It's that time of the our lives again...

As the title says it all, it is that time of year again.

That time when Political speeches are made, many words are spoken, and truly, little of substance is said.

If, however, one is to actually pay attention to what is said by these Armani’s suited warriors of the belt-way carefully parse their words, one will hear what the each individual is saying...

for example...

Newt "not Romney" Gingrich: "Repeal Obamacare and pass a replacement that saves lives and money by empowering patients and doctors, not bureaucrats and politicians."

Now, does our dear Newt tell us what he will replace it with? Nope, he doesn't, but I bet if we look at his contributors we'd get a better idea of what type of "replacement" dear Newt baby is going to bring about...bon appetit!

Rick "Not Romney" Perry: "...get government out of the way so we can get America working again. By cutting taxes, repealing regulations, balancing our budget and expanding domestic energy production America can create millions of new jobs. Perry not only espouses conservative economic ideas – he has put them to work in his home state, where nearly 40% of America’s net new jobs have been created since June 2009."

Now, I'm pretty sure we've been down this road before, but the way this other "not Romney" Republican Candidate talks makes me wonder if Texas isn't the next Shangri-la...however, like Shangri la, alas, Texas isn't all that and buttered toast...in fact, it seems Mr. Perry has the same speech problem that the other former Governor of Texas had...a problem with facts...er, sorry, misspeaking.

"Democratic House member Lloyd Doggett said Perry's job claims don't tell the whole story. "Twenty-five states have lower unemployment than Texas," Doggett said, adding that Texas is "tied with Mississippi for more minimum-wage jobs than anywhere in the United States." We checked the numbers and found Doggett was right; we rated his statement True."

A pity that Ms. Bachmann bailed before I could assemble this list as she would have provided a comedic relief, alas, we press on.

Rick "Not Romney" San...oh, god, really, I can complete his last name...the imagery associated with it...come on sheer, man up...okay, here it goes...Santorum (Oh, god, I think threw up in my mouth): Okay, so, here is his site of issues, and as you peruse this I think you'll see that he is the poster boy with the unfortunate association with what is coined as "A loving act between two people" which is a polite way of saying that, like this man, it is a good idea not to go any further as you may discover things that later you will say to friends and families, "I miss my innocence."

However, since I'm jerk, I'll dive headlong into this mess and "translate" for you, my friends, what exactly he is saying...

"Defending the Dignity of Every Human Life" which is the buzzword for "I'm against everyone else having an abortion except for the privileged few like myself."

"Appointing Constitutionalist Justices and Judges Who Refuse to Legislate from the Bench" which is his way of saying, "I'm liking that Executive Privilege that W. and Obama are setting themselves up with, and I would like to expand on."

"Restoring America's Greatness Through Educational Freedom And Opportunity" is a not so clever way of saying, "I hate public edumication because it teaches our young people how to think for themselves, and we all know that American Greatness doesn't come through thinking for yourself, it comes through obeying those who are telling you what to do."

"Blah, blah" followed by, "Blah, blah, blaaaah, blah blah."

"Herpy derpity derp" which then is explained with, "Derp, burka, derp derp."

"Made In America" is a shorthand version of "Our workers here in the US are making way to much money, and in order to be competitive we need to lower those wages down to something below what their making in those washed out villages along Mumbai."

"Iran" translated is, "Oh how I really, really want to bomb Iran into the stone-age...oh...oh...oh...oh yeah...I need a towel."

"Executive Branch Actions" is another way of saying, "did I mention I totally dig Executive Privilege?"

Ad nauseum.


Anyway, I would go on, but with the loss of Michele Bachmann I've seem to have just laugh my last laugh...now, I just cry because here it is in a nutshell.

Ron Paul, back in the 80's, and 90's was a crack-pot Right Wing looney toon who no one in their right mind took seriously except for a few groups in Idaho, and maybe down south.
Now, that Ron Paul is an actual contender, and that he is actually main stream, EVEN THOUGH HE HAS NOT CHANGED HIS POLITICAL POSITION IN THE PAST THIRTY YEARS!!! tells me how far down the hole of insanity the Republican Party has crawled too...and that the other Republican Candidates actually make him look like the only sane one in the group is, in my opinion, not only disturbing, down right frightening.

And that is the take home message I think we're all stuck with here...the Republican line up has gone full on, batshit insane, and Obama with his "Who you gonna vote for, that, or me?" leaves us with the old adage of "Do we stick with the devil we know, or the devil we don't know?"

Caught between the devil and the deep blue sea...if I only we had that choice as an option.

My predictions for 2012 . . . an open thread

Why doesn't some one else go first . . . ?

It would be nice to hear from all the barkeeps and regulars, as well as any guest wishing to comment . . .

I'll chime in at an appropriate time. I'm cautiously optimistic for the longer run, fear the immediate could turn somehow possibly desperate. Difficult to say where the fear comes from.

Difficult to say how the locals would react.

How far does theory actually lag behind praxis . . . ? I'd hope for a quiet year, a time of mending, but I somehow don't think it's going to work out that way.

Guten Rutsch! Happy New Year! Boas Entradas!

Wish all the best for 2012! Let it be a boring, uneventful year . . . and for a bit of mood music, why not Max Raabe?

--

So far so good, and as Al's mentioned we'll be the recon element for the flow of events . . . being as we are a few hours ahead. Watched the New Years concert from Vienna on TV which has been a family tradition since we lived in Berlin, back in the bad ole days. It always ends with the Radetsky March . . .

Dead Time

There's something about watching a soil sample rebound from consolidation that encourages reflection.

Boredom, perhaps?

This week between Christmas and the New Year has always seemed like an odd sort of interval of no-time to me ever since my Army Days. Back in the Eighties, at any rate, this week was usually a period of massive "ghosting"; we'd fall in for a ridiculously abbreviated morning PT - often distinguished by pure fun-PT like basketball, dodgeball, or the usual exercises but led by the junior privates for the entertainment and mirth of all involved - and then go hang around the aid station for the morning, clean already-clean weapons, dick off doing small PM chores in the motor hole, or find reasons to go "inventory our TA-50" which always seemed to entail fiddling with the field gear in our racks with our boots off while watching He-Man cartoons.

After midday chow even this pretense of military activity ceased, and we would spend the rest of the afternoon just goofing off; hanging out in the chow hall, or at the gym, visit our married pals at their quarters, watch bowl games in the dayroom or just chill in the barracks with our friends.

I remember one particular mid-week afternoon that turned into a "Faces of Death" marathon from noon until well into the following morning.

Remember those videos?

In the pre-cable era I recall that the "Faces of Death" videos were considered shocking evidence of the decline of Western Civilization; amateur (or professional outtake) films of people getting waxed in various either horrible, or comical (or both) ways. Hangings, electrocutions, falls, plus all the usual gawdawful atrocities humans have always managed to figure out how to perpetrate on each other...packaged in a tidy ninety-minute VHS tape perfect for bored-GI entertainment. But the usual finger-waggers and professional morals nannies considered them the nadir of human morality and signs that Western civilization was headed for the depravity of Rome and Babylon.

How innocent were we..?

Anyway, this week was also the time when young troops would get involved in all sorts of insane horseplay; it was this time in 1986 when Private Black pioneered "drainsurfing" during an unexpectedly-intense dry season downpour and ended up in the swamps behind Venado Beach. Given Blackie's penchant for bizarre nonsense I'd have to say that this was fairly subdued for him; nothing was set afire, nobody but him ended up naked, and there were no arrests. This week was for "Jackass"-grade stunts before there was a "Jackass".

Today I'm a sedate middle-aged, middle-class father and husband and the notion of jumping in a raging drainage ditch with a foam sleeping pad wouldn't occur to me any more than running for mayor of Portland. But this week, this dead-week between the two holidays, still retains an odd sort of surreality for me.

It has always seemed to me that the old year really dies with the solstice and the Jesus-come-lately graft of religio-commercial holiday glitter we've pasted to it. The silly alcohol-fueled celebration of the New Year a week later marks the beginning of another year's journey around the sun.

But for now we wait, idly diverting ourselves with desultory work and the bright nonsense of our new toys, through the short, dark week as the earth spins through the no-time that spans the end of the old year and the beginning of the new.

And, perhaps, take some time to reflect on where we've been. And wonder where we're going.

All the Troubles in the World

...are listed here - the source of the graphic below:I find it interesting to note that some of what we think as truly appalling human conditions - chattel slavery, for example - last for years, decades, even centuries...and yet take a relatively small toll in human lives compared to, say, World War 2, which many of us still consider a Good War and one of the United States' "great adventures".

Which, I think, points up the caution needed in placing a price on horror in death alone. Slavery has always been considered one of the truly heinous human acts because of the wealth of misery it contains. There are, indeed, "fates worse than death" and few of them are remitted the slave.

What I do find interesting to note is the apparent increase in horror over the past hundred years or so. But then you stop for a moment and think of the centuries of human atrocity that have simply disappeared into the memory hole. Rome alone fought nearly constantly during her Republican and Imperial periods - Plutarch says

"[Janus] also has a temple at Rome with double doors, which they call the gates of war; for the temple always stands open in time of war, but is closed when peace has come. The latter was a difficult matter, and it rarely happened, since the realm was always engaged in some war, as its increasing size brought it into collision with the barbarous nations which encompassed it round about. But in the time of Augustus it was closed, after he had overthrown Mark Antony; and before that, when Marcus Atilius and Titus Manlius were consuls, it was closed a short time..."

I wonder; what will some future Plutarch write about our own country in our own time?

Best to all

Battles Long Ago: First Stronghold 1873

Over at GFT: the first major engagement of the Modoc War, 1873.The red-hot rampage of War in the Lava Beds - now for your holiday reading pleasure!