Sighting In on the NRA

FORTY YEARS AGO the National Rifle Association had about a million member, one of whom was a good friend of mine. he assured me that he would be quite in favor of gun control, but that it was too late; the cow was out of the barn, the guns were already long since in the hands of millions of Americans devoted to their second amendment rights, scattered all over kingdom come, and that therefore trying to institute new stringent gun restrictions was a bit like trying to put the genie back in the bottle. I, who favors gun control, recall telling him that he had a point. The NRA was once upon a time a benevolent organization whose purpose was to promote gun safety and responsibility, and sportsmanship. Then, in 1977 something of a coup d'tat took place, and the group was taken over by a gang or extreme right wing politicos whose agenda was to aggressively promote the second amendment, to strongly opposes anyone and anything even hinting of support for gun control or regulation, and to pump millions of dollars into the campaign coffers of right wing politicians of a similar ilk. Today the organization has more than five million members, and is among the nation's most powerful advocacy groups, with its tentacles deeply entrenched in conservative American politics. A new book, being released today, by former second in command and chief of staff Joshua Powell 'Inside the NRA"..the title is extended, and includes words like "fraud" and "greed".... promises to stir the pot, with accusations that the club, as Powell puts it, appeals to the most greedy, darkest aspects of its member's characters. Powell, who will doubtless be dismissed by the NRA, in true Donald Trump style, as nothing but a disgruntled former associates, was fired in January, and has written his book as a tell all expose. He makes the startling claims that fraud and embezzlement are rampant within the NRA, that teh highest ranking members have pocketed millions of dollars of member's contributions intended for charitable purposes, and that the organization, huge and unwieldy is rife with corruption, financial mismanagement, and nefarious purposes. We wait for the wailing and gnashing of teeth to begin among the faithful, along with the denials. Covid 19 has had the pleasant unintended consequence of postponing many mass murders in America, since people no longer gather together in such large and frequent numbers as to present easy targets. but once the virus is vanquished and target practice resumes as usual, the question of gun control, particularly with regard to assault refiles, is likely to resurface. Then, once again, its game on, American sanity and sense versus the National Rifle Association.

Coming Out, With Consequences

 A GROWING NUMBER of journalists and news outlets, including from within FOX News, are confirming president Trump's reprehensible, insulting labeling of America's fallen war heroes as "losers" and "suckers". If FOX is owning up to the perfidious Trump, as they say, the jig is up. Trump continues to vehemently deny it, of course, and to attack; "Only an animal would say such a thing". Well, there you go, Mr. President. Takes one to know one, or to be one. Since nearly everyone has long since decided ow to vote, only a tiny slice of teh electoral pie is likely to be influenced. I actually know someone who supported Trump for over three years, then dropped him like a bad habit, so, there is  hope. but since the Access Hollywood tape didn't keep trump out of office, neither, probably, will this. the argument has been made, including by Obama Defense Secretary Hegel, that the people who spilled the loser and sucker beans to the Atlantic magazine, if they are credible, should come out of hiding, renounce their anonymity, and declare themselves. That's easy to say if you're not the one coming out of hiding. Easy to urge others to risk the consequences of exposure. Who knows what horrible indignities a person might suffer for coming forth and claiming credit as a source of the loser-sucker charge against Trump? Trump is well known for retaliating against anyone who dares disagree with or criticize him. One can scarcely imagine the twitter tweet tirade vendetta that Don the Con would unleash against any courageous source fresh out of the closet. Then, what else? Lawsuits? Black helicopters? Goons with guns in the night? Whether the sources ever come forth may be irrelevant. In effect, most folks have already voted,. Donald trump's litany of misbehavior since being in office is enormous, and it has had no apparent impact on his corps of careless supporters, whose immorality matches his own. And despite what Trump says, the votes will be cast and counted accurately enough, which may be our best and only hope.

Figuring Folks Out

I BELIEVE it was Carl Sagan who once said that considering teh billions of neurons which comprise the human brain, and that every thought, every state of mind, every action by every person is determined and characterized by a unique combination of neurons being in the "on" or "off" mode, that we probably should never be surprised by anything that anyone says or does. Anyone is capable is doing or saying anything, at any time. Modern science disparages free will as a concept. The prevailing view is that since every particle of matter and energy in teh universe, and every combination of matter and matter is subject to the laws of nature, that all human behavior is also the result of natural law, and therefore what we tend to view as free will, personal choices is in reality merely our behaving according to universal natural law by arranging our matter and energy in ways in accordance with that law. In c, we are, like all other matter and energy, conforming to predetermined requirements. that means we should be able, ultimately, to figure ourselves out, and our actins, and everyone else's. for example, I had neither seen nor heard from her in over twenty years. Suddenly, on Facebook, she sends me a friend request, to which I affirmatively responded. eagerly I anticipated the possibility of getting communication from an old friend. when it came, it was in the form of a message on Facebook messenger. No surprise there. What surprised me was the contents of the message. it was a forward, a link to an interview video of someone discussing a conspiracy theory. One of those bizarre deep state secret end of the world conspiracy narratives that seem to be so popular these days, from some pseudo guru, preacher, or what not. Not a word form her, no word of greeting, explanation, or anything. Just the video. then, the next day, the same thing, another conspiracy theory, this time in the form of an article. No typed message from her. It kept happening every day for a couple of weeks, one forwarded conspiracy theory per day, always something having to do with hidden groups of nefarious people plotting take overs of the world, dire predictions of world calamities and future wars and disasters, the whole bit. All that is very popular, as we seem to be seeking means of escape from our  unfit world of reality. finally, just to break the ice, I typed in a response to break the ice, and after several of my messages were posted, she finally came out from behind the forwarded material, ad we started talking. Her Facebook behavior in general turned out to be an enigma. She seemed to spend a lot of time on the social platform, responding to posts, posting stuff, but most of the time tried to keep her name off the screen; making her name invisible on her friend's screens for what she said was "privacy". My question: does she want to communicate, or not?

Avoiding Evil

JOE BIDEN is far from the perfect presidential candidate, and not terribly far from a poor on. Despite his decades of political experience, a plus, he is too old, slow, and unenergetic; the moniker "sleepy Joe" that the right wingers have pinned on him in all their vicious glory is not entirely inappropriate. A somewhat younger, more passionate person, amenable to both old and young voters, would better suffice, but all the Democratic candidates were either gay, boring, unfocused, or all the above. Twice in a row, an imperfect democratic presidential candidate. Hillary Clinton was the most qualified candidate in American history; you could look it up, to quote Casey Stengel, but the vicious attacks on her and Bill which began with David Brock and the Heritage Foundation in 1992 never relented, and had the impact of making her the most unpopular candidate in U.S. history, save for the savior himself, dirty don the con (we libs can be viciously clever with naming names too). Biden expressed righteous outrage at Trump's "loser and sucker" disparagement of American dead war heroes, rightly so, but his voice, his demeanor...simply too tame, too old, too weak....The Biden of thirty years ago would be doing much, much better. Its time for Biden to start jogging the American memory, to remind us that Trump actually did say that windmills cause cancer, that George Washington's army captured airports, and that American-Italian friendship goes back to the ancient Roman Empire. Its tiem for Biden to remind us that Trump was impeached for a reason, that even the Republicans in the Senate agreed he tried to blackmail the Ukraine, but failed to convict him only because he didn't get away with it. Now, if not sooner is the time for Joe Biden to point out that the Mueller report did indeed not exonerate Trump, but actually said that he knew about, accepted, and welcomed Russian help in 2016, instead of calling the FBI. Let's talk about John McCain, and Trump's ceaseless slandering of this war hero, and Trump's ceaseless slandering of all top ranking military leaders, multi star generals, with whom he disagreed. How likely is it that Trump would call somebody, anybody, a loser and a sucker, including America's war dead? Hell, for that matter, let's dredge up the Access Hollywood tape, which should have kept don the con out of the White House in the first place, if the American electorate and conservative community had an ounce of decency and integrity. Lest we forget, the Hollywood Access tape was the one on which Trump said that she was married, but I still wanted to fuck her. I move on her like a bitch, but just couldn't get there. she had these big phony tits. When you're a star, when you're a celebrity an rich, you can have your way with any woman you want. I just start kissing. I grab 'em by the pussy......yes, we all remember that little gems, for which Trump initially contritely apologized, then, upon further reflection, decided to tel us that it was all locker room talk, then to tell us that it never really happened, that it was a hoax, maybe Chinese or liberal in origin. Joe Biden and the Dems need to remind us all of all this, and there is more, so much more...how'd that North Korean nuclear disarmament thing turn out, Donnie boy? Still kissing the little rocket man's ass, eh? Joe Biden is far from perfect, but he is much preferable to reelecting incompetent, pathological,  pure evil Trump trash that the comparison isn't even funny.

Embracing Mythology, American Style

AMERICAN CULTURE has always been heavily invested in fantasy, partly because the United States itself is a scam and a sham, and always has been. An oligarchical plutocracy governed by a small wealthy elite, disguised as a representative democratic republic, a purported democracy. a land of violent conquest and genocide, enslavement, servitude, exploitation of labor and misuse of resources, with a rigid class caste system, disguised and packaged and marketed as a land of opportunity, a shining city on a hill. Welcome to the fun house, land of illusions, where a carnival barking con artist is elected president, and his adoring cult followers blink not an eye when he calls the nation's fallen war heroes losers and suckers. The most pretentiously prudish and secretly promiscuous society on earth, assiduously refusing to take a long look ore even a quick glance at itself. The land of make p and plastic surgery, denier of wrinkles and stark reality, the United States of Advertising. More Americans believe in UFOs, extraterrestrial involvement in human affairs, and alien abductions than believe in the necessity of citizen participation in and oversight of public affairs in maintaining a functioning representative democracy. this is somewhat understandable, since none of these has ever been proven to actually exist. Half of eligible american voters don't bother to vote, also somewhat understandable, since, as Gore Vidal pointed out, those who do not vote are intelligent enough to comprehend that in our corporate oligarchy with carefully selected narrow choices, the vote means little if anything. A higher percentage of Americans believe that the world is governed by a secret cabal of "illuminati", and that Donald trump is trying to defend us against an imaginary "deep state" than believe that they can count of their government to represent their interests, or who have faith that their elected officials have any concern for their well being, once again, a somewhat reasonable position. What most Americans cynically ignore is that the government never concern itself with the welfare of the people unless we the people abandon our fantasies, our conspiracy theories, and our urgent need to escape and reinvent reality, and get down to the boring, tedious, and troublesome task of governing ourselves, by first insisting on our inherent right to so do.

Justifying One's Bad Behavior, Andy Jackson Style

ANDREW JACKSON wrote a letter in which he discussed the Indian Removal Act of 1830, which he had promoted and signed into law as president, resulting in the forced removal of hundreds of thousands of native Americans from their ancestral lands and home. The expanding United States empire wanted the land, and wanted to get rid of the Indians. the most outspoken critic of the act was Congressman Davy Crockett, whose passionate arguments were ridiculed and unheeded. "That don't make good sense. hell, that don't even make good nonsense". In his letter, Jackson argued that by being forced to walk from Georgia to Oklahoma, they were being given the chance of a lifetime, the opportunity to seek new lives and fortunes as farmers in the wide open west, full of potential. Hadn't white people done the same thing, picked up their lives and moved west, in search of new hope and success? The letter made it sound as if the U.S. government were doig the natives a huge favor, making their lives whole, instead of committing genocide and spreading misery and death, as was actually the case. Jackson, who would stand straight in a gun duel, take a bullet, then laugh at his opponent and carry the bullet in his body for the rest of his life, a moral coward. There is currently an epidemic of moral cowardice in America. People refuse to wear masks because they claim they are bravely resisting government tyranny, or that masks damage your health by forcing you to inhale carbon dioxide, rather than simply admitting that their refusal is prompted by the inconvenience and discomfort of wearing a mask, which everyone who wears one experiences. Or that Michelle Obama is a man, an Barack Obama is a foreigner, and that the Black Lives Matter movement is anarchistic and violent, rather than admitting that personal racism is the motivating factor. We seem full of rationalizations and justifications for our personal shortcomings and petty hatreds, just life Andrew Jackson, who need only have written in his letter that he hated Indians, and wanted to get rid of them.

Trump? Slandering?

MY BEST GUESS is that Donald Trump said exactly what the Atlantic said he said, namely: that American  servicemen killed in combat were losers and suckers. Two reasons. first, this is totally in character with Donald Trump. Its what he does, has done repeatedly, daily since becoming president, namely; viciously, hatefully slandering people. considering all the horrible things he has openly sais in front of millions of witnesses, how likely is it that he refrains from doing the same thing, or worse, privately? Secondly, the Atlantic magazine has for decades maintained the highest journalist standards of honesty and accurate reporting. how likely is it that they would be making this up? But back to Trump. john mcCain comes to mind. Also relevant are the great lengths that "bone spur' donnie went to to avoid military service himself. it isn't hard to imagine Trump thinking that since avoiding military service and the risk of death in combat is relatively easy, very easy for him, that anybody who joins up and serves is missing  golden opportunity, and putting himself harm's way unnecessarily, with only himself to blame. Famed semi pacifist Albert Einstein, while living in Princeton, New Jersey, during the cold war, suggested that if every man of military service age in the world simply refuses military service, war would be no more. For that, as you might imagine, he caught a lot of flak from the cold warrior right wing. John McCain was a great man, an American hero whose political career was characterized by respect for his political opponents, conciliation, and compromise. He was a proper, dignified gentleman. I nearly voted for him against Obama, left winger that I am. According to Trump, McCain was not a hero, because he was captured in war. You're not a hero is you're captured, you're a loser and a sucker if you'red killed in combat. according to Trump. According to decent people, Donald Trump is a liar, a criminal, a traitor, and loser, and, metaphorically speaking, a pile of garbage.

Disguising Hatred

FIFTY YEARS AGO, my fellow descendants of (whip) crackers were unabashedly ashamed of their racism, and frequently, openly expressed it. Among them were members of my family and circle of friends. Gradually, over the years, they became ashamed, and fearful of censor, and began to conceal and systematize their racism, subtly and easily. Today, by some magical, mystical miracle, nobody is a racist, and by extension, racism no longer exists in America. rather, it exists only when someone opposed to nonexistent racism has the audacity to bring into existence by daring to make mention of the long extinct, defunct racial hatred of our ancestors. Today's racists have become clever at using code words and concealment, by necessity. They feel threatened by a society increasingly intolerant of racial hatred, compelled to escape public opprobrium. Consider the hateful, vicious moronic reprobates who ludicrously, falsely assert that Michelle Obama is transgender and Barack Obama was born in Africa, despite undeniable proof to the contrary. there a millions of these idiots, notably the former  but reformed birther, Donald Trump himself. These people, to a person, swear up and down that they are not racists. they are all liars, lying to themselves as well as others. they unwittingly reveal their racist attitudes by the total certainty with which they spew this insulting garbage. They never present it as possible, probable, speculative, or in a humorous, non serious manner. Always the absolute certainty. As if they have personally undertaken extensive verified research, undergone peer review, and have achieved absolute certainty through proof, that Michelle Obama is transgender and Barack Obama was born in Kenya, rather than having merely invented the fable for malicious insult, based on nothing other than hatred and a desire to insult. These self misguided people do not really believe what they say, because they are mean, but not insane, but they say it because they badly want to believe it, to justify their racist hatred without actually revealing it. They think, laughably, that they are hiding their racism, and their moral cowardice is evident. they conceal their racism from themselves, preserving their self esteem and sense of superiority, and avoiding criticism. It is a wonder what people will do to soothe their fragile egos, no matter how utterly deplorable.

Trumpeting Law and Order, By Mouth

WHEN DONALD TRUMP MOUTHS THE EXPRESSION "law and order", he is, as always, saying nothing Everyone believes in law and order, just as everyone believes that all lives matter, the only question being how to get there. ironic, that a man whose entire life has been immersed in criminal activity presents himself as a champion of law and order. evidently the president does not include white collar crime, political and financial crimes, including trying to blackmail a foreign government,willingly accepting election assistance from a foreign country, blatantly and repeatedly violating the constitutional emoluments clause, obstruction of justice, money laundering through foreign banks and under reporting and over estimating his personal wealth depending on whether he was avoiding taxes or applying for loans, discriminating in running an apartment building, and many other crimes, to be part of his law and order agenda, worthy of fighting against. Now that the president has emphatically, publicly encouraged voters to vote twice in the upcoming presidential election, which is obviously illegal, the president evidently either considers himself exempt from law abiding, or believes that everyone should break the law.If Donald Trump really believed in law and order, maybe he would occasionally obey it. Trump's sanctimonious sounding phony law and order mouthings allow him to conveniently avoid mentioning the underlying systemic racism which precipitates the Black Lives Matter movement. Like all modern racists, he prefers to pretend that racism doesn't exist unless adn until people opposed to it express their opposition.he appeals to his racist supporters by ignoring and distracting from America's obvious systemic racism, by falsely accusing anti-racism protesters of being anarchistic law breakers. Trump's incessant catering to his staunchest supporters, and lack of any attempt to expand his dwindling base, is a risky strategy, because there is good evidence that his support base has actually shrunk considerably, especially in the suburbs, as indicated by the polls. for the sake of a future America more united, and less divided by a fire breathing flame throwing demagogue president, we can hope that the polls remain accurate, and hold true.

Seeking God, Variously

MY RELIGIOSITY is beautiful, simple, elegant, reasonable, and conforms perfectly to natural phenomena is revealed by observation and science. Although I week to impose it on no one, and consign on one to eternal torment in hell for not embracing it, I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone who might be interested. My religiosity, essentially, is humble admiration of nature, reverence for creation, and for the beautiful, incredibly superior intelligence which created  the universe. Since my earliest childhood well meaning or control freaking Christians have exhorted me to change my religious beliefs, and, not surprisingly, have strongly suggested that their own personal beliefs are the exact beliefs to which I ought to change.People wanting me to change invariably suggest that the change should mirror their own beliefs. I cannot recall a single instance in which a Christian possessing self proclaimed true religion has expressed unconditional approval of my beliefs as they are, and encouraged me to retain them. Christians, by nature, are notoriously intolerant of other's non christian beliefs. I prefer tolerance, in that I don't think it appropriated for me to suggest that anyone adopt my beliefs at the risk of dire consequences for not doing so. Indeed, as Goethe said, tolerance should be only a passing sentiment, leading to ultimate acceptance. Continued tolerance is an insult. I would invite anyone to consider sharing my beliefs, but would exhort no one to do so. My religious beliefs are true only for me, and I accept the fact that everyone else's beliefs are true for them. The fact that I consider the Christian to be primitive, barbaric, bloody, and cruel does not motivate me to encourage anyone to abandon it. The sublime teachings of Jesus are quite sufficient for me, and to me the source of wisdom is far less important than the wisdom itself. An ancient guru said: "lf. many other great thinkers, among them Buddha and Confucius and Gandhi, have echoed the teachings of Jesus, before and after him. Ultimately, two statements about religion are true, Goethe said: "When I realized that everyone invents his own religion, I decided to invent mine." A wise person said: "Follow no one, for the truth lies within you, and if you follow anyone else, you are not following the truth." Amen.

Regulating Militias

ACCORDING TO THE CONSTITUTION, militias must be well regulated and must contribute to the security of the state, which is interpreted as meaning regulated by and summoned into action by the state, state, or federal. These so called "citizen's patriot militias" which sprang up in response to the election of bill Clinton by right winger accustomed to twelve years of republican presidencies and angry that a man they falsely perceived as a radical liberal had been elected, and which have enjoyed a resurgence with the election of Barack Obama and the advent of the Black Lives Matter movement, fulfill neither constitutional requirement, and in fact are nothing other than gangs of Bible and assault rifle packing gangster, fantasizing. They manifest freely their right wing religious racist hatred and against all things multi cultural and progressive deep in the woods, away from civilization, with beer and slander. These ad hoc organized proponents of white patriarchal power and Christian theocracy are in fact illegal, according to legal experts and the constitution. This is partly because they seek, so they claim, to perform the protective functions of the police and the military, without police, military, or government approval. the Black Lives Matter protesters are legal, the militias are not, its that simple. Violence and property destruction by anyone is illegal, and immoral. Waving MAGA and Trump banners,, screaming Trump slogans and hurling insults, splattering peaceful protesters with paint gun ammo from flat beds of pick up trucks displaying confederate flags, does not accomplish the stated objectives of these pseudo supposedly peace loving assault weapon wielding gangster groups; protecting people and property. They are a severe symptom of the far right illness in America; the loss of confidence in and respect for legitimate,socially mandated institutions and authority, and its replacement with vigilante mayhem. In 1995, after the infamous timothy McVeigh, one of them, killed one hundred and sixty eight people in Oklahoma city with a truck bomb, the movement, out of shame and public anger, died down, but, much to the detriment of civilized american society, such as it is, has reemerged since the Obama ear, in all its hateful, racist, pseudo religious pseudo patriotic lawless fervor. May it once again die the quick and painless death it so richly deserves.

Punishing Good Works

WHEN SHE STARTED WORKING in the kitchen at the senior center, she soon aroused my suspicions, and my libido, since she was youngish, slender, attractive. some of the other old folks became suspicious of her as well, because she missed work every fifth day, or more precisely, every four point seven seven three days, like clock work. Illness and family emergencies do not occur with such regularity. we old folks, with decades of practice, can be surprisingly astute at recognizing a meth addict when we see one. People addicted to crystal meth, besides thinking themselves intellectual geniuses adn superhuman, and everybody else idiots, decieve themselves into believing that nobody notices that they are manic hyperactive for four sleepless days and nights, then crash, hard, like clockwork. The fact that this frenetic sex pot and her two daughters moved in across the stret from me heightened my awareness of her many many boyfriends, her nocturnal activity, and shopping sprees to every Wal mart within the area to buy basic meth cooking supplies, like lighter fluid. she lost her job and ran out of money, of course, had nowhere to live, and asked if she could stay with me temporarily. I, ever the heroic idealistic, consented, thinking I could help her get straight. It didn't work out. At this point the story becomes painful for me, which is perhaps why I am telling it again, even though i wrote about it several years ago, on this website. As she was moving into my house, I noticed that she was stealing everything that wasn't nailed down from the house across the street. that simply wouldn't do. i had to draw the line somewhere. Even I have standards. Deal off. My mistake was relating this bizarre episode of my life to my straight laced sister, who hasn't been to my house since. My theory,which i will probably never confirm one way or the other, is that my brother in law, who doesn't like me, prevailed upon his wife to simply write me off as a drug addict, or guilty by association with a drug addict. I haven't seen much of my sister since, I haven't seen the meth queen at all, and I hope she's still alive, though I suspect she may not be.if they don't get off meth, they don't live long. it is probably my fate, and my punishment to never know, and to lose my sister's friendship, all for my poor decision of sticking my nose where it didn't belong. Live and learn, as we say, and if you try to save a drug addict, all you're gonna get is grief.

Loving Cats

ONE OF MY CATS IS MISSING. The grey one, with the green eyes and sweet face. he left home I believe in July third, just as the neighborhood was exploding with noise, and I suspect that's what drove him out, he perhaps having, unlike my other cats, associated the horrible noise with home, and running away terrified. I'm despondent, grieving, but will never give up hope, although I am becoming resigned. I once had one missing for four months, and he returned, so, I haven't given up hope. My other eight cats, six outdoor and two indoor, are fine. I don't like people who don't like cats. To dislike an animal is beyond my comprehension. People who do not like cats are as distressingly, inexplicably common as people who support Donald Trump. I would rather Donald Trump, his supporters, and all cat haters vanish from the Earth than a single stray cat die prematurely. I have a friend who dislikes cats because she says they are arrogant and they carry diseases, as if she herself were not arrogant and did not carry diseases. She doesn't wear a mask; if she doesn't carry a disease, she certainly is willing to. The arrogant part about cats I readily agree with. the arrogant independence of cats I find, as do cat lovers generally, to be their most attractive quality. One never approaches a cat, one waits until the cat approaches, and if one is lucky, the cat approaches. As far as arrogance goes, arrogant as cats are, they don't hold a candle to human arrogance, so I've never met a human yet who should ever call a cat 'arrogant" without taking a long look at the log in his or her eye. I love people who love cats. Mark Twain, whom I love, said that anyone who loves cats is his automatic friend and comrade, without further introduction. Cat people are good people, intelligent people. I will always mourn the cats I have loved in teh past who have long been dead. I will always remember their names, the sounds they made, the affection they showed me, the love they gave me. the greatest beauty of cats is their enormous capacity for affection, and the willingness with which they express it. At least eight more times I will grieve the loss of a beloved cat, if i live that long. Every time, it will be as difficult as the last.

Having Sex

I'VE HAD SEX. I'm sixty five years old, never married, but I've had sex, from time to time. Everybody loves sex. its the only game in town. what amazes me about sex is the lengths to which people are willing to go, what people are willing to put up with, to get some. Sex is great, but it aint that great, at most, a few moments of supreme pleasure before the big cool off. I've always been lazy about chasing sex, never been willing to really put myself out for sex, to go the extra mile, probably because I always felt that my efforts would be unrewarded. I'm too lazy to dress properly and go out, to lazy to make small talk with strangers in a bar. I've never had any special compelling urge to marry, although I've always been open to the idea. Obviously, sex is urgently necessary for human survival. Still, when I see people enter into one unhappy marriage after another, and sleep with anything that moves between marriages, and serial date until they've gone out with everybody in the phone book, I begin to wonder. Are there alternatives, other than spaying and neutering? One alternative is celibacy, accompanied perhaps by a vigorous masturbation regimen. In American culture, masturbation is a taboo topic, because of our puritanical roots, but in fact masturbation may be teh best solution ever devised for sexual satisfaction without risk. To abstain from sex, and from seeking sex for extended periods of time can yield benefits, can almost be like overcoming a dependency or addiction. Celibacy is not necessarily the best option, but all options considered, it has its merits. the best alternative might be to marry young, remain married for life, and to enjoy a healthy vigorous sex life unto death. it sometimes seems depressing how seldom people achieve that in the western world. then too, multiple chain marriages, in which everyone has as many spouses as he or she desires, is an option which seems strange to us modern Americans, but might have merit in some future human society.the advantage to this would be there would be less pressure on each individual member of the marriage to provide everything necessary to sustain a happy marriage. arranged marriages, which throughout history have been widely employed in various cultures, have advantages in terms of stability, but are not a popular idea in a free market culture where individual freedom and autonomy is of supreme importance. It may well be that humanity has not yet developed the best method of dealing with sex, reproduction, child rearing, and societal health. Most likely not; there are, after all, no areas of human endeavor in which human cultural evolution has arrived at a satisfactory culmination. Why should sex be any different?

Stop Sending Me Stuff

ON FACEBOOK, I have two purposes; to promote my website, and to spread opposition to Donald Trump. I learned early that Facebook is not the place to make real friends or to carry on a conversation; one must do those things in person, face to face, or, by default, on the telephone. Facebook is a place to post material, read posts, scroll, and post comments. I have many Facebook friends, former students and young, ostensibly attractive women who seek my friendship presumably to make money off me. then of course my real life friends are on there. Most of my former students and real life friends seem to want to inform and educate me. Every day I receive a veritable avalanche of articles, you tube videos, essays, and conspiracy theories via Facebook messenger links, and its gotten to the point where I rarely click on any of them. there's simply too much material being sent my way. Most of it, from what I can discern with cursory inspection, belongs in the realm of conspiracy theories and propaganda for a particular point of view or another. rarely do i receive any intellectually credible material. I wish those sorts of things would stop arriving, and would be replaced by material sent from tenured professors which have been put through the process of peer review, and found credible. If I'm going to be informed and educated on Facebook, i want to be informed and educated properly, with intellectually and academically high quality material, not propaganda sent by folks with an ax to grind or some bizarre point of view or conspiracy theory to propound. everyone must have his or her say, I suppose. Recently a lady contacted me with whom I had been close friends decades before. she invited me to be her friends, then began sending me one link after another, mostly You Tube videos and conspiracy theories, of the sort mentioned above. She didn't bother to even say so much as "hello" to me, or "long time no see", or anything; she just started right in with the conspiracy theories, one at a painful time, every day. Finally, i broke the ice by saying hello to her and giving her my phone number. Unless you happen to be Noam Chomsky, or Paul Krugmen, please don't bother. I can do my own research. After all, I have a doctorate in history. Having a college degree, or an advanced degree, is not a sign of superiority of any sort. But if someone is persistent enough to graduate college, at any level, chances are he or she has a pretty good idea what subjects are of interest, and how to research them. But, well, to all you generous sharers of forwarded information on Facebook, thanks for everything, but...no thanks.