Government and Politics

If you want to learn something crucial about how politics and government work, simply try to find out why the flat tax cannot and never will be implemented.  

New Google Chrome saves the day

Testing. This is just a test. My old browser could not get me in so I tried Google Chrome and it seems to be working. We can write and edit again. Yipee!!!! I can even upload pictures like I used to. I need to celebrate but, unfortunately, I am out of beer and I have no wine nor wine coolers. I have no Scotch nor Tequila either. I should not have had that last beer at lunch. No problem. I can celebrate tomorrow. I might even just have a candied apple. Why not. There's more than one way to celebrate Google Chrome and its ability to rescue a floundering blogger.  By the way, that picture is supposed to be two trees being beat up by a hurricane. The original is much larger. I hope I don't experience any more blogger problems. 

Frank Lloyd Wright

"Bureaucrats: they are dead at 30 and buried at 60. They are like custard pies; you can't nail them to a wall."  This was said by architect Frank Lloyd Wright.  I wholeheartedly agree.

Whitney Houston and Stress

Whitney Houston, the singer, is dead. She died at a rather young age - she was only 48. The regular papers all say she abused drugs, alcohol, and tobacco. Perhaps she did. I wasn't there to witness any of it. They are saying her death was related to her deteriorating health. That is, of course, stating the obvious. Houston actually died of stress - stress on her body and mental condition due to pressures from career issues. 99% of people do not realize that artists lead difficult lives in private. The distance between the public and the private person is very great. Bridging that distance is hard. Keeping up appearances is tough. Being creative is demanding. Staying in top form is difficult. Fame and skill do not last forever. Artists are people who need lots and lots of moral support. When it does not come, they turn to whatever means are available to hide the fact that things are not quite what they should be. Unfortunately, money does not solve the problem. Fortunate is the artist who does not pay some heavy personal price for their success. The torture is sometimes unbearable but most times, it is self-inflicted. What Houston needed most was simply to just have a good time - just like she used to.

Charles Baudelaire

"Everything that is beautiful and noble is the product of reason and calculation." This is according to Charles Baudelaire, French poet. It makes sense to me. I know women are beautiful so Whoever made them must have put a lot of thought into it. If women were not so beautiful, advertising men would not use them to sell everything from alcohol to bank accounts to diamonds to shampoo to tires to magazines to vacuum cleaners.

Chickens and eggs

Think about this: Someone plants some seeds that yield plants that yield grain. The grain is fed to some chickens. The chickens lay eggs and have little chicks. Someone eats the eggs and a few of the chickens when they grow up and become plump and edible. Chickens are domestic animals, good for food. Many different dishes can be prepared from chicken meat - some more fancy than others. The chicken is not in control. Someone is in control. Yet, nobody told the seed how to sprout or how to grow - all it needed was soil and water - but someone had to plant it. Nobody had to teach the chicken to eat grain or how to lay eggs but someone had to gather the grain and give it to the chicken. Millions of people believe in the fairy tale known as evolution. The fairy tale says that fish turned into frogs then into birds then into pigs and roosters and chickens and horses and monkeys and lions and tigers and bears and finally into humans. The fairy tale says that one plant magically turned into trees that yield apples, and oranges, and avocados, and mangoes, and coconuts, and bananas, and pears, and peaches, and figs, and nuts; and stalks that yield tomatos, and corn, and rice, and wheat, and beans, and chili peppers, and sugar cane, and barley, and peanuts, and oats; and vines that yield grapes. We know how to turn good grapes into good wine. How odd.

Joe Paterno and stress

Many years ago, a candidate for president of Mexico, Donaldo Colosio, was assassinated. His widow died a year later. It was tragic because both of them were in their prime. Later, the guy who used to play Superman, Christopher Reeve, died after battling paralysis for years. His widow died a year later. She was in her prime. Now, Joe Paterno is ill. People say it is as a result of stress induced by the investigation into his handling of the Sandusky child abuse case. That is probably true. Stress and worry and depression kill people. Avoid them like the plague.

P.S. Five minutes after I posted this, Paterno died. Sad but true. He was the fall guy for others who should have reported what they knew. He trusted their judgment and they let him down.