Several days ago I removed Petra Liverani from the moderation list, and told her she was free to come and go here as she pleased. I told her the real reason I banned her was that she was ignoring the host of the blog, not a good idea. I also told her that I knew of the pain, humiliation and anger that goes along with banning, and that it would not happen again.

I thought that I should also publicly apologize to her, as she did nothing to deserve such treatment. She was being herself. And I do apologize to her now, in front of everyone.

Let this be a warning to all of you! The host of this blog can behave badly, but usually comes around.

Dave Klausler, author of this piece, says it may not be for everyone. I read it, found it delightful and insightful, and cannot imagine anyone on this blog would take offense at an occasional f-bomb. It’s about a movie, The Outlaw Josie Wales, and I am scratching my head now wondering if I ever saw it. It came out in 1976, and our first born was either coming or had arrived, and while the kids were young, I just didn’t go to movies. I missed most of the big ones, Star Wars, ET, Rocky. I did take my two daughters to see Gremlins in 1984 while on Long Island (anything to get away from family), and had to pull the youngest one out from under her seat as we left early. This was the movie that inspired the “PG” rating.

Anyway, an enjoyable piece from DSK, the Old Badger. (Tyrone, if you read this, I’d like to hear your take on The Outlaw Josie Wales.)

Continue reading “Whipped ‘Em Again, Josie” →

I have trouble imagining myself as a Democrat, but I was one in the early-to middle 1990s. In my defense, I found them, by and large, to be a reprehensible lot. I am speaking here of the leadership of the Montana Democratic Party at that time. The leader of the party was Senator Max Baucus, as thoroughly dislikable as any politician I have ever known or followed, and I include Al Gore in that sentiment. I have worse things to say about the stuttering galoot, but I’ll stop there.

In my defense, as Monty Python might say, I got better. I quit the party, but I did not bounce to the Republican half of our one-party system. I came to realize that each party has a role to play, working together to prevent the rise of a true second party. The idea that we must be one or the other, or that behind closed doors there is true disagreement between them, is in my view absurd. Both parties work in conjunction to contain us, to keep us from moving out and forming movements that might threaten them. True, when elections are underway, there is intense bickering. But when it is over, they settle in and nothing changes, ever.

I do not vote, ever. I am told I have to vote to have a voice, but learned many years ago (the 2000s) that elections are stage-managed affairs, and that votes, the further up the power structure one goes, are not even counted.

Continue reading “Rep Cori Bush, radical cancelist” →

No, not really. Honestly, if we did not have a Petra, I would have to hire one, as she kept it lively. Unfortunately, the blog does not have a large enough budget to pay her or to hire someone like her.

Jackie Barlow put up a comment linking us to a treasure trove of information called Apollo Reality: How, and where, NASA faked the lunar landing, and lunar lift off.` I think I have seen this before, or at least knew of it. It involves a great deal of reading, and for me, wonderment at how they managed to get hold of so many incriminating photos and videos. I am thinking, once again, limited hangout.

Continue reading “Oh no, not another Moon post!” →

William of Ockham, a 14th century philosopher, is credited with his “razor,” that “entities must not be multiplied beyond necessity,” often interpreted to mean that the simplest explanation usually leads us closest to truth.

It is a tool, nothing more, and like any tool, the craftperson holding it is more important than the tool itself. You can give me a pallet and oil paints and brushes, but I assure you the end product will not be a Mona Lisa, but rather more like a Jackson Pollack. Onlookers to Pollack’s work, seen at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, are encouraged to look at the painting below and marvel at its beauty. 

Continue reading “Occam’s razor, and other matters” →

Anna Karenina

‘I shall get angry with Ivan the coachman in the same way, shall dispute in the same way, shall inopportunely express my thoughts; there will still be a wall between my soul’s holy of holies and other people; even my wife I shall blame for my own fears and shall repent it. My reason will still not understand why I pray, but I shall pray, and my life, my whole life, independently of anything that may happen to me, is every moment of it no longer meaningless as it was before but has an unquestionable meaning of goodness with which I have the power to invest it.’

I decided going into ankle surgery and a period of disability that I would attempt to read what is considered one of the greatest works of fiction of all time, Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy. How would I know if it is the greatest? I cannot know any such thing, as I have not read enough of the classics. I should have more periods of disability, as a friend of ours in Bozeman, a wonderfully serene man and a Jewish physician, not only read Don Quixote, but when we knew him, was rereading it. There is something there. We have a copy upstairs, and I am tempted to give it a go.

Continue reading “Book talk” →