Skip to main content

The Prison of Life continues

The prison of life is still on. You can't show it any better than this.



It's an interesting (to me at least) feature of my personality that I don't buy stuff. The reason for that is, I don't want stuff. Not wanting stuff in a consumption society is kind of strange because you're constantly bombarded with advertisements strongly suggesting that you should buy something - anything (and we're not suggesting - we're pleading {maybe demanding} that you purchase a thing) it's the cost of freedom. One of the most liberating machines ever invented is the automobile and I must admit that driving across Wyoming on I-80 into the sun at 90MPH on a late August afternoon is a wonderful feeling.* But that car requires gasoline which is refined from crude oil and not all crude oil is the same - Saudi Arabia has the sweetest crude oil there is and the world (not just the USA but the world) needs it.

The Persian Gulf

The Strait of Hormuz separates Sunni Islam from Shia Islam by about 35 miles - that's it - or about the distance between Washington DC and Baltimore MD which isn't very far. Much of the trouble in the Middle East and everywhere else in the world can be traced to the Shia stronghold of Iran and its propagation of violence on behalf of it's sectarian brothers in other nations. As is often the case it is the "little differences" in a religion or ideology that excite the deepest passion in the adherents of the faith. What might seem trivial or harmlessly odd to an outside observer - "what are you arguing about?" - are very real and important to a true believer. So the Sunni/Shia split is real and because the Shia constitute a minority of most Muslim countries they are "oppressed" which makes them a natural rag doll for caring progressives to clutch and protect. But this is not the "realist" position because the numbers are on the Sunni side and since most Westerners can't see a dimes worth of difference between the two sects why pick the side of a weak looser when it's just as easy and rational to go with the rich winner.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Real Story with Gretchen Carlson

She was "sexy", but "too much hard work." I'm a regular Fox & Friends viewer (mostly in protest of the other insipid morning programs like Today and Good Morning America) so over the years I've gotten to know Gretchen Carlson pretty well. Stuck between Steve and Brian she always seemed a prudish scold with an irritating, self-righteous demeanor that I simply put up with because I figured some people in the Fox audience actually liked her persona. It was obvious that Steve and Brian did not, but they were stuck with her like so many talking heads and had to make the best of it - which they did. Besides, she was no worse than any of the other women on morning show TV - I mean, you're only going to find a certain kind of person to do this kind of work and that kind of person is the Gretchen Carlson kind. Then, one day, she was gone and replaced by Elisabeth Hasselbeck and the F&F ratings began to climb, and climb and climb - in two months view

Psycho Killer, qu'est-ce?

I came into this wicked world in the early 1960's and as a result I have born witness to America's 50 Years of Failure which includes the modern age of mass shootings by psychotic men who "go off" on a given day, for no reason at all (except "guns"), and kill scads of innocent bystanders. Back in August of 2019 a KOTCB blog post titled " Reciprocity City " explored a young  gunman  named Patrick Crusius  who drove 9 hours through the west Texas flatlands to shoot up El Paso, TX The KOTCB has commented on many of these shootings, bombings and knifings over the years -  The roots of the Boston Marathon Bombing ,  the Emanuel AME Church shooting ,  Syed Rizvan Farook and his bride Tashfeen Malik ,  Ft. Lauderdale Airport shooting ,  Nick Cruz lovesick Parkland shooting ,  the Iranian, PETA activist, Vegan Bodybuilder, YouTuber's attack on Google  and now this very oddly timed and placed "lone wolf" attack on Walmart shoppers. This list

A Apolitical Blues

Well my telephone was ringing, and they told me it was chairman Mao. You got to tell him anything 'cause I just don't want to talk to him now. According to the brilliant troubadour Lowell George the Apolitical Blues are " the meanest blues of all" and who am I to disagree with this soul man now after all these years of living by his maxim.  I first heard the song bursting from the 1972 vinyl of Little Feat's Alt-Rock-Country masterpiece "Sailin' Shoes" in the second story bedroom of my friend John's older brother Edie who, being about 3 years our senior, was instructing us on the importance of good music. This was circa 1975 and a formative time for my musical taste and overall aesthetic which, for better or worse, infuses every aspect of my existence including the KOTCB blog so a debt is owed this unforgettable "older brother" now that  he has shuffled off this mortal coil  and left us with smoky memories. A born rebel with the heart o