Cadillacs and Communists

So GM is providing complimentary Escalades for cast & crew to drive around China on their location shots in making a laudatory film about founding of the Chinese Communist Party...

This is yet another example of why I think anybody in 2011 who is taking LSD is pretty much wasting their money.

I can't even figure out all the ways this story looks like a Picasso painting.

'Cadillac' is firmly placed in American vocabulary as meaning 'top of the line.'
More than that, it's sort of a symbol of 20th century American striving for upward
mobility.

I've never read 'Das Kapital' because I'm waiting for the movie to come out, however?
Kinda presume there's no 'striving for upward mobility' in Marxism.

Yet people are riding around in Escalades making a propaganda film about the founding of Chinese Communism. Am sure the film makers have some way to rationalize that.

And GM is providing the Escalades to stay cozy with the thugocrat regime. More Cadillacs are sold in China currently than are sold in the US. Got to make a buck after all, right? Well in this case, a Yuan I guess.

Now a funny thing about this? US taxpayers currently own 1/3 of General Motors. So the government could order GM not to cooperate in a film about how Mao was totally groovy. But that would kinda be Marxist, telling a mostly private biz how to conduct its affairs.

Yet there are people saying the US government should wield semi-Marxist control over GM to keep them out of this propaganda film deal. So I guess that means you have to act like a Marxist, else you're helping the Marxists.

Yep, anybody taking LSD in 2011 is wasting their money.

Navy SEALs Don't Squeal

Now how did that get out? And should I take it as having happened with some policy purpose in mind, or just juicy pseudo-gossip from people who should've known better?

This whole thing about they found porn at Bin Laden's house I mean...

What to type about first David? America's romance with elite military units, or the importance of keeping secrets, or the seeming stupidity of announcing to the world that porn was found at Bin Laden's house? Hmmm... hang on, I'm sensing the embryonic swirling mists of a semi-coherent narrative...

OK, I'm fairly sure that America first became enamored with uber-warriors during WW2.
There were the Marines slugging it out with the Japs on islands with funny names, and it sort of entered our collective consciousness about then, that ALL our fighting men were brave, handsome and above average, but those Marines were just badass badasses.

I'm not sure why as the decades rolled, smaller groups of warriors seemed to capture the pop culture imagination. There were the Green Berets in Vietnam. And there was Delta Force some in the 1980's. Not sure if we spent much time with the Army Rangers, but am pretty sure they got some attention along the way. Now it's Navy SEALs, the American ninjas!

Maybe our fascination with smaller units of uber-warriors stems from our fighting smaller wars after WW2... not really sure.

But I am pretty darned sure? It wasn't some Navy SEAL twittering to his girlfriend that announced to the world Bin Laden had porn. Those kinds of soldiers don't do stuff like that. They take themselves VERY seriously, and loose talk would be unprofessional in their world.

To them keeping secrets safe is part of the mystique of an organization to which they've devoted a big chunk of their lives. In government though, keeping secrets is an important part of doing biz. You never let anything out without a purpose.

What purpose is served by telling the world that Bin Laden had porn? The whole funeral at sea gag, I get that. Splendid idea really. Arabic culture loves shrines.

But I can only conclude allowing gossip on his DVD collection is amatuerish. For part of the Arab world, Bin Laden is their Pancho Villa or Robin Hood. They're not going to believe Bin Laden had "Confessions of a Naughty Cable guy" and it must look to them like an attempt to besmirch the memory of a slain General.

So much for 'winning hearts & minds' I suppose...

The Behinder I Get

Well the days just didn't grow legs and walk off, did they David? They must be around here somewhere!

Eh, feeling way around new job. Particularly active tornado season this year. Young woman seems to have disappeared into thin air about 20 miles east. All that kind of stuff can make a person trend reflective.

I gotta watch out for that crap! I don't want to become a deep, soulful person who speaks in hushed tones about the infinite. Nobody has much use for such people.

Like Socrates for example? I don't think he was ordered to drink hemlock because he was seen as undermining authority. Naw, probably not that at all! Mostly, just got to the point where he was annoying. So I don't want to be like Socrates.

The factory Food drive finishes up next week. I wouldn't call it a spectacular success in human terms. I sure don't think the local food bank will need its shelves reinforced due to our contribution.

But next year we do better.

I Heart Heart

Some people might think being an intellectual requires me to be rather parsimonious in my praise for 'common' things, and reflexively dismissive of anything 'pop culture.'

It's not that way at all though. For example, while I will always dearly love the Marx Brothers, I sure do admire much of the 3 Stooges' work. Except for Shemp; he's just creepy.

My opinion, if one is stuck with being an 'intellectual' it should be defined as an expanded range of things to delight in, versus some snooty isolationist perspective.

Like that with music too. I really like Jim White, Tom Waits and 16 Horsepower. I realize that puts me in a minority. The mature view is to neither revel in the obscurity of things I appreciate, nor judge unfairly work with far wider appeal.
So I like Heart. I really really like Heart. But just the first 2 albums. The rest of their body of work is fairly pedestrian.

But 'Dreamboat Annie' and 'Little Queen' is some amazing stuff. Totally different than anything on the radio at the time. I'm listening to it right now. There's a defiant confidence in the music, quite rare for newbies. I'd say 'Dreamboat' is right up there with best 1st efforts in history of rock & roll; quite comparable to Lynrd Skynrd's first actually.

So I enjoy stuff other people like, OK? I just happen to like some weird stuff too.

Guess that applies to Tennessee as well. I enjoy looking at mountains in the morning. My favorite kind of mountains to look at are the killers who silently wait for unprepared fools. That's what I like to look at in the morning.

Instead, this morning I sipped coffee on my deck and looked down from my hilltop perch at the trees and rooftops of hillbilly land. There's a lot here to appreciate too though.

Never have felt myself a native of this land; more like some karmic diplomatic hostage, held with widely varying levels of courtesy at times, for the safekeeping of others. I really have no idea how it feels to be a native here, only that it must have its benefits.

Nor can I really understand how it feels to be a tourist here, only that it can be a really interesting place for tourists, with a knowledgeable guide.

So I'm going to gas up Mustang Lucy, and take my tourist son for a long ride.
"Heading out this morning into the sun"...

Well actually it's overcast. You ever try to find a song lyric that rhymes with 'overcast'? It's not easy, I'll promise ya that.

Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk...

Not Mad 4 March Madness

This is one of those times of the year when I know more than usual, I ain't exactly mainstream.

Not that reminders of that are in short supply any time of the year, but this is when everybody is talking 'Sweet 16' and 'final 4' and of course, their 'brackets.'

Well. Am I disparaging of President Obama because he announced his 'brackets' with much fanfare? Naw, not really. I have plenty other reasons to be disparaging of him.
But realistically, he has to stay tight with a public image much of his base relates to, that's all.

It is kinda scary to me that a US President might be spending more time thinking about college basketball than events in Japan, but hey? His supporters will tend to think their man is SO super freakin' awesome cool, he can think about Japan AND college basketball with no deletirious effects to either project.

Hmmm, what was I gonna type about... oh yeah! This whole NOT being in the mainstream thing!!!

Well it's certainly there all the time, and VERY noticeable when I walk in on heated discussions of whether UTEP can beat Rutgers, but I guess I don't mind it that much.

My thinking, everybody has three names. You have the name God gave you, the name this world will give you, and the name you make up for yourself in response to the world.

If I tried to give myself a name that rhymes with 'digs college basketball' I'd be dishonest.

Best I can tell, my God given name just has a lot to do with knowing obscure things that delight and inspire me.

College basketball just doesn't interest me, and I don't care whether it consumes every other brain on the planet. I'd rather spend my idle hours pondering on Dr. Willem Kolff, Virginia Hall, or Minnie Vautrin.

And sure, I spend a good bit of time thinking about suicidal grasshoppers, termite symbiosis and bird migration too.

And on people, I often find myself considering people with legacies far harder to sort out, like Albert Speer or Robert Oppenheimer.

But I don't think much about college basketball. Apparently, not the sort of work God designed me for. Hey, little known fact from the history of great spies?

Virginia Hall had a killer jumpshot. Imagine that, and her with a wooden leg too!

Well... I've never read any scholarship that proved she DIDN'T have a killer jumpshot, OK?

Idiot Killers get Caught

Well it's going to take a lot of self-discipline to keep this thing going apparently.
Most people don't like being disciplined. There is however a certain percentage of
the population...

Some guy in a ritzy Memphis suburb is in legal trouble for running an S&M B&B.
Now personally, I'm a very open minded person, and it's none of my biz what two
or more consenting adults do behind closed doors. It would be however, the city of Memphis' biz, if it's your biz to profit by facilitating said conduct.

Me personally, I have only two issues with an S&M B&B. First, I think that's too many ampersands. Second, what do they serve for breakfast?

Bigger legal issues, pain not as form of foreplay, wanton idiocy wreaking havoc on
strangers who have no 'safe' word is more on my mind right now though.

I've never been in prison, except to visit people. (I have LOADS of interesting friends & relatives)So maybe I've no right to judge those who escape from prison
when they have maybe only two years left on their sentence.

I suppose it's bad being in prison. There aren't any girls in there, at least not any
'original equipment' females, and the food is bad. Wardrobe choices are very limited, and I for one do like to dress stylishly.

These two fellows who escaped a Louisiana jail and were finally caught today in Memphis, they killed a guy in Mississippi. They're headed straight to Death Row.

Who did they think they were I wonder. They killed somebody's husband, a father of four, for a vehicle. The sovereign state of Mississippi is going to exact vengeance
for the widow and the orphans. There won't be any breakfast for those two idiots, one of these mornings.

Times like these of course, it's not popular being a death penalty opponent. I'm judicious in my comments as nice people talk of their very justified blood lust.
I don't say much of anything at all really. The most I ever say is, "It won't bring back the dead."

About Grenades

Well, is that the actual speeling? They could be 'Gernades' and would be just fine with me.

So I'm watching episode V of 'Great Alaskan Mystery' and our hero just tossed a Grrrnade at the bad guys. Our hero is played by Milburn Stone, Doc from the 'Gunsmoke' TV show. In this Great Alaskan Mystery of course, he's somewhat younger.

I just can't figger how he came by the Grrrnade though. In the plot, he's a former Marine pilot who is now civilian due to war wounds. Guadalcanal has been referenced several times, but we're not told the nature of our hero's wounds. So far though? I think the Japs shot him in the personality.

WHERE did he get the Grrrnade from? If they gave those things out as parting gifts to discharged WW2 pilots, I've sure never read anything about it.

Let's just assume he's a sloppy packer. Probably has a loaded Bazooka mixed in with his dirty underwear too.

But WHY do American soldiers bite Grrrnades? They do it every time. Yep, they bite the pin off the Grrrnade before throwing it. As a kid in California, bet I watched "Combat!" every week, starring Vic Morrow. On that show, American soldiers invariably bit the pin off Grrrnades before throwing them.

The German soldiers never bit their Grrrnades, not as I recall. Now, German grrrnades didn't have that metallic pineapple look that our anti-personnel devices did. German grrrnades looked like an oil filter with a stick stuck in it.

On the surface of it, that would seem humiliating. The Germans invented a 'no-bite' grrrnade, since they were the master race and all. Here's what I think...

The Nazi war machine HAD to invent a 'no-bite' grrrnade because all their soldiers had bad teeth. This project of course diverted their best Scientific minds for quite some time, which is why we got the A-bomb before the Krauts did.

WOW! The toothbrush is real reason us good guys won WW2? And all this time I thought it was because John Wayne was on our side...