Today in History:
Back in 1954, the U. S. Senate voted to condemn Senator Joe McCarthy (Republican from Wisconsin) for "conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute." In those days, the Senate had 96 members, and what strikes me about this is how was it that one addled Senator from the mid-west could drag 95 others into the morass that have become known as the McCarthy Years. Maybe there are lessons here that could be applied to the current state of the federal government.
"Those who refuse to learn the lessons of history will fail the upcoming test." — Anon.
Iran and the Bomb:
While the world sweats out Iran's threats to build a nuclear bomb, the Pentagon breathed a sigh of relief recently. It was thought that the plutonium in many of the U. S.'s bombs might have deteriorated to the point that they would be rendered less than ideally devastating and that they would need to be replaced so that the U. S. could continue to destroy all life on earth ten times over.
Fortunately for Dr. Strangelove and company, the plutonium appears to be just about as deadly as it was a few decades ago. This means that the defense industry can continue to spend taxpayer money on high tech toys of dubious capabilities, rather than retooling failsafe. Thank goodness for extensive half-life.
Gasoline Prices Creeping Up, Wal-Mart Sales Down:
So have you noticed the creep in gas prices? Locally, we've seen an increase of 16 cents per gallon. Care to make a guess at the price by July? We're thinking $3 per gallon is highly likely. In the meantime all sorts of excuses have been made about Wal-Mart's shortfall during Black Friday.
Education:
Today's New York Times has an editorial entitled "Kafka and Katrina," criticizing the administration's mishandling the rescue and rebuilding attempts in New Orleans and the rest of the gulf coast. So why am I bringing this up under the heading of "Education"? Because there isn't one out of a thousand high school graduates who have the slightest idea who Kafka is. For that matter, I'd hazard to say not one out of thousand college graduates know who Kafka is.
Back in 1954, the U. S. Senate voted to condemn Senator Joe McCarthy (Republican from Wisconsin) for "conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute." In those days, the Senate had 96 members, and what strikes me about this is how was it that one addled Senator from the mid-west could drag 95 others into the morass that have become known as the McCarthy Years. Maybe there are lessons here that could be applied to the current state of the federal government.
"Those who refuse to learn the lessons of history will fail the upcoming test." — Anon.
Iran and the Bomb:
While the world sweats out Iran's threats to build a nuclear bomb, the Pentagon breathed a sigh of relief recently. It was thought that the plutonium in many of the U. S.'s bombs might have deteriorated to the point that they would be rendered less than ideally devastating and that they would need to be replaced so that the U. S. could continue to destroy all life on earth ten times over.
Fortunately for Dr. Strangelove and company, the plutonium appears to be just about as deadly as it was a few decades ago. This means that the defense industry can continue to spend taxpayer money on high tech toys of dubious capabilities, rather than retooling failsafe. Thank goodness for extensive half-life.
Gasoline Prices Creeping Up, Wal-Mart Sales Down:
So have you noticed the creep in gas prices? Locally, we've seen an increase of 16 cents per gallon. Care to make a guess at the price by July? We're thinking $3 per gallon is highly likely. In the meantime all sorts of excuses have been made about Wal-Mart's shortfall during Black Friday.
Education:
Today's New York Times has an editorial entitled "Kafka and Katrina," criticizing the administration's mishandling the rescue and rebuilding attempts in New Orleans and the rest of the gulf coast. So why am I bringing this up under the heading of "Education"? Because there isn't one out of a thousand high school graduates who have the slightest idea who Kafka is. For that matter, I'd hazard to say not one out of thousand college graduates know who Kafka is.
posted by Jim | 12:12 PM
1 Comments:
Re: Wal-Mart, check out James Kunstler's comments over at www.kunstler.com
You'll have to scroll through his archives a bit, but not too far to find pointed commentary about the vaunted warehouse on wheels. I say again, Mall-Wart is doomed, primarily because it is a manifestation of Americans' love affair with the private automobile -- an affair that's doomed. There is no chocolate nougat of oil deep within the Earth. Why is this so damn hard for gullible Americans to fathom? Wait, I just answered my own question.
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