War

If you were born around 1939, say, before or even a little after, you’re probably a little sick and tired by now of war. The history, the mystique, the drama and adventure of it, the noble sacrifices, the stories, the books, the movies, and now Ken Burns’s latest epic, “The War.” How many times can you go through it? And then all of the fruitless and phony wars we’ve waged since then, culminating today in Bush’s pathetic mercenary debacle in Iraq.

For many of us, by now it’s been a lifetime of American wars, starting with that noble and apparently necessary world war and continuing in a depressing and ignominious downward spiral of misadventures, one after another for nearly 70 years, so that by now this recollection of “The War” turns your stomach. Each one of our wars since then has gradually eaten away and eventually despoiled the probity of that victory over organized international military aggression. By now you may be wondering was it all worth it. What were we fighting for back then? For this bullshit we’re living with today? Is that what we’re left with now, after all that, mindless idiots playing soldier and declaring victory only to crash and burn, with us aboard?

Ken Burns wasn’t even alive back then, during the war he is documenting today, so he can’t possibly remember it as so many others of us do, as children with fathers and older brothers actually over there, while we watched and waited. Hopefully, though, “The War” will inform another younger generation that war is not a game to be played haphazardly by fools, as seems to be the case today. That’s the real tragedy our children and their children now confront, whether they know it or not. As Elaine (in "Seinfeld") once attributed to Tolstoy, “War, what is it good for? Ab-so-lutely nuttin’.”

Balance

Life is an endless balancing act, even for the president. He came into office all cocky and self-assured, the winner, elected to save America from itself and the slothful Democrats. Or was it to take over the realm and man the helm for the rich and powerful? In any case, here he is six years later, inevitably a victim of his own hubris and ignorance, hovering over a precipice of utter failure and self doubt, not to mention slothful Republicans and egregious perversions of his own constituencies.

Sting

Law enforcement, not to mention laws, are totally out of whack in this country -- not only fairy tail stings in airports (as in footsie tootsie in the stalls), but enumerable other restrictions on personal behavior that no law or law enforcement officer should be regulating. Seat belts, for example. What's next, shoelaces? No smoking in bars is another non sequitur. Come on, that's like dip with no chips. Second-hand smoke, you say, but what about farts, bad breath, and body odor, including perfume? And how about pot, a plant? Liquor is legal, yet pot is not? How's that for hypocrisy? Or just plain inane. What is it with this namby-pamby nanny mentality that's sucking all the free will, freedom of choice, and common sense out of our lives? It's enough to drive any sane man around the bend.

Privatize

Privatization. That's the dirty little concept that is bankrupting the middle class. Privatizing and corporatizing federal functions feeds the oligarchy and inflates the cost of essential services such as health care and higher education, not to mention food, fuel, trains, planes, and infrastructure. The justification for this is "the profit motive," and it's supposed to be good for you, you know, like chicken soup. In reality, the rich get richer, those pork-fed captains of industry, and everyone else is in debt to them up to their eyeballs. If you are not in debt to any of them, let us know what rock you are living on -- or under.