December 12, 2008
Greets and Huggers. Posted the evening of December 12, 2008. While home on leave, years ago, (a lot of years ago!) … Neil Young was on television. My mother and I were watching. I was excited, wanting to share with her what a great artist Neil Young was, (Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young). [Without a doubt, their “D�j� Vu” album has to be one of the greatest albums of all time!!] We watched him perform “Helpless“. She just looked at me. I remember the expression on her face: she was not impressed. She is from the “Big Band” generation, “swing“. I asked her how she liked it … she just smiled at me and replied, “Karl-Heinzi – I like different kinds of music.“ I watched Saturday Night Live last Saturday, watched some RAP artist, (never heard of him), and I was not impressed. I guess I like different kinds of music as well. Point being, I suppose … music is an art form and like any other art form, it’s enjoyment remains subjective.
BBC NEWS — Wikipedia child image censored. “A decision by a number of UK internet providers to block a Wikipedia page showing an image of a naked girl has angered users of the popular site. The blocked page of the online encyclopaedia shows an album cover of 1970s heavy metal band Scorpions. Internet providers acted after online watchdog the Internet Watch Foundation warned them its picture may be illegal.” I don’t care for “heavy metal” music either … but must admit I did like Scorpions “Still Loving You” and “No One Like You“. What is interesting to me is the change in “Zeitgeist“. Why is it that a picture deemed perfectly acceptable in the 70’s, is now considered “kiddie porn”? Reminds me of the “Coppertone” ad, (interesting link discussing similar material), showing the rear end of some kid on a beach. Share with me … is showing a picture of a naked minor inherently “kiddie porn”? Have we become that “politically correct”? Why? … and sadly … BBC NEWS — 50s pin-up queen Bettie Page dies. “Bettie Page, one of the most famous US pin-up models of the 1950s, has died in Los Angeles, aged 85. Her provocative poses - often in bikinis - made her a cult figure and she was one of the first models to appear in Playboy magazine.” I looked at some of the images on the “poses” link: frankly, now-a-days, a Sears “Wishbook“/catalogue shows more. It may very well be that our definition of “pornography” has changed as well.
Perhaps so: AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) – Amsterdam to clamp down on sex shops, brothels, dope cafes. “Amsterdam unveiled plans Saturday to close brothels, sex shops and marijuana cafes in its ancient city center as part of a major effort to drive organized crime out of the tourist haven. The city is targeting businesses that “generate criminality,” including gambling parlors, and the “coffee shops” where marijuana is sold openly. Also targeted are peep shows, massage parlors and souvenir shops used by drug dealers for money-laundering … “It’ll be a place with 200 windows [for prostitute]) and 30 coffee shops, which you can’t find anywhere else in the world — very exciting, but also with cultural attractions,” he said. “And you won’t have to be embarrassed to say you came.” Prostitution is legal in most of Europe. Regulated and taxed … as are most other vices. Great revenue producers for the state. The Catholic Church taxed sin, until the reformation: the church called it “indulgences”, (sold by local priests.) Some things don’t change with time. I still feel guilty if I don’t contribute for the second tithing … the “double dip” at Mass.
And another TV show: LONDON, England (CNN) – TV channel to broadcast assisted suicide. “A British TV channel was scheduled to air a controversial documentary Wednesday night showing a terminally ill man committing assisted suicide … The film follows retired university professor Craig Ewert during the last four days of his life in 2006, when he visited a Swiss clinic with his wife, Mary, in order to die. The 59-year-old suffered from motor neurone disease (MND), which deprived him of the use of his arms and legs and caused him to be on a ventilator, Mary Ewert told The Independent … “Right to Die: The Suicide Tourist” shows Ewert lying in a rented Zurich apartment, where an employee of the clinic prepares a lethal dose of drugs for Ewert to drink. As the camera rolls, and with his wife by his side, Craig Ewert then closes his eyes and dies. Mary Ewert said her husband wanted his death to be filmed in order to show that a terminal illness does not have to result in a painful death. “For Craig, my husband, allowing the cameras to film his last moments in Zurich was about facing the end of life honestly,” she told The Independent.” “Reality TV” seems to be the rage. Producers love it because they don’t have to pay “the actors”, actors wages nor “residual fees“, (the actors in “reality shows” are not members of the “Screen Actors Guild“.) On a different note, I have mixed feelings about assisted suicide. On the one hand, if God gave us “free will”, don’t we have the right to decide when our life should end … and how? On the other? God gave us life. It is up to Him how it will end. Some believe to take that choice away from God is the height of arrogance and a “mortal sin“. As for me? I don’t fear dying: for me it is just a changing from one reality into another. What I do fear is the potential pain involved in the transition and the limits put on our doctors to alleviate that pain. I really appreciate our government protecting me, as I’m laying there in pain dying, from becoming a drug addict. Parens Patriae.
And in the “this really, really sucks” news — Oregon (KSBY NEWS) — Woman swept out to sea as fiance is about to propose. “An Oregon man is mourning the loss of his fiancee after she was swept away by a wave right before he was about to propose. Scott Napper had taken his 22-year-old fiance to a place known as Proposal Rock to pop the question Saturday. They were just ten feet away from the rock when suddenly, and without warning, a large wave swept the woman out to sea.” I suppose as tragic as this is, there is also a bright side. He can return the ring.
NEW YORK (CNN) — Elephant ivory smuggled into U.S., authorities say. “U.S. authorities arrested six people Wednesday on suspicion of smuggling African elephant ivory worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, law enforcement officials said. The defendants arranged to have ivory from Cameroon, Ivory Coast and Uganda shipped into the United States disguised as wooden snakes, guitars and statues, authorities said … One suspect told an undercover federal agent during a purchase that it was difficult to bring ivory into the United States, but easy to sell it at high prices, the government statement said … The U.S. banned ivory imports in 1976, and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora effectively outlawed trade in elephant tissue in 1989.” There was also a study released this week that purported to show elephants in the wild live longer than working elephants and elephants in zoos. “For African elephants, the average lifespan in captivity was only 19 years compared with 56 years in the wild. Rates of mortality amongst zoo-born Asian elephants were two to three times higher than for those born in the logging camps.” What the study didn’t factor in is that only the wild African elephants who didn’t get slaughtered for their tusks live to an average age of 56. This year, 470,000 - 690,000 elephants survive in Africa, down from a population estimated at 3,000.000 - 5,000,000 in the 30’s and 40’s. Ivory poaching is rampant. The overall population in zoos is also decreasing: there are fewer elephants born in captivity then die. I have no doubt they will become extinct in your grandchildren’s life time. So much for the biblical mandate to be “good shepherds”.
BBC NEWS – Brain tests show child wealth gap. “The brains of children from low-income families process information differently to those of their wealthier counterparts, US research suggests. Normal nine and 10-year-olds from rich and poor backgrounds had differing electrical activity in a part of the brain linked to problem solving … The 26 children in the study, conducted at the University of California, Berkeley, were measured using an electroencephalograph (EEG), which measured activity in the “prefrontal cortex” of the brain. Half were from low income homes, and half from high income families. During the test, an image the children had not been briefed to expect was flashed onto a screen, and their brain responses were measured. Those from lower income families showed a lower prefrontal cortex response to it than those from wealthier households.” Back to the “nature” vs. “nurture” argument .. isn’t it? And what does the study mean? Did the increased brain response indicate greater problem solving ability?
BBC NEWS — Intelligent ‘have better sperm’. “Men of higher intelligence tend to produce better quality sperm, UK research suggests. A team from the Institute of Psychiatry analyzed data from former US soldiers who served during the Vietnam war era. They found that those who performed better on intelligence tests tended to have more - and more mobile - sperm. The study, which appears in the journal Intelligence, appears to support the idea that genes underlying intelligence may have other biological effects too.” What they failed to include in their study summery is that although the sperm were more numerous and more mobile, they also were more intelligent … only deciding to continue their impregnation mission if the receptive female was attractive and married to the donor. This only supports the statistic that intelligent men are less likely to have children out of wedlock. But … don’t you wonder who comes up with these studies, how they are conducted and who participates? I’m trying to think of what it would take … for me to volunteer to take an IQ test and thereafter donate sperm. I would have to be really, really, really down and out. Besides, aren’t these behaviors the antitheses of one another?
Watched a new show last Tuesday night: “Leverage” on the TNT network. GREAT! Show. Kind of a cross between “Mission Impossible” and “the Enforcer”. Timothy Hutton plays the leader of “a team of con artists and hackers who are crusading for truth and justice“. Well worth the time to watch.
(CNN) — Scientists baffled by mysterious acorn shortage. “Up and down the East Coast, residents and naturalists alike have been scratching their heads this autumn over a simple question: Where are all the acorns? Oak trees have shed their leaves, but the usual carpet of acorns is not crunching underfoot. In far-flung pockets of northern Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and other states, scientists have found no acorns whatsoever.” The squirrel lobby is working our legislators really hard for a bailout. As for the culprits/cause? The acorns were snatched by the disappearing bees.
Sitting here editing these Ramblings and enjoying the warmth of Ft Timmerman. The pellet stove is wonderful … just cranks out heat. The gas bill for November was $60.00. Susan and I will be lectors for Mass tomorrow. On the evening news — Bernard Madoff the former chairman of the Nasdaq stock market has been arrested and charged with securities fraud: he ran a hedge fund which ran up $50 billion of fraudulent losses. A ponzi scheme. How can you steal $50 BILLION in the stock market, without some warning bell going off? Has our Securities and Exchange Commission, (SEC), really been THAT asleep at the wheel, THAT incompetent? No wonder there is one long list of job opening on their Website!! And other news, leading politicians across the country feigning disgust for the actions of Governor Blagojevich: such arrogance and greed. Perhaps they should look to Mr. Madoff for guidance. If you are going to be a crook … be a BIG crook. Jesse Jackson Jr. denied trying to buy Obama’s senate seat. And finally, no bailout for the big 3 auto makers. Apparently a bailout deal worked out fell through when the UAW refused to give a date certain for wage concessions, (cutting wages and benefits to the same level as non-union auto workers.) They don’t call it a “bailout” … they call it a “bridge loan”. A bridge to where? GM and Toyota sold roughly the same number of vehicles last year. GM posted billion dollar losses, while Toyota posted billion dollar profits. Where is the overhead difference? Do the materials used to make a Toyota cost so much less than the materials used to make a Chevy? The editorial staff is suggesting I post these Ramblings and get back to giving them belly scritches. So I will. Please join me in saying a prayer for the safe and soon return of our men and women in uniform. Be and sleep well, the best there is, is on watch so you can. If my post offends, I apologize – that is not my intent. As always …
A Warm Brotherly Hug
Karl (the dumb old country lawyer from Holden, Missouri … and the Editorial Staff, Willie, Karly, my ‘Lil Buddy … and Dinker, the copy boy)