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IS GOD LISTENING?

Posted on June 3, 2013 by halviv

Apparently not, at least regarding the recent devastation left in the wake of deadly tornadoes that ripped through Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, and other parts of the country. Scores of people lost their lives for the simple infraction of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Many others survived the storms with their lives intact, but lost their homes and all other material possessions. Yet the most intriguing facts of these events were that they occurred smack in the middle of the bible-belt states; and that those who did survive the storms only to lose their homes and all other possessions, nevertheless, professed that their faith in God had not been shaken one iota. If anything, their faith was only made stronger by the misery surrounding them. And why not? When reality is so brutal and destructive, as in the case of these storms, the soft cushion of delusion is so much more comfortable to sink into. Keep in mind also, that the material losses these people suffered will likely be replaced by insurance companies and Government assistance. So being homeless with no possessions will likely be a short term proposition for almost all that were affected. Thus, I for one would be the last person to tell these people to forsake their delusions that God is looking out for their best interests. At this point, what else do those that so tragically suffered, (the loss of a child, for example) have to fall back on.

But it raises the question of why events that humans have no control over,(hurricanes, deadly blizzards, earthquakes, etc.) often take their heaviest toll on those who have the strongest traditional beliefs in God, as espoused in both the old and new testaments. To put it more bluntly, why do bad things happen to good people. In fact, there was a book written some years ago with just that title.  Seems that the author’s view was that God was just testing the strength of our faith. Also, we only exist in this lifetime for such a small amount of time, whereas we’re over on the other side for, like, all eternity, so what difference does it make in the first place. Not very comforting answers as far as I’m concerned. So the following is my view as to why devastation occurs to some and not others, and why some people who seem to be as pure as the driven snow often die young, while other miserable, evil, lowlifes can lead full and enjoyable lives into a very ripe old age. Think Mafia leaders, serial killers who are not caught, tyrants and despots who often slaughter their own people by the thousands, and other miscreants. So here are my theories as to why all this transpires. The gospel according to me.

First of all, I’m not an atheist. I do believe that there is a higher power out there; I just don’t know what that higher power is. It could be the total collective energies of all living beings in the universe. Whatever that power is, I’m pretty sure it’s not an old man with a long white beard, wearing a white toga, and sitting on a golden throne somewhere in the heavens, as often portrayed in classical works of art. In fact, if God did have a gender, I would think it would more likely be female, since women provide the initial source of life. Secondly, I believe the bibles, both the old and new testaments, to be, basically, a collection of fable, mythology and superstition. Much the same as was written about Zeus, Hera, Aphrodite, and the other gods in ancient Greek mythology. Religious fundamentalists believe the bibles to be the word of God. The trouble is, both testaments were written 100% by men, not God. Yes, there are some fascinating stories in both bibles, much the same way that Greek mythology had fascinating tales to pass on from one generation to the next. But, they were still completely written by men and contain all the fears, superstitions and myths that people over 2000 years ago possessed. And did I mention that they’re laden with one contradiction after another; i.e., is it an eye for an eye, or do we turn the other cheek.

So, in the gospel according to me, the Hebrew and Christian bibles are of little value. What is of interest, however, are a long list of near death experiences by hundreds of people, just in the past 50 years or so. While this is purely anecdotal, the similarity of these NDEs, and the volume of their happenings, would appear to suggest the existence of a spiritual after-life. And if such an after-life does exist, logic would indicate that a higher being also exists that has orchestrated this entire scenario. (Be advised, however, that some people who stopped breathing for several minutes, and then were brought back to life, did not experience the traditional NDE event. There was no light for them to go into, and no being waiting to welcome them with deep love. There was just- nothingness. So the possibility of an after-life is not necessarily a slam dunk. What you have now may be all you’ll ever get.)

But as I’ve said, the prevailing anecdotal evidence would suggest the existence of a higher being who created the mechanisms to get this whole universe thingy into motion. But once having done so, God, in effect, sat back and said his work was done, and all you living creatures out there are pretty much on your own. At least until you leave this material dimension, and enter his spiritual dimension. You may be on your own there too; who knows. Remember, it’s not just the 7 billion people on planet Earth that are involved. If God is omnipotent, then his realm is the entire universe where gazillions of planets exist housing gazillions of living creatures. It would unreasonable to expect God to be personally involved in the events of anyone of these life forms. And that is why bad things often happen to good people or vice versa.

It’s called randomness. Flip a coin a hundred times and it will like land close to 50 heads and 50 tails. Flip it 1000 times, and the 50-50 split will likely be very close indeed. So when you hear stories of how this couple prayed mightily to God to save their child who was in dire peril, and God answered their prayers and saved their daughter from some terrible affliction, remember that it could just as easily gone the other way. And often did for some parents whose children were not saved in similar circumstances. Like in the recent carnage at the school in Connecticut. I’m sure all the parents of those school children affected, prayed with ever ounce of their being that their child would not be one of the casualties, as they raced to the scene of that horrendous crime. And for most parents, their prayers were seemingly answered. But for 20 sets of parents, it appeared that God was indifferent to their pleas. Just call it the randomness of the universe. And you can take that as gospel.

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MUDDLING THROUGH LIFE

Posted on May 27, 2013 by halviv

Throughout the history of mankind, there has been a fairly constant portion of the populace that has lived either extremely well, sort of average, or rather poorly. The percentage of people in these categories rarely varies. For example, in today’s population about one to perhaps five percent of people at the top live lavish existences. In most cases, genetic inheritances have conspired to endow these people with either great mental or physical attributes and talents. Exploiting these talents has usually opened the gateway to fabulous riches and great fame. The time period that one lives in is also a prominent factor. For example, if Michael Jordan, who made hundreds of millions of dollars because of his great athletic abilities, had been born a century ago, when there was no basketball, he might have wound up working in a steel factory, or some other menial job that required strong physical endurance. Same with all the new computer geniuses who have become recent billionaires. If they lived a hundred years ago when the greatest technological advance was the electric light, it’s doubtful they would have been rolling in the riches they now enjoy. Sometimes one is fortunate enough to inherit great wealth, which also puts them in the top 5 percent. I’ve always maintained that no amount of hard work or careful planning can ever replace sheer, dumb luck. In any event, these top 5 percent usually live conspicuously materialistic lives by owning great mansions, often overlooking breathtakingly beautiful oceans or other bodies of water, as well as expensive cars, yachts, jets, etc., and often go globetrotting around the world. But does it necessarily make them happier people? Not all the time as we shall see.

Then there is about another 10-15% of the populace whose lives have turned out quite badly. Either because, again, of genetic or environmental circumstances, their lives have gone downhill almost from the start of their earliest years. Many wind up as petty, or serious criminals, trying to make a living by stealing, peddling drugs, gunrunning, or through other illicit means. Some are killed even as teenagers or people in their twenties. Many wind up in jail, often for long periods of incarceration. Or if they’re petty criminals, they often spend much of their lives in and out of prisons. Life in jail is about as bad as it can get while still being alive. Cooped up in a tiny, semi-private cell, eating bad food, often with little or nothing to do for years on end; it doesn’t get much worse than that. Sometimes people’s lives turn out badly through no fault of their own. The loss of a loved one; for example, a parent losing a child, will quite often lead to some very bad results. Like drowning one’s sorrows in drugs or alcohol. Others suffer because they’ve inherited or experienced great physical traumas or mental debilitations. Like long-term depression that send people into a deep abyss that they can’t climb out of. Or PTSD often experienced by active or ex-military because of battlefield events; but also because of being victims of violent crime such as rape. I recently read a rather jolting statistic. About 25 active or retired military A DAY, commit suicide, often because of post-trama-stress-disorder. Do the math and see what that equates to in a year.

So there you have about 20% of the populace either living sumptuously or badly. The rest of us 80% are somewhere in the middle. And often our lives consist mainly of muddling through on a day-to-day basis. There are the upper affluent classes, usually populated by those with high-paying careers; i.e. doctors, lawyers, corporate executives, engineers, stock brokers, successful business owners, computer hardware or software designers, etc. And then there are those toward the lower end of the totem pole such as the people behind the cash register at your local 7-11 or other like retail establishments; or those driving trucks hundreds of miles and then having to schlep heavy boxes off these trucks. But there are equalizers. Those with highly paid and successful professions often have to be able to cope with tight deadlines or other  stressful business pressures that lower paid individuals seldom face. A bad decision or  the inability to smoothly work with the boss can cost one his or her job. Should that happen the loss of income or prestige can also drive one to suicide. When the 1929 stock market crashed, affluent stock brokers found that the total loss of their material wealth to be unbearable; and some threw themselves to their deaths out of the windows of Manhattan skyscrapers.

Thus, a unique aspect of the human condition is that fame and fortune are not necessarily a guarantor of ones mental well-being. It all comes down to what’s going on in one’s brain. Yes, living in a lavish mansion and being able to view a picturesque waterfall from the bedroom window will do a lot more for one’s sense of well being than having to spend one’s days in some inner city, rat-infested slum. But that’s only part of the story.  Consider that several pop culture figures that achieved unbelievable wealth and adoration from screaming fans, nevertheless, wound up doing themselves in. Such as Elvis, or Marilyn Monroe. To say nothing of Michael Jackson or Whitney Houston. All of whom, for one reason or another, sought out death decades before their time was up. All of whom had achieved what billions of people on this planet wouldn’t even dare to dream of. Maybe the grass isn’t always greener in the other guy’s backyard.

So maybe, the option that most of us live by on a day-to-day-basis, that of muddling through with the problems of life, of living from paycheck-to-paycheck, of putting off from one day to the next whatever we can get away with, etc. isn’t such a bad deal. Kind of reminds me of a poem written by the 1920s poet, Edward Arlington Robinson. The poem was called “Richard Corey” who was a fabulously wealthy individual living in a town populated by poor blue collar workers. He lived in a great mansion on the hill but was always the epitome of politeness and courtesy to all the town’s folk. He would never fail to tip his hat to the ladies and inquire about their well-being. All the town’s people were so envious of Richard Corey, especially when comparing him to their meager, hard-scrabble lives. The ending lines of the poem go as follows:

So while we toiled and sweated, and cursed our daily bread; Richard Corey went home; one calm summer night; and put a bullet in his head.

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SCANDAL

Posted on May 20, 2013 by halviv

Roughly 40 years ago, President Richard Nixon was running for re-election against what turned out to be a weak and ineffectual Democratic opponent named George McGovern. All the polls, at the time, showed that Nixon was comfortably ahead and would win an easy re-election. (He eventually carried 49 states and won in a landslide.) Not withstanding Nixon’s large lead in the polls, a group of low level Republican hacks decided that they would break into Democratic campaign headquarters and steal whatever campaign information might be available, in order to further help Nixon’s re-election efforts. Being the original gang that couldn’t shoot straight, these idiot hacks were caught in the act by the D.C. police. The Democratic campaign headquarters they broke into happened to be located in a newly-built, apartment-house, condominium complex known as Watergate. It was a very pricy  establishment located on the banks of the Potomac, in Washington D.C.

Since Nixon had nothing to do with okaying this break-in, the sensible thing to have done, would have been to denounce these hacks, state that the White House had no role in authorizing the break-in, and offer that the perpetrators would be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Had he done this, the so-called Watergate scandal would have never taken root or blossomed, and Nixon could have completed his presidency on a high-note. But although Nixon had achieved major accomplishments during his first term, (ending the Viet-Nam war, establishing diplomatic relations with Communist China, creating the Dept. of Health, Education, and Welfare, etc.) he possessed one fatal flaw. He was highly paranoid. He believed he was beset by enemies (the opposition) who were out to “get him.” This led to him creating “enemies lists” of people who he would try to destroy before they could destroy him. By sending IRS agents out to hound them, for example.

Because of Nixon’s paranoia, he and his White House staff decided to cover-up key facts about the break-in. Like who authorized it in the first place, and where the cash had come from to fund the operation. At the time, there were 2 young reporters at the local newspaper, the Washington Post, who were assigned to the political beat and were eager to prove their chops, named Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. Hence, these two reporters dug deeper and deeper into the White House coverup of the events surrounding the break-in at Watergate. They developed an inside source at the WH who kept feeding them never-before revealed facts. They called their source “Deep Throat” (after a famous porno movie that was in the theaters at that time) in order to protect his identity.  There were also Senate hearings and other investigations on-going, and  the Watergate scandal grew larger by the week. Key WH aides were forced to resign in the wake of the scandal. Finally, when it was obvious that Nixon himself would be impeached and removed from office by Congress, Nixon resigned the presidency. The only president in the history of the Republic to be forced out of office. Woodward and Bernstein were lauded across the country, for the greatest act regarding the written word since Moses came down from the mountain with the 10 commandments. In the 40 years since, every reporter, or anyone who has ever worked in the media, has dreamed of achieving similar fame by cooking up another Watergate. But it ain’t gonna happen; or at least it’s highly unlikely. Sometimes you just can’t replicate the original.

This all became relevant because, here, in the first-half of 2013, the Obama administration has suddenly been hit by 3 significant scandals, which has many Republicans and other assorted Obama-haters licking their chops in anticipation that Obama, like Nixon before him, can be forced out of office. (Of course, should this happen, it would only result in Joe Biden becoming president, who the looney-tunes right-wingers despise even more than Obama. If that was possible.) These scandals have, like Watergate, all resulted from the stupidity of Administration officials, so lets take a look and see what’s there.

Scandal No. 1: Benghazi. This one has been festering since last September when our Ambassador to Libya and 3 of his protectors were murdered by terrorists in Benghazi. First of all, the Ambassador should have been in Libya’s capital, which is Tripoli, instead of war-torn Benghazi. Seems he was there to check up on some CIA covert operation. In any event, the criticism of the Benghazi fiasco is two-fold. The first is regarding the fact that there was insufficient troop or Marine protection for the Ambassador in Benghazi, and calls to send in the cavalry for rescue operations after the attacks had begun, went largely ignored by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and, obviously, by the President himself. Secondly, after the 4 had been murdered, the Administration had put out a false narrative, stating that a YouTube video critical of Islam had so inflamed the local crowd, that angry mob actions were responsible for the murders. Clearly everyone in the Administration knew that the murders occurred due to carefully crafted terrorist attacks. So people were asleep at the switch beforehand, and put out idiotic comments after the fact. But if stupidity and lack of foresight were impeachable offenses, every president since since George Washington would have had to be removed from office. Early in the 1980s, during Ronald Reagan’s first term, 241 U.S. Marines stationed in Lebanon were blown up by terrorists one night, while they were asleep in their barracks. Should we go back and retroactively impeach Ronald Reagan, because people in his administration were similarly asleep at the switch.

Scandal No. 2: The IRS Fiasco. Seems that certain IRS offices were giving Tea Party and other right-wing political groups a really hard-time when they attempted to establish tax-free statuses for their organizations. Yes, IRS agents should not be targeting anyone for their political affiliations. Extremely stressful to have IRS picking you out of the line-up for special attention, especially when it regards one’s beliefs. But the larger question is why the government is giving tax-free status to any political organization-be they right-wing, left-wing or in the center.Tax-free status should be limited to genuine human or animal charities and maybe religious organizations. No wonder we’re so broke. It’s time to stop these piece-of-crap political groups from raiding the U.S. treasury.

Scandal No.3: The AP E-mails. The Government had an informant on the inside of a major terrorist group planning some dastardly acts against the U.S. Someone in the Administration leaked his name to the Associated Press, who in an act of total and unbelievable stupidity, printed all of this, thereby jeopardizing the life of the informant. I feel so much safer now that this info has been made public. The Attorney General’s office has been trying to find the source of this leak by secretly delving into AP e-mails. Perhaps not the smartest thing to do, but certainly understandable given the circumstances. Nothing really much here that resembles another Watergate.

So there you have it: three supposed scandals meant to drive Obama from office, or at the very least, prevent Hillary Clinton from winning the presidency in 2016. As I said before, looney-tunes Republicans are drooling over the prospects of either, or, both happening. Stay tuned to this channel to see how these on-going sagas play out.

 

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LIVING OSTENTATIOUSLY

Posted on May 13, 2013 by halviv

The wife and I went to see “The Great Gatsby” over this past weekend. This is about the fourth iteration Hollywood has produced of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s famous novel. Overall, I would rate the movie, maybe a B-. There was lots of glitter and glitz, as the movie tried to capture the flamboyance of the 1920s. Lots of  ostentation, great costuming and hair styling, and great ornate design work in the mansions that housed the over-the-top partying that occurred among the rich and famous of the 1920s. But the movie came up short on substance. Indeed, it seemed to be glorifying the very flamboyant life-style that Scott Fitzgerald was condemning in his novel. Which was the phoniness, boredom, cynicism, and lack of purpose that existed among the upper crust at that time. And likely still does to this day.

The story takes place in one of the great mansions built by one of the ultra rich, (a rather mysterious fellow named Jay Gatsby) in the Hamptons on Long Island. One must have millions piled on top of millions just pay the property taxes levied on one of these properties; and today the Hamptons are still considered one of the top playgrounds of the rich and famous. Back in the 1920s, the rich would throw huge, lavish parties in these mansions to distract themselves from the lack of meaning in their lives. Daisy, who is Gatsby’s love interest, at the outset admits she’s bored and cynical about everything in life. So what better distraction than to throw huge, lavish parties, with bootleg booze flowing like the River Ganges, lots of ear-splitting music, and continually doing the Charleston to wile away the blues. This type of superficiality  and shallowness is the essence of Fitzgerald’s condemnation. New money often made in the in the booming stock market or through selling bootleg liquor, vied with old money ( you know, guys like the Rockefellers, Morgans and Carnegies, etc.) to see who could garner the most attention and publicity for living ostentatiously. Today it’s more the style to keep this type of ostentation under wraps. Too many bad guys around that would like to get in on the action.

Scott Fitzgerald’s life is an interesting story in itself. Like many artists, he enjoyed only the very modest of successes during his short lifetime. Being a heavy drinker with health problems, he died of a heart attack at the tender age of 40. “Gatsby’s” success as a great American novel wouldn’t be realized until well after he was gone. In that, he joined a large list of artists, writers and composers who often died penniless, with the greatness of their works not recognized until well after their deaths. Van Gogh is a prime example. In any event, Fitzgerald’s life was often overshadowed by his flamboyant wife Zelda. She came from Southern money, and gave drinking and partying a whole new dimension. The Fitzgeralds were part of the American expatriate group of artists living in Paris during the 1920s. These included Hemingway, of course, as well as Gertrude Stein, Henry Miller, Salvatore Dali, and several others. Besides trying to become famous for their works, the expatriates were known for their heavy drinking and partying. Not as lavish as those parties in the Hamptons, but quite legendary in their own right. And chief among the heavy drinkers was Zelda Fitzgerald . She and Scott had a tempestuous marriage and eventually separated. Zelda was finally diagnosed with bi-polar disorder and spent many years in and out of mental institutions. She also died at a fairly young age, in her 50s, I believe. If you’re interested in capturing the flavor of what life was like among the expatriates, it’s shown in a movie that came out several years ago- Woody Allen’s “Midnight in Paris.”  A really, really good movie compared to this current version of “Gatsby.”

Compared to life today, the 1920s were almost an era of serenity. It was after the conclusion of WWI and America quickly dis-armed and went back to being an isolationist nation. After all, being surrounded by two large oceans would preclude us from getting into any further foreign entanglements, or so the thinking went. About the biggest worry on people’s minds was wether Babe Ruth would break the home run record by hitting 60 homers in one season, which he did in 1927. Both business and the stock market were booming. Prohibition was in effect which made obtaining and drinking bootleg liquor that much more fun. The roadways began to proliferate with that new-fangled invention, the automobile, which was made famous by Henry Ford’s Model T. There was lots of cash to be made in the stock market since everyone knew that stocks could only go one way, and that was up, right? The Government did virtually nothing, but who cared? Everyone was doing so well. Calvin Coolidge was President for 6 years in that decade, and actually cut the Government budget by  the time he left office. ( I wrote a previous piece about Silent Cal’s tenure as President if you’re interested in more detail.)

And then one day, this great American dream of peace and prosperity evaporated like the morning mist. The stock market crashed in 1929, and people’s lives, by the tens of millions, were virtually destroyed, almost overnight. People were jumping out of buildings to their death, as mind-numbing poverty slowly oozed over the nation, and covered the landscape. They stopped doing the Charleston in the Hamptons. Even in foreign affairs America’s dreams of being an isolationist nation began to disintegrate, as the twin evils of Hitler’s Nazism in Europe, and Japan’s militarism in the Pacific, marched ahead with unstoppable relentlessness.

Today there are those that would like to to return American society and Government back to those simpler days of the 1920s. When one could make a fast buck in the stock market and live flamboyantly with great ostentation. Who wouldn’t want that. But it’s never going to happen. The Tea Party movement which made such a big splash in 2010 has delusional dreams that somehow the clock can be set backwards. But life now has become so much more complex and complicated, that going back to the days of Silent Cal is a monumental pipe dream. The war against terrorism is an example of today’s complexities. Besides we all know how well life turned out the way it was lived in the 1920s.

 

 

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OF PATRIOTS AND SCOUNDRELS

Posted on May 6, 2013 by halviv

Most or all of you probably never hear of Major General Edwin Walker. He fought in WWII and then in the Korean war, and as I indicated, rose to the rank of major-general. But he was heavily invested into deep right wing politics, which at the time, (late 1950s to mid-1960s) meant being virulently anti-communist, and preserving Jim Crow racist segregation laws that existed throughout the South, and to a lesser extent in the North. In September, 1957, the courts decreed that segregation in the Little Rock Ark. public school system was unconstitutional, and ordered the schools to be immediately integrated. The man that was Governor of Arkansas at the time, a delightful chap named Orval Faubus, was thoroughly racist and a firm believer in segregation. So when 9 black school children tried to enter what was then an all-white high school, Faubus ordered out the Arkansas national guard to block their entry into that school. After trying for 18 days, unsuccessfully, to persuade Faubus to reverse course, President Eisenhower ordered federal troops into Little Rock to escort the 9 black children into an all-white school. Leading those federal troops was General Walker. Although, as I’ve said, he was a staunch believer in segregation, he was, nevertheless, forced to obey his commander-in-chief’s orders. With that, a major hole in the wall of segregation that the South had erected, was blown open. Of course, the white population of Little Rock were beside themselves in fury at the forced school integration; and Faubus described the federal troops as an army of occupation.

Although being forced to command the troops that led the way to successfully integrating Little Rock Central High, Walker never changed his segregationist views. He became prominent in the John Birch Society, which was not only a virulently anti-communist organization;  but also a strong advocate of racial segregation. They believed that segregation was God’s will, so that anyone opposing segregation was obviously a godless communist or communist-sympathizer. In the early 1960s, after being accused of trying to indoctrinate his troops with John Birch Society propaganda,  Walker left the Army and began making political speeches around the country. He called Eleanor Roosevelt and former President Harry Truman communist sympathizers. He flew the American flag upside at his Texas home to demonstrate that the U.S. had been taken over by commies and pinkos with the election of John F. Kennedy in 1960. Then in 1961, the courts ordered that a black man named James Meredith be allowed to enroll at the all-white University of Mississippi, (Ole Miss.) The Governor of Mississippi at the time was Ross Barnett, who made Orval Faubus seem like a mild-mannered pussy cat.

Barnett went on a fiery, speechmaking tour throughout the state, with Edwin Walker at his side, denouncing the evils of integration, and the big, bad federal government that imposed such evils. After all, the Feds actions were clearly unconstitutional; a violation of states rights enumerated in the tenth amendment. States rights became the rallying cry for allowing the South to maintain its segregationist laws. Sound familiar? Aren’t states rights kind of what the tea party looney-tunes, and far right politicians like Sarah Palin and Rick Santorum are speechifying these days. In any event, there was a drumbeat of how states rights and the constitution were being violated because the walls of Jim Crowism seemed to be crumbling. Edwin Walker went throughout the country giving speeches about how godless communism was taking over the country with advent of integration. The sad thing was that he drew crowds numbering in the tens of thousands or more, all wildly cheering virtually everything he said. He ran for Governor of Texas, but even that deep Southern state rejected his craziness. He died in 1993, declaring to the end that godless communism was destroying America. Oh, and James Meredith was eventually admitted to Ole Miss, which further led to the destruction of Jim Crowism in the South.

This is sort of a long-way around of coming to the point, which is the National Rifle Association convention held in Houston, TX last week. The same sort of right-wing whackoism that was on display around 50 years ago regarding violation of the 10th Amendment’s states rights, was similarly on display at the NRA convention regarding the Feds violation of the 2nd Amendment regarding the right to bear arms. The parallels are remarkably eerie. Over 70 thousand people purportedly attended this convention to hear speaker-after-speaker denounce the Federal government for trying to pass some mild legislation that would prevent people with serious mental problems from obtaining firearms. Why this legislation was just a ruse to confiscate guns from honest, god-fearing gun-owners. Everyone there knew that Barack Obama would personally give the order for the military to roll their tanks down every street in the nation; and go door-to-door confiscating everyone’s firearms. That would leave all the honest folk defenseless against all the bad guys out there who apparently had no trouble at all obtaining guns. But the NRA, which is now supposedly 5 million strong, vowed that they would never allow this type of unconstitutional heresy to occur. Any politician supporting any type of gun control would be made to pay dearly, come election time. And, of course, chief among the speakers denouncing these supposed 2nd Amendment rights violations, were Rick Santorum and Sarah Palin. What’s that old saying-the more things change, the more they stay the same.

In 1775, British poet, philosopher, and essayist Samuel Johnson, issued the famous statement that-“Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.” Watching the antics going on at the NRA convention, one couldn’t help but think that did he ever hit the nail on the head.

 

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THE GREAT DIVIDE

Posted on April 26, 2013 by halviv

Last week’s tragic events at the Boston marathon was a perfect example of what happens when religious fundamentalism converges with one’s sense of delusional victimization. Two young brothers, with virtually their entire lives ahead of them, decided to destroy those lives as well as the lives of as many innocent victims as they could kill. They were immigrants from Chechnya; but had been in this country for about 10 years and seemed to be melding into the the mores and activities of our society. The younger brother had even become a naturalized citizen. But somewhere along the way, the older brother allowed himself to be deluded by Islamic jihadist religious fundamentalists. The only true objective of these jihadist imams is the destruction of western society. To accomplish that, they preach the vilest hatred toward anything western, and by the force of their “religious” preachings, are able to convince scores of young, vulnerable minds to destroy themselves while committing acts of terrorism. Chechnya has been fighting decades-old wars with Russia to gain independence; so it would appear that the older brother’s beef would have been with Russian domination and suppression of Chechnya’s quest for for freedom. But young, vulnerable minds can be so easily manipulated, apparently, to the point of where the U.S. instead of Russia become the evil villain in the older brother’s delusional thinking process. He then, obviously, brainwashed the younger brother into also destroying his life through some holy grail act of terrorism.

There is a great divide in values between western society and those of mid-eastern Moslem nations. Osama Bin-Laden said it best when he stated that western societies value life, while mid-eastern Islam values death above all else. Thus, the highest honor for a jihadist is to become a martyr by killing others and himself in an act of terrorism. (Notice I made the distinction between mid-eastern jihadism and the beliefs of other Moslem societies. For example, Indonesia, which is the largest Moslem nation in the world, seldom indulges in such jihadist fantasies.) The delusions that fuel jihadist terrorism probably go back a thousand years to the time of the crusades; when Christian knights from Europe set off on a “religious” mission to rescue the “holy” land of Jerusalem from the Moslem “infidels.” Grievances can be nursed a long, long, time, and the human tendency to play the victim is woven into the very fabric of the human condition. But what the jihadists really despise, is how much more advanced western society is, when compared to most Moslem societies, in every aspect: scientific, technological, economic, cultural, living standards, and so on. So instead of working to bring Moslem nations up to levels achieved by western societies, jihadists act to do just the opposite. Destroy western societies through acts of terrorism so they descend down to Moslem-nations standards. Which is generally where the west was about 700-800 A.D. Although this will never happen, that bit of reality will never be allowed to enter the jihadist’s planet of delusion.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Russia brutally invaded Afghanistan and took over control of that country. When Ronald Reagan became president in 1981, he decided that the U.S. should provide military aid to Afghan freedom fighters fighting a guerilla war against the Russian invasion. In particular his administration provided Stinger surface-to-air missiles to the Afghans which was especially effective in bringing down Russian fighter planes. Eventually, Russia found it too costly to continue the occupation, and withdrew their troops back inside Russian borders. One of the Afghan freedom fighters was a tall, lanky guy named Osama bin-Laden. The Reagan Administration never considered what the follow-on consequences would be once the Afghans obtained their freedom. It never considered that once the Afghans, and the Islamists that came from other Moslem countries to join the battle, gained their freedom, they would then turn their wrath on the west and the U.S. in particular. It took less than a decade for the Islamists in Afghanistan to reset their focus away from Russia and toward the United States. By the mid-1990s various terrorist activities began cropping up in different parts of the world, including in this country, often as the result of a group no one had heard about before. They called themselves Al-qiada, but who cared about some obviously deranged individuals who were killing innocent victims just for the pleasure of it. Until 9/11/2001. Then the whole world took notice.

The terrorist mindset is always one of victimization seeking revenge. We, of course, know that in this country we have have our own breed of murderous nut cases. Less than a decade-and-a half ago, our own home-grown Timothy McVeigh, because of some imagined, delusional grievances against the Federal Government, managed to slaughter 168 people going peacefully about their business, by blowing-up a Federal office building in Oklahoma City. Scores of these victims were very young children attending a day-care center. On a slightly smaller scale, we’ve experienced a series of recent heinous murders in Connecticut, Colorado and Arizona because of deranged “victims” that were out for revenge.

We all know that delusional nut jobs exist in our very midst. Some of us may even know some one like that. Law enforcement can only provide so much protection. Since law-enforcement officials are still just human beings, people with murder on their minds will fall through the cracks. As the 2 brothers did in Boston. Eventually terrorism, either home grown or imported, will strike despite our best efforts at prevention. Yes, the FBI was provided certain information that might have prevented the Boston tragedy. But since FBI agents are also human, mistakes were made.With the enormous proliferation of hand guns, rifles, bomb-making materials and other weapons so readily available in our society, terrorist acts become ever more easy to pull off. So welcome to life in the early 21st century. Where terrorism, serial killings, revenge killings, or just plain, good old-fasioned acts of murder become the new norm; to live with on a day-today basis.

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BUDGETARY BLUES

Posted on April 12, 2013 by halviv

I’ve written before how most people wrap themselves in a warm, velvety blanket of self-deception, or delusion, in order to smoothen out the jagged edges of harsh reality that often exists in their lives. I’ve written about how this delusion has led so many into literally taking the bible at face value as the word of God. Despite all the ridiculous contradictions and mythologies embedded in both the old and new testaments. About how people are still searching mountain tops in Turkey looking for the remnants of Noah’s Ark, in spite of the implausibility of such a fable. About how poll-after-poll shows that less than half the people in the U.S. believe in Darwin’s Evolution. Even though one visit to a museum of natural history in any major city would show them overwhelming proof of Evolution’s existence. So too, does this blanket of self-deception spill over into the political arena. This came to mind with the recent death of Briton’s Margaret Thatcher and the cozy relationship she had with our Ronald Reagan when he was President.

Much has been written about about the “iron lady” as she was called; but all these words seldom gave a full picture of her administration. At the time she became Prime Minister in 1979, England had gone pretty far down the path of democratic socialism. The British government had nationalized large, entire industries such as coal-mining, steel production, airlines, shipping and telecommunications; and was doing a very poor job running their operations. The unions had become all-powerful, and had begun a series of crippling labor strikes that was grinding the economy into the dust. Thatcher’s achievement was to get the government out of the business of operating major industries (which it was doing so badly), and to break the back of the trade union’s stranglehold on the economy. For those accomplishments she was either praised or demonized, according to one’s political beliefs, by major segments of the British population. But in trying to paint Thatcher as a dyed-in-the-wool conservative, few columnists have pointed out that she was also a stout defender of the British universal healthcare system. She had no tolerance for anyone attempting to minimize or cut their benefits.

The media also failed to recognize how proud Maggie was for securing the largest single year payment increase since the end of WWII (about 11%) in Briton’s old-age pension system (our Social Security system.) Or how, for the first 10 of her 11 year-reign, the marginal tax rate on the wealthy was 60 percent. In her last year, that rate was reduced to 40%, still a tick higher than what the Democrats have been able to achieve in this country. Because the reality is, that Conservatives in England, and indeed, throughout all of Europe, are still more liberal than Democrats in this country. Every first-world country, including all of Europe, has universal healthcare except the U.S. And it usually extends to such lesser things as post-natal care. For example, in France, when a mother gives birth, a nurse is sent to her home for several days after, to help in her recuperation. So while Margret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan did have a special relationship, they were often miles apart in their accomplishments.

According to propaganda, fable and mythology put forth by Republicans in this country, Ronald Reagan was the great conservative that slashed government spending to the bone. Nothing could be further from the truth. Here’s where those pesky little things like facts come into play. (They always seem to ruin a nifty delusion, don’t they?)  For 39 presidential administrations covering more than 200 hundred years, the accumulated budget deficit in this country amounted to a little over $900 billion. Under 8 years of Reaganomics, the budget deficit mushroomed to $2.8 trillion. I’m not a mathematician, but it seems to me that Reagan accomplished more than a 300% increase in our deficit spending during his 2 terms in office. How did he achieve this magnificent accomplishment? In 2 ways. First, while he did cut some fringe social spending around the edges, he vastly increased military spending. You know, to stick it to the “evil empire” as he called it, or the old USSR. And secondly, he sharply reduced tax rates, especially for the rich, whose marginal rate went from 60% down to 28%. Of course, this, in turn, sharply reduced the amount of revenue the government was able to take in.

Right-wingers and Republicans (is there really a difference between the two) like to pretend that, somehow, the Department of Defense is not subject to the same budgetary constraints the rest of the government has to deal with. That Defense really gets its funding from the money-tree that grows in the Pentagon court-yard. Indeed, in this past election, while Mitt Romney was castigating President Obama for huge budget deficits, and promising to balance the budget if elected, he went on about how Defense was so under-funded. He promised to significantly increase Navy ships, and fighter jets, and ground troops, etc. But those things don’t come cheap. If those promises were implemented, they would increase the $700 billion existing Defense budget by another $100-$200 billion annually. But he would somehow still balance the total federal budget. Must be that getting resources from the money-tree thingy again.

The fact was that Reagan really didn’t care about the ballooning federal deficit, as long as he got his way on vastly increasing Defense expenditures. He’s given credit for significantly improving the ailing economy he inherited when taking office. But it was a completely different set of circumstances in 1981 versus today. Back then, there were raging inflationary pressures throughout the economy, versus very low inflation and interest rates today. Inflationary pressures didn’t begin to come under control until Paul Volker, then head of the Federal Reserve System, began raising interest rates to astronomical levels. This cooled off wild spending impulses, and sucked some of the excess dollars out of the economy. As inflation became tamed, the economy started to significantly improve. But most of the credit for that should be given to Paul Volker.

Today, in the 25 years since Reagan left office, the federal deficit has grown from $2.8 to almost $17 trillion. Certainly not a good thing. The GOP likes to blame a big chunk of the increase on too much spending by the Obama administration. But the fact is, spending has become almost static in the last several years. The most prominent reason for huge budget deficits in the lack of revenue taken in by the government. Part of that is due to the recession and the high rate of unemployment we’ve experienced. But part is also due to the low rate of taxation that currently exists and that was put in motion by Ronald Reagan. We are currently number 31 on the list of taxes collected by the world’s nations. Virtually every country in Europe and the Americas has a higher rate of tax collection than we have.

I call it the free-lunch-syndrome, so craftily exploited by Ronald Reagan. You want a strong national defense? You want a vast array of social, crime-fighting, and other government programs? Fine. We’ll give you all of that. And the best part, we’ll hardly charge you for any of this. After-all, who doesn’t like a free lunch. So now, this has resulted in the ultimate dysfunction as far governance is concerned. Republicans are vowing no more tax increases, despite the fact that we are so obviously under taxed; and Democrats are vowing no further cuts or reforms of social programs, even as they become more and more costly. Maybe, the first step toward sanity in governance, would be to dispel all the delusions and mythologies surrounding past history’s prominent figures. Maybe infusing those that would govern, with a strong dose of reality and rationality would finally put us on the path toward resolving some of these issues.

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THE ABYSMAL OR THE ABYSMALER

Posted on April 8, 2013 by halviv

Even though the presidential election has long since passed, I’m still getting e-mails from both the Republican and Democratic parties asking for donations. I guess, these days, as soon as one election is over it’s time to start campaigning for the next one. Thus, the race is already on for the congressional elections in 2014, followed by  the next presidential race in 2016. The early favorites in 2016 are Hillary Clinton for the Democrats and Marco Rubio for the Republicans. So if you thought the previous election cycle was the height of obnoxiousness, be prepared for this obnoxious overkill to continue nonstop until the end of time. In any event, when the Republican e-mail arrived, instead of a donation I sent back my own e-mail. I said that I considered the Republican agenda to be, on the fiscal side: trickle-down-economics, tax-cuts for the rich, and slashing government assistance to the poor, the sick and the elderly. On the social side it was anti-abortion, anti-gay rights, anti-immagration, and anti-gun control. I told them to let me know when any of that stuff changes, and then, maybe I’ll toss a few shekels into the kitty.

On the Democratic side it becomes more complicated. While usually operating with the best of intentions, Democratic ineptitude is so mind-boggling, that Democrats themselves, become their own worst enemies. (There used to be a saying in Washington, that the Democratic version of a firing squad was to form a circle.) A perfect example is Obamacare. It was the Democrats intent to enact universal health-care, certainly an admirable goal. But instead of doing it smartly, they bungled the whole enterprise, and now everybody hates the resulting legislation. The smart way was to have legislated Medicare for everyone, from the moment of birth. When Obama became President in 2009, the Democrats had a two-thirds majority in both houses of Congress. Within 6 months they could have passed a 10-page piece of legislation that would have given everyone the right to enroll in Medicare from the moment one was born. If anyone couldn’t afford the very modest Medicare fees, they could be enrolled in Medicaid. To pay for all this, Congress could have passed a 5-10% value-added tax, (sales tax) on all products except for food and medicine. This is how all the first-world countries of the world pay for their universal health-care, which they all have.

Instead, the Democrats screwed around for 2 years and finally passed this 2600 page Frankenstein, who everyone opposes, including the health insurance companies which initially supported Obamacare. It would be as if you were planning a trip from Baltimore to Boston; but instead of booking a direct flight between the 2 cities, you booked a flight that went from Baltimore to Atlanta; to Denver; to Phoenix; to Los Angles; and then back to Kansas City; on to Chicago; and then, finally, to Boston. Now major headaches loom as the new law is supposed to be implemented starting later this year and early 2014. Most Republican governors in the 30 states they control are vowing not to implement the health exchanges that are at the heart of Obamacare.

Democratic ineptitude shows up in other areas as well; such as the weak economy, huge and mounting budget deficits and disintegrating foreign affairs. Unemployment numbers remain stubbornly high as the economy barely limps along like a wet noodle. That alone will be enough to doom Democratic chances for complete congressional control in 2014. Plus, Democrats are refusing to acknowledge the damage that is being wrought by a gargantuan accumulated budget deficit nearing $17 trillion, and annual deficits running in the vicinity of $1 trillion. While China has bought about $1 trillion, and other nations own smaller portions of our debt, the largest debt-holder by far, is the Federal Reserve System. As I pointed out last time, that is the height of an incestuous relationship-one government agency buying the debt issued by another government bureau. It means printing up and flooding the market with dollars which become more and more valueless, thus risking hyper-inflation. Right now interest rates are at historic lows; but when they start to rise due to inflationary pressures, it will cost the government hundreds of billions of dollars more to pay the interest on the debt. Eventually, there won’t be enough money left in the world to service our debt; and at that point the entire economy will collapse.

On the foreign affairs front, North Korea is threatening us with nuclear war while Iran plows ahead unchecked with their development of a nuclear arsenal. In Syria, between 70-80 thousand civilians have been killed in a civil war that has been raging on for 2 years with no end in sight. So, if you feel that the bad guys around the world are on the ascendency, there is ample justification for those beliefs. Yet we have an incredibly weak foreign policy of “leading from behind,” while evil appears to be triumphant.

I know that many young people feel that all these “political” problems are beyond their scope of attention. It’s stuff for the old fogies to be concerned with. Besides, there is so many more important issues to worry about, such as which of the Kardashians is getting divorced or having a baby, or who will be the next American Idol. But just the opposite is true. Seniors like myself can probably muddle through the rest of our lives until it’s time to go cloud-dancing, before the really, really bad stuff comes crashing down. It’s young people in their 20s or 30s or even 40s that will have to face the consequences of a collapsing economy or nuclear, world-wide disaster, if world events continue on their present courses. So young people here, and around the world, really need to pay attention and attempt to change the course of these destructive human events.

Thus, when I get requests from 2 political parties asking for donations, I view them as a choice between the abysmal and the abysmaler, and it’s not a very entertaining choice. Both parties, these days, seem far more interested in winning elections and grabbing power, than in fixing the overwhelming problems that beset us. So for the time-being, I think I’ll keep my money in my wallet, and view the world as it spins on its wobbly axis.

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ARBITRARY VALUES

Posted on April 2, 2013 by halviv

“But square-cut or pear-shaped, these rocks won’t lose their shape; diamonds are a girl’s best friend.” So sang Marilyn Monroe, provocatively, in the 1953 hit movie-“Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.” I believe she was also accompanied by Jane Russell, another one of Hollywood’s sexiest bombshells. And it’s true, not only for girls, but for guys too, if you’re among the fortunate ones to have been able to acquire and hold on to diamonds through the years. Priced in the thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or millions of dollars depending on the size of these carbon-based stones, diamonds have produced extraordinary monetary value throughout the centuries. But what makes these stones so valuable when compared to other stones that are more readily available. As I’ve said, diamonds are almost exclusively carbon-based, and carbon is one of the is one of the most common elements on the planet. Coal is also exclusively carbon-based, but no one pays comparable prices for coal as they do for diamonds.

It’s often the assignment of of arbitrary values by mankind that prove to be durable throughout the ages, that determines value. In the case of diamonds, it’s based on the fact that they are the hardest, most imperishable, and brilliant of what are considered precious stones. They’re formed when carbon deposits begin to harden deep within the Earth’s surface and under enormous pressure. This pressure results in diamonds being thousands of times harder than corundum, the next hardest substance, and from which rubies and sapphires are formed. Their hardness is often valuable in certain commercial enterprises, when cutting through other hardened materials can only be accomplished by diamonds. And diamonds can also be made in factories. But these have only a fraction of the value of those dug out of the ground. In the end, what determines the monetary value of diamonds versus any other stone dug out of the ground, or made in a laboratory, is whatever mankind is willing to pay for these items.  A totally arbitrary process.

The same is true with gold, another element dug out of earth. Throughout mankind’s history, gold has been put on a very high monetary pedestal by virtually all societies. Being more durable, and perhaps considered more beautiful than other minerals, gold has been often used as currency from before ancient Roman times, by almost all civilized societies, or what have been considered civilized societies by various historians. It could just as well have been copper, or nickel, or bronze, or any other metal. But gold was the chosen one, (to a lesser degree, silver also.) There go those arbitrary values again. Adding more to the value of diamonds or gold and silver was the prestige factor of ownership. Having lots of gold and diamonds has meant that you own membership in the most elite, privileged, and powerful sectors in any society. Membership based on stones and metals dug out of the earth. How arbitrary.

Which brings to the usefulness of gold as a currency in the U.S. Since 1879, the U.S. had been on a monetary gold standard, which meant that gold coins could be used interchangeably with paper currency. Supposedly, paper bills could be exchanged at any bank for gold coinage, and there had to be a fixed amount of gold held by the Government to support the entire supply of paper money. But in 1933, with the Great Depression in full swing, Franklin Roosevelt, on becoming President, declared a bank moratorium to prevent further bank failures. As part of this moratorium, banks were to end the practice of issuing gold coinage in exchange for paper fiat, and everyone was required to turn in all the gold coinage they owned (except for a nominal amount), and receive paper bills in return. The price of gold, then at $21 per ounce, slowly rose to about $35 an ounce over the next several decades. But as Government budgets kept expanding with the expansion of the welfare state, it became more and more impossible to tether the amount of paper currency in circulation to the amount of gold held at Fort Knox.

Thus, in a stunning reversal of previous history, and having no other choice, President Richard Nixon, in August, 1971, announced this would no longer be U.S.policy. That the U.S. would no longer convert dollars to gold at a fixed value, and  big banks, foreign governments or any other holder of U.S. debt, could not ask to be repaid in gold. Since then, the amount of paper money in circulation has expanded dramatically. The price of gold has rocketed from $35 an ounce to about $1600 an ounce (and an ounce is an awfully small quantity.) The price of gasoline has gone from about a quarter a gallon, to near $4 a gallon. Indeed, the dollar today will buy only one-sixth of what it could buy in 1971. And the amount of Government debt, which totaled $1 trillion from the beginning of George Washington’s administration to the early days of Ronald Reagan’s administration, (1981), now totals almost $17 trillion. Add to this, the fact that we are accumulating debt of nearly $1 trillion a year, and the fiscal picture looks none too rosy in the coming years.

Also to be considered is the fact that the Federal Reserve is currently “buying” most of the newly issued Government debt. While the Fed is supposedly quasi-autonomous, it really is an arm of the Government. Thus, you have one portion of Government (the Fed) “buying” the debt issued by another portion of the Government, the Treasury Department. Talk about an incestuous relationship. The Fed really doesn’t have money of its own, so it, in effect, just “prints” money to buy all this debt. The money supply keeps expanding and the value of this money keeps decreasing. Maybe those old-fashioned arbitrary values like the gold standard weren’t so bad after all.

So how do we get out of this mess. We start by raising the eligibility age for Social Security and Medicare to 70, dramatically cutting the Defense budget so we are no longer the world’s policeman, raising taxes on the wealthy who can well afford such increases, and eliminating the considerable amount of Government waste that currently exists. Know any politicians that have the “stones” to make that happen?

 

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LIVING ON BORROWED TIME

Posted on March 18, 2013 by halviv

I’ve written before about living in Europe during the early 1960s when I was a civilian auditor working for the U.S. Army, and about some of the close calls I had, death wise. I was thinking about some of those experiences the other day, and about how many of us continue to exist in spite of having had similar close brushes while avoiding entrance into the afterlife. Others, of course, not so fortunate. Their close calls with death did materialize in the real thing, along with a free eternal subscription into the next dimension. Random acts of events of which turn out favorably for some fortunate souls, and not so good for others. The lack of any apparent or obvious design on the part of the universe as to who lives and who dies.

In any event, the most vivid of my memories goes back to the time that I was assigned to an audit of a large Army installation located in Orleans, France, which was about 80 miles south of Paris. The most distinguishing feature about Orleans was… that it was only about a one hour drive to Paris. At least in those days, when there were no speed limits on French roads. That, and the fact that Joan of Arc had led the French to some great victory over England in Orleans in the 15th century, in one of the never ending wars the French and British conducted through the ages. (I also later worked in Poitiers, France, a town about 300 miles south of Paris, where Joan of Arc was subsequently tried as a heretic, and condemned to die by being burned at the stake. It was amazing how we kept running into each other.) But back to Orleans and my little escapade. The Army installation where I was assigned as a junior auditor was outside the city limits in an area we affectionately called the boonies. I was part of a team of about 10 auditors and we were evaluating the cost-effectiveness of the base’s supply operations, which were, to put mildly, plain awful. Which meant that we, as auditors were having a field day writing reports about all their screw-ups.

It just about never snowed in France, at least in the 3 years I lived there. But one morning it did snow in Orleans. Not much, maybe 3-4 inches. But just enough to cause havoc for an inexperienced driver commuting in a featherweight car. When I first arrived in France it became apparent that most of my assignments would be well outside of our Paris headquarters. In the beginning, I was able to bum a ride from Paris to the audit destination (and back to Paris on the weekends) with a fellow auditor working on the same job. But that soon became a drag, so it became obvious that I needed to buy my own car. That did not turn out to be a simple matter. Until then the only car I had ever driven was with automatic transmission. But in France, in those days, to afford a car with automatic transmission one had to be a direct heir of Louis IV or Marie Antoinette, or a descendent of some other French aristocrat. So it meant learning how to drive a car with stick shift. Which, in turn, meant having to go to a French driving school to learn how to shift manually. What a joy that was. I could write a whole other blog about that experience. Suffice to say, there was a lot of screaming going on between me and the instructor.

When I finally learned how to shift, I went shopping for a new car, and found the only auto in my price range (which was basically zero to one thousand dollars) was the French made Simca. It was identical to the Volkswagon beetle, except, maybe, it was even smaller and lighter than a beetle. The only option it contained was a heater. It didn’t even have a radio. But the price was right, all of $950. (When I left France 3 years later, I was able to sell the car to a newly arriving auditor for $800. My kind of deal.) So, in this small Simca, I went tearing through the French countryside, often at speeds of 80-85 MPH, especially when I was anxious to return to Paris on the weekends. Anyway it was in this Simca that I was driving to work that morning, generally oblivious to the new snowfall. I always took the back roads through farm country to avoid traffic.

Now the thing about the French countryside, at least in those days, was the fact that there were massive 8 foot high concrete walls at the edge of each property where it met the road. I don’t know why; maybe they were trying to spare motorists from observing how ugly their hayfields or farm houses were. In any event, these walls went on into infinity, or so it seemed. So there I am, driving obliviously in the freshly fallen snow. Suddenly, the car, whose tires were about the size of those on an average bicycle, started to skid on the snow or ice. In a panic, I jerked the steering wheel in the opposite direction. Which, being an inexperienced driver, was exactly the wrong thing to do. The car then lurched into the direction I had turned the steering wheel, and with a gallop, began heading straight into the concrete wall. Remember, that in those days there were no such things as seat belts, so if I had hit the wall at that speed, I would have been flattened like a pancake.

For some inexplicable reason, there was about a 10 foot gap in the wall at that point. There was no accounting for this gap. It was by the same ugly hayfield as the rest of the landscape in that area. But it was this gap that I went shooting through, landing in the middle of the hayfield. Neither I nor the car were damaged. The driver of a car up the road coming in the opposite direction, stopped dead in his tracks, and watched my antics as I tried to maneuver my car back onto the road. He stared at me in disbelief, as I tried to appear nonchalant, as if saying-no big deal, this happens all the time. Even as my heart was pounding like a sledgehammer. When I arrived at the office, and told everyone what had happened, the Auditor-In -Charge turned white as a sheet, even as he berated me. Not out of concern for my safety. It would have been a blow to his career aspirations and chances of promotion, had someone died in a car accident on his watch.

So the way I look at it, the last 50 years or so of my life has been lived on borrowed time. I haven’t done anything extraordinary like, say, find a cure for cancer. But I raised a family and had a moderately successful career with the Government. And I never shot anyone or held up a bank. Now I’m the same age as the newly elected Pope Francis. (It’s purely conjecture, but I’m guessing that I wasn’t one of the men being considered for that position.) And I never cease to marvel at the randomness of events unfolding in the universe. Especially when it comes to choosing who gets to live and who dies.

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