge, I think I almost agree with you now that you have expanded your explanation. That some people are born without the capacity to empathize is really something that I have thought a lot about for years. If that is true, then how can those people who are lacking in empathy be accountable for their actions? In a sense, the capacity for empathy is really “conscience”. Maybe the capacity to empathize can be taught??? I believe that kids can be desensitized toward violence by TV, video games, etc. If that is true, then maybe the reverse is true also.
I am intrigued that you believe in the existence of a soul and reincarnation. You are full of surprises.Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 12/18 at 03:49 PMAnother try, Chris: http://tinyurl.com/9car3
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 12/18 at 03:50 PMMuch better - thanks!
Posted by Chris Wood on from Manchester, England 12/18 at 03:53 PMUgh. Oh my god.
Posted by Chris Wood on from Manchester, England 12/18 at 04:02 PMBizarre reactions to your article: “More propaganda based on myth rather than fact.” What the #### do these people need?
Posted by Chris Wood on from Manchester, England 12/18 at 04:03 PMChris, it’s a rare human that’s willing to accept/welcome a challenge to deeply embedded beliefs.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 12/18 at 04:08 PMChris:
“The woman speaks first, a big no no, so the man goes off in a huff and ignores her. So, to make amends, the woman gives birth to all five continents to appease him.”ROFLMGAO Those wacky Japanese men! They sure have a well errr fanciful view of women! Hoo, the tears are still stremaing down my cheeks from that laugh. I knew there was a reason I loved you.
RMJ, I can’t explain exactly why I know there is a soul, but it has to do with the absence of wastefulness in the physical world, and the certainty that energy cannot be destroyed, only transformed.
Squadrillions of sprats created by two clams mating isnt wasteful of the said clams’ resources. It’s the natural world’s acknowledgment that we’re all of us responsible for the survival of the others on this world. Critters eat the sprats, though never all of them, because that’s what’s supposed to happen to sustain life. Why would a person’s life experiences, absent obedient children (note the frequency of that occurence), just...vanish, dissipate, cease to exist...at death? In what way is this congruent with the frugality otherwise apparent in the Universe?
And energy, which each of us is (string theory says even energy is energy) nothing but the illusory solid state of energetic particles cohering into a cooperative entity for a period of time, cannot be destroyed. It’s a fundamental law of the physical Universe. So, if we’re all made up of energy, and we know from experience that we can individually affect the material expression of energy (been on a diet? a binge? Had a facelift? These are all manipulations of the material expression of energy), why would that not apply to the energy of though? Of action, emotion, learning, joy, remorse, outrage? Why should the energetic shifts in the brain you’re usig just now simply vanish, and not retain SOME coherence as energetic patterns somewhere? And, to make a huge leap, why should those energetic patterns that I posit survive our deaths not become incorporated into future energy matrices we call humans? We know beyond refutation that our material beings are made up of stuff that was in stars once, and was in donosaurs once, and was in another person once...that’s the nature of matter. Should energy, matter without weight, be different?
If so, why?
See why I get into trouble with the fundys?
Posted by Mudge on from Dear, dead Austin 12/18 at 04:09 PMNice piece, Mickey, and new to me - thanks.
Chris, I saw a lecture by Helen Caldicott, whom Mickey mentions in his article. She’s one of the world’s leading experts on nuke-related stuff, and she spoke at length about DU weapons, during the talk. I’ve not visited her site for a while, but you might check out her stuff, as well.
Hawk, I used to read a lot of Phillip Kapleau, one of the first ( perhaps THE first ) caucasion Zen master. He returned from a decade or so of practice in Japan and opened the Rochester Zen School. He taught and wrote for years, and was a huge influence here in the states. Well, at some point, he decided to translate some of the Japanese Sutras and things into English, so his students could better grasp what they were chanting and reciting. Immediately, the Japanese Roshis jumped all over him and eventually, essentially “excommunicated” him from the lineage. Jesus, talk about missing the point!
Your line about relegious heirarchies, as Mickey noted, is precious…
Mudge -
You wonderful rascal.
You mentioned last night that 1965 was much different than 1968 - and that you’re waiting anxiously for 2008. Splendid insight, my friend.
In fact, the 60’s didn’t make it to Schenectady untill 69 or 70 or even 71… Prior to those years, we remained mired in nauseating militarism and generalized passionate support for the war.It’s true that something happened, somewhere in the 60’s, and suddenly it was as if the whole country was waking up. Though Schenectady slumbered on, the awakening even made it to the rust belt, eventually.
One does often get the feeling that, though the masses of people remain unconscious, they’re not sleeping as soundly or comfortably, of late - and that a 60’s type awakening may be waiting for us, just down the road. I sure hope so. We’re due for “a crisis of democracy.”Posted by joe on from Oregon 12/18 at 04:17 PMCheers, Mudge. Love & the best to you.
As for a soul, spirit or whatever term your prefer, I think any time a profound change in emotion, a real uplift, occurs, we feel our soul. Like the stirring feelings of music or poetry, or memories of friends & the people that gave you your best times, and care.
All this points to the existance of the soul, in my view. Not sure about the whole heaven & hell deal. Maybe we just float away when we die; get conked on the head by a passing asteroid? We’ll just have to see.
Posted by Chris Wood on from Manchester, England 12/18 at 04:18 PMDenial of DU’s damage seems incredible to me. How can a thinking person who’s ever smelled wood-smoke imagine that radioactive particles of SOMEthing could just possibly, nay even probably, be in the smoke for a DU-laced weapon? Does U-238 have some hall pass from the Goddess of War exempting it from playing on the playground with all the other particles?
Amazing. Disturbing.
Posted by Mudge on from Dear, dead Austin 12/18 at 04:29 PMMudge, wonderful and thoughtful analysis, Sir.
Einstein tells us that, in fact, matter IS energy.
And Bohr and Heisenberg and company tell us that the “real world” is not fixed and definite but, rather, that the things we see are not “there” until we see them… The “act” of seeing and the thing seen are in some way one..
Which is incredibly like the non-duality of the great Indian sages, dating back many thousands of years.Posted by joe on from Oregon 12/18 at 04:30 PMCheck this out:
Made me laugh anyway! No offence MZ.
Posted by Chris Wood on from Manchester, England 12/18 at 04:39 PMJoe: “It’s true that something happened, somewhere in the 60’s, and suddenly it was as if the whole country was waking up.”
Murrica goes through cyclical “Great Awakenings” on matters spiritual. In the 60s, it was the first late-adolescent “Why am I here?” national awakening. It’s been followed, as it often is in people, by the reversion to magical thinking that comes when the capacity to step up and be a grown-up gets challenged by tribulations. Many individuals never make it back out of that state, as I believe we can all attest from observation >coughBushcough<; I like to think nations don’t have that luxury.
Don’t mess with my denial!
1965 was a weird year. Ia Drang Valley taught the military we weren’t gonna win this war. Johnson’s desideratum the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was responsible for the massive build-up of personnel in Vietnam. The war economy made Johnson sure he’d win re-election in 1968, though he was busy trying to figure a way around the Repulsivecans’ gift to posteriority the 22nd Amendment; so he was disinclined to think exit strategies for a fatally long time. The young were slowly waking up to the reality of death and dismemberment, their own to be sure, but still one accepts progress no matter how small as a good thing. Reality was gonna get worse, as all of a sudden the African-American youth put it all together in 1966 and BLAMMO it was off to the races for a lovely little Civil War for five years. But in 1965, it was all...latent energy. It was spooky.
Posted by Mudge on from Dear, dead Austin 12/18 at 04:43 PMChris: Awww, now you’re gona make me think you like me. >blush<
“Not sure about the whole heaven & hell deal. Maybe we just float away when we die; get conked on the head by a passing asteroid? We’ll just have to see.”
We shall, inevitably, see. I doubt either place exists, though I feel some stirrings of an idea where the concepts came from...imagine if I’m right about this soul stuff, and one’s memories of this and perhaps previous incarnations are all that we have to amuse and entertain ourselves with...well, wouldn’t an SS guard at Auschwitz have a rather worse time of it than, say, a person whose life had been lived in pursuit of knowledge and unedrstanding like Leibnitz or van Leeuwenhoek or Galileo? Assuming some echo of that experience survived in the reincarnate person, that could give rise to a notion of heaven and hell.
Posted by Mudge on from Dear, dead Austin 12/18 at 04:50 PMAh Mudge, I’m too tired to flirt (well maybe just quickly!).
The soul’s memories, yes, that’s an intriguing idea, but I have one problem with it - whenever we feel low, is it part of a past memory partially re-emerging? Makes me wonder what I might have been in a former life.
Anyhow, I need to sleep now; am absolutely burned.
Posted by Chris Wood on from Manchester, England 12/18 at 04:56 PMI think, after visiting the link in post #65, that we should all call MZ “Poodle Precious.”
Posted by Mudge on from Dear, dead Austin 12/18 at 04:58 PMFlights of angels and all that, Chris. A demain.
Joe, have you read Brian Grene’s The Elegant Universe? String theory is so, well, beautifully proportioned for want of a better phrase that I adopted it on first hearing. (It doesn’t hurt that Brian Greene is way sexy, but it’s only icing, not cake.) I expect, though I have no evidence to support it, that physicist Greene would be unhappy at numinous uses of the “theory” he’s attempting to prove is scientific fact. Still, I reflect....
The idea that observation creates things makes perfect sense in a Hindu cosmogeny. This, the plane we live on, is a cosmic sleep-cycle, after all… the thousand years or whatever that each age lasts while the gods slumber are merely the punctuation marks in the consensual illusion we’re calling life.
This has been an unusually active day, huh?
Posted by Mudge on from Dear, dead Austin 12/18 at 05:10 PMYou’ve certainly been waxing philosophical today, Mr. Mudge, much to our delight.
I once read a fascinating book called “The Theory of Eternal Life,” by a guy named Rodney Collin. It was difficult to get ahold of...as he was out of the Gurdjieff-Ouspensky tradition.
He looked at “karma” and such, not as some weird celestial system of reward/punishment, but as natural cause-effect, action-reaction - - - spit into the wind, and your face gets covered with spit, your own.
He felt that, for example, true Nazi types might become so hard-hearted, so closed and brittle and rock-like in their sentiments, that the only “forms” possible for such beings, if they were to be “reincarnated,” would be as some type of rock or stone… and that millions of years of erosion would be necessary to loosen / relax / open them up again to the possibility of “life” as we know and understand it - as something fluid and flexible and, well - alive.
There was much more to his thesis, of course, but it fascinated me. He reviewed some Plato, in which the great philosopher pondered just such possibilities.Of course, I gave the book away decades ago, and now it’s but a vague memory, but such theories somehow resonate with my observations of life and living…
Posted by joe on from Oregon 12/18 at 05:25 PMMudge, missed your last post while gabbing, sorry.
Yes, this place is “hot,” today.
You know, the Advaitans say that this is all a dream.
I used to walk, most evenings, after taking a toke or two from the bowl. I’d wander and try to prove to myself that this was NOT a dream. I’m convinced that one can not disprove the dream theory. While one can’t prove that this IS a dream, one can also not prove that it is not…
After that, ones perceptions begin to change…Posted by joe on from Oregon 12/18 at 05:31 PMHi Joe,
Phillip Kapleau’s Three Pillars of Zen was one of those pivotal books in my life, precisely because he brought translations of some juicy texts that had never been made available to English-speaking readers (or practitioners) before. The orthodoxy, whether Zen, Tibetan (Mahayana) or Theravadan, routinely represses the truly empowering aspects of the teaching—and what I’m finding is, even in the original languages, the vast majority of monks are not familiar with 99% of the Buddha’s teachings (suttas/sutras). They specialize in one or two texts, if that, and leave the great bulk of the teachings unexamined. It’s like a preacher saying he’s a Christian after having only read Genesis and Revelations. The vast majority of monks don’t bother to meditate, and when they do, it’s mostly for show—so that retreatants see how holy the monks are, so that the donations keep flowing in. I attended a nine-day retreat with Bhante Gunaratana a couple years ago—Bhante G is like the Dalai Lama of Theravadan Buddhism—and there was a steady stream of monks descending on the meditation hall. I watched them fidgeting, getting up after a few minutes, scratching themselves, whispering amongst themselves like a bunch of junior high schoolers in the back row of a church service—the retreatants were far, far better contemplatives than any of the monks, save for Bhante G, who seemed horrified at the spectacle. It was like being backstage at a Rolling Stones concert—everyone wanted their pictures taken with him, so they could go home to their monastaries having been touched by greatness.
I feel fortunate to have found a teacher who is an iconoclast, who is more interested in getting it right than playing politics. Kapleau seems to have arrived at the same place, in a Zen context.
On another topic… while I no longer smoke pot, I did spend 18 years waking and baking, and I’m the last person in the world to say anything against it. Most of my friends partake. You make a great point, however, about what often happens when liquor enters the picture. The Powers That Be would much rather have us stinkin’ drunk, beating our children and going postal, rather than enjoying nature hikes high on herb, tuning and and dropping out of the consumerist meat grinder. They want us at our throats, blaming each other for our problems, rather than directing our collective anger at the ownership class vampires.
Posted by Hawk on from Boulder, CO 12/18 at 06:30 PMMudge, You say that 1965 was a weird year...you are so right. That was the year that I got married. I’ll never do that again!
Joe, that dream theory is something that I have thought about a lot. Maybe everything is just a dream and nothing is real.
“I think, therefore maybe I am, or maybe I am not.”
Captcha word reading my mind..."single"Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 12/18 at 06:37 PMSpringsteen once sang, “Man, the poets down here don’t write nothing at all/They just stand back and let it all be.” That’s sorta what I did today. Excellent posts all around...but Mudge was the maestro all weekend. Bravo, Mr. D.
As for the poodle page, well, I’d always imagined myself a more athletic and streamlined pooch but I did once have very curly hair...so a poodle it is.
1965? The year Michele was born
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 12/18 at 06:49 PMRMJ, once bitten, huh? 1965 was weird on so many levels. It was a pause between explosions. 1961’s Bay of Pigs. 1962’s Cuban Missile Crisis. 1963, well we needn’t go into htat. 1964, Goldwater! >eep< And then, absent Dominican invasions and Ia Drangian disasters, it seemed some good stuff was finally happening...the Great Society legislation that Kennedy’s foolishness prevented passing four years before, f/ex. A hopeful, indrawn breath...and then 1966 and Watts and so much more.
I’d hate to have to defend this thesis against a board, but I think I could develop it into something.
Joe ho ho! It’s all maya, never fear.
Hawk, booze or pot or what-have-you, just enough is tolerated so the elites still get what they want. Repugnant thought, isn’t it?
Ciao y’all, I’m off to watch Carol Burnett in Once Upon a Mattress, a show I did in high school and just loved. Silly and fun.
Posted by Mudge on from Dear, dead Austin 12/18 at 07:01 PMHi Rosemarie & Hawk -
Hawk,
I saw many very similar things in a Gurdjieff school. The folks who were most able to quite brilliantly talk the talk, rarely seemed interested in checking to see what their feet were doing… and trying to walk the walk became almost verboten.
I remember reading a little story about God and Satan watching some saint. God says: “Well, there you go… he’s got it. He’ll teach it, and you’re game is over, toasty.”
Satan says - “Oh, nothing of the sort. We’ll get him to systematize his knowledge. I’ll be busier than ever!”And yeah, in my experience, if you’re looking for trouble, all you need to do is sniff around for some beer - you’ll find all the trouble in the world, just waiting for you.
Alcohol is one of the most destructive substances on earth; its the plutonium of human ingestibles…
so, it’s ubiquitously available, and almost universally encouraged.Rosemarie -
I pondered the matter almost every evening for 10 years. It’s impossible to prove that this isn’t a dream. Of course, this would also be true in a “night-dream.” How to know, until one wakes up?
Oddly enough, this is the ( essential though generally overlooked ) aim of many religions and philosophies. Among those folks who appear to have awakened, the “dream theory” is generally regarded as fact.
My captcha word is “french.”
I’m going to be a patriot and type in: freedom
Here goes -Posted by joe on from Oregon 12/18 at 07:08 PMWell, I’m back at last - from a trip to Melbourne where I did some Christmas shopping and saw ‘Good Night, And Good Luck’ and ‘Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride’ - both great films well worth seeing!
LOVE that Santa dancing, Mickey! And the other graphics, texts, links, etc.
And hi to all you MZ’ers!
Now I’d better play catch-up .. (captcha: better)Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 12/18 at 07:08 PMMickey - sorry I missed you.
Got any pics of yourself from your “curley” era?Posted by joe on from Oregon 12/18 at 07:10 PMHelga!
Allow me to be the first to welcome you back.
Please give our best to the Mr., as well.
As always, you seem in good cheer, which is always delightful…
Welcome home.Posted by joe on from Oregon 12/18 at 07:13 PMOkay, I’ll be the second to welcome Helga home. Glad to hear you had a good trip. Would love to hear your thoughts on Good Night, and Good Luck.
Joe, I don’t have old photos in digital form. How would I do that? Have them scanned?
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 12/18 at 07:38 PMMickey, I have the same issue...photos that are not in digital form and no scanner. A friend solved his problem by taking photos with a digital camera of the photos he wants. I don’t know how well that works but I am thinking of trying it. Sorry to cut in, Joe....
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 12/18 at 07:46 PMThanks, RMJ. That means I have to get a digital camera, huh? I was just thinking about finally getting a DVD player...now a digital camera? Jeez, I’m become modern.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 12/18 at 07:50 PMHi guyz -
Rosemarie, you didn’t cut in…
I’m not sure what you’d do, though I’ll ask Suzanne, when she comes home. She WILL know.
However, if you know anyone with a digital camera, taking pics of your pics will probably work, and won’t cost the photographer anything…The digital pics are both “real” and “unreal,” there’s no film involved… Nor does it cost anything to download “images” from camera to computer. Once on the computer, they remain neither real nor unreal, so they can be sent or not, without costing anyone anything…
Neat, huh?Only film and printing costs anything…
PS - I’d go for the DVD player, my friend.
Just think of the images you can see…Posted by joe on from Oregon 12/18 at 08:23 PMHey, Mickey -
This will be the 85th post.
Are we nearing a record?Posted by joe on from Oregon 12/18 at 08:25 PMAs far as I know, Joe, the previous record was 82.
Captcha, however, is asking for “evidence.”
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 12/18 at 08:39 PMPlenty of time for 100, Joe!
The Expendables’ motto: POST EARLY, POST “OFTEN”.
Posted by Hawk on from Boulder, CO 12/18 at 08:39 PMLet’s not post…
Posted by joe on from Oregon 12/18 at 09:35 PM...just for the numbers…
Posted by joe on from Oregon 12/18 at 09:36 PM...I hate stuff like that.
Posted by joe on from Oregon 12/18 at 09:36 PMIt wouldn’t feel right if we contrived different “ways” to reach 99.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 12/18 at 09:41 PMDid I just say 99?
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 12/18 at 09:42 PMI meant 100.
Captcha sez: “numbers.”
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 12/18 at 09:43 PMSorry I thought I had something to say. Nevermind.
Posted by Cart on from near Warshington DC 12/18 at 09:49 PMNo problem, Cart. Maybe in a few minutes?
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 12/18 at 09:50 PMSure. I’ll probably think of something. I’ll keep you posted. Literally.
Posted by Cart on from near Warshington DC 12/18 at 09:53 PMOh, I’m out of ideas. I’ll soon give up hope of our ever reaching 100.
I’ll let you know…Posted by joe on from Oregon 12/18 at 09:59 PMIt’s 10:01 in Astoria. I guess I’ll sign off. Am I forgetting anything?
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 12/18 at 10:01 PMYou didn’t specifically say goodnight to Mudge.
Or to Rosemarie.
Or to James. ( Or Frank )
Or to Michael.
Or to Big Country… where IS Big Country.
Or to Owen.
Or to Hawk.
Or to Chris.
Or to Cart or…
well, you get the idea.
Please, be specific.Posted by joe on from Oregon 12/18 at 10:04 PMGood night, everyone.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 12/18 at 10:05 PM`nuff said.
G`night to you, too, Mickey Z.Posted by joe on from Oregon 12/18 at 10:08 PMMZ, post #81: Used scanner, Craig’s List. Solve your problems tout suite. And give you future flexibility. I have little faith in the new media remaining static long enough to make owning a digicam worth it.
Wow...over 100 posts. Coolness!
Glad to see you back, Helga! Good Night. And, Good Luck. is amazing, no? Haven’t seen anything that wonderful until Syriana. And, critics be horn-swoggled, I liked Jarhead.
Hi Cart!
Where’s Keir? Amelopsis? We know where Owen is, safe in the bosom of family. Big Country just doesn’t love us anymore.
Anyway, Once Upon A Mattress was fun. Deathless, no. Fun, yep. I felt like the young fag-about-town I was in 1977 as I watched it. What a fun image to fall asleep on! Signing off to eat Fritos and pimento cheese for an hour, then resume REM sleep, at 9:25pm CST.
Posted by Mudge on from Dear, dead Austin 12/18 at 10:23 PMI’d ask if anyone wants to go for 200, but I’m a boring early-crasher like Mickey and Mudge, and it wouldn’t be right to instigate a posting riot and not take part.
Pimento cheese, Mudge?
Mrs. Hawk and I are having Honey and Coriander ice cream, from a new place around the corner.
And it’s zero degrees outside.
Perfect....
Then, it’s off to “bed” (I swear that’s my captcha for this post).
Posted by Hawk on from Boulder, CO 12/18 at 10:55 PMHey everyone-- just felt like typing a bravo that won’t get read til later-- I’ve discussed it with Roddy, Frank’s older brother, and I can save the expense of a college education for the two of them, as he’s so impressed with the level of knowledge on the board here from people with such diverse, untraditional backgrounds.
I’ll be taking you up on your offer, Mudge.
Posted by James on from Hell's Kitchen 12/18 at 11:21 PMOne of my favorite essays:
“Where Fear Can’t Take Us” by Ira Chernus
He argues that we must not fall into the fear trap. We need to take risks, and use more imagination to make a better world. He writes:
“The best way to be secure is to imagine a genuine politics of hope. Imagine. Unfortunately, when John Lennon said, “It’s easy if you try,” he was quite wrong. After six decades of our national insecurity state, it’s incredibly hard. But it’s an effort that anti-Bush forces ought to make.”
Posted by Robert B. Livingston on from San Francisco 12/18 at 11:51 PM
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