Reflections of Me

     I thought I'd take a bit to speak about some of my favorite books, past and present.  Well, technically, all past, since I can't very well speak of any I haven't read ( hush up, back there, Self : you always want to complicate things, don't ya? ).      I should clarify : I am not doing book reviews.  Always hated those, in school.  Somehow, I always got decent grades on mine, was never sure why.  I had no clue what I was doing.  Reading, however, has been a important part of my life since before I entered kindergarten ( back in those good old days of the 50's ).  I was lucky, I was taught to read while still quite young, and have always considered it the most important thing I ever learned.  I have always felt it helped me to enjoy so many other things later in my life, because I was fortunate in another respect.  In response to a very early question I asked when faced with a new thing to read ( ok, what i...

     Today, St. Patrick's Day 2019, marks the end of a sad, disgusting, despairing week.  Our Nation rolls on nearly rudderless, with a pilot who makes Captain Queeg look sane.  The World, particularly the Western World ( considered by many to be the watermark of civilization ), seems to grow more mad with each passing day.  The latest madness, a hate-fueled murder and wounding of 100 people in New Zealand, has left me for several days at a loss.  One lone madman, armed with firearms, has killed 50 people, and wounded 50 more.  Some of whom may not recover.  Their crime in his eyes?  They were attending a church for their religion.  Yes.  That's all.      This leads me to once again consider the madness that seems to be infecting the world.  A madness fueled by hate, hate of anything perceived as 'different'.  Hate that has begun to be endorsed by World Leaders.  One of the most promine...

     Well, here we go again, folk.  After months of distractions, inane and insane twitter posts, a partial government shutdown lasting over a month, and a seemingly paralyzed GOP-led Senate, President Trump finally admitted he was not going to get his border wall money from Congress.  Rather than admit defeat, however, he accepted Congress's latest offer to keep the government operating and declared the border a National Emergency.  Which of course it isn't, but, he has never let facts get in the way of trying to get what he wants.  If he is successful, and of course he brags he and his staff are willing to take it all the way the the Supreme Court, he can take government funds allocated for other programs and use it to pay for constructing new border fencing.      That this comes at a time when the results of his and the GOP's tax law changes are coming into focus ( as most of America knew it would ) makes it even more interesting....

     As I have written in previous musings, baseball has been a major part of my life since I was a very young child.  Today, nearly 70 years later, it remains as one thing I still look forward to every Spring.  It isn't as large a focus now as it was lo those many years ago, but I still follow the teams and players as well as I can.  Some I follow reluctantly, because they appear in what I do follow more than I'd like, but, like politics, it's something that is difficult to ignore.      As my formative years featured players who were active during the 40;s, 50's, and 60's, I consider myself somewhat 'old school' in how I view the game, in what I feel is right or not right as changes occur.  Which they do, more frequently since the 70's than in the decades prior.  Major League Baseball moves at a slower pace, which suits me just fine ; both the game, and the rules, really should not be heavily messed with.   ...

     Yes, today -- September 17 2018 -- is Constitution Day.      I guess my first thought on this would be : why does our Constitution need a Day?  Isn't it -- well -- EVERY day?  But, all right, it has been 231 years since it was written.  A wee smidgeon of time in relation to World History and associated historic, life-changing documents.  Still counts, however.  Counts big time.      In addition, how many of us in America today -- actual citizens of the United States -- know much about it?  We know ( or think we do ) the Preamble.  Used to have to memorize it in school.  I did.  Can I recite it from memory today?      Not if my life depended upon it.      All right, then : how many Articles are there?  Without cheating, now.  (I'd have to. ) I know there are two for sure.  Three?  Six?  Nine?  I am not talk...

     Whoa!  The what, you say?  I've heard of that!      Yes, so have I.  But, you know me by now ; this isn't about that!  Well, okay, it is.  Sort of.  But no, it isn't.  I bet you are thinking I am going to explain that.      You'd be right.  And here I go : no, this is not about any organization, be it American, Canadian, British, or any land or sea based Nation.  There.  Got that out of the way.      Trust.  A small word.  Small words are good ; somes is nasty nasty, buts easys to remember, yes they are.  Preciousssss wordses!  Okay, okay, enough Gollum.  Well, what IS trust?  Yeah, yeah, it's a word.  But, what does it define?  Is it a emotion?      According to Webster, it is:      Definition of trust ...

 I have been reading a book, a novel of fiction, which has turned out to be rather good, if a bit difficult for me to read due to the author's penchant for combining narrative with character speech without using punctuation to separate.  But, this is not a review of the novel.  Rather, it is a portion of a paragraph which caught my attention, and may perhaps be one of the best descriptions of law I have ever read, or thought of. " But William knew the law had as much to do with power as rightness.  It was built by men for its own purpose, like a steam locomotive, and what was done with it was the work of men who had places to get to and schedules to keep.  He thought of Foole.  Of course there was a wrong side to the law.    He sometimes wondered if there was a right one. "                                                 ...

Ah, here it is, April, year 2018.  A time of year I always look forward to, usually with great optimism.  Spring, meaning warmer temperatures, the blooming of flora and the stirring of fauna.  Baseball, the only sport, in my mind, that truly imitates life.  Sunshine, green grass, the smell of rich, verdant soil, and Nature displayed in Her most beautiful form.  All will be right with the universe now. Except--enter 2018.  Winter refuses to release her icy hold.  She allows glimpses of Spring, then covers them in snow and deadly icy temperatures.  The gloom and pall of deep depression, Winter is, and she seems to want to extend her seasonal chill.  Usually, we humans have periods during Winter's reign where we conduct festivals, meant to cheer each other up, and those are wonderful and help us endure the deathly cold, gray days.  Keeping alive the hope for Spring.  Usually. Enter this new era.  One in which, not satisfied wi...

I get burrs in my saddle.  They irritate me, until I write them out and take a look at them.  Here's one that has been in the news a lot lately.  A lot.  I mean, a LOT. Sexual misconduct, Washington and Hollywood-style.  Ad infinitum. On the one hand, I am sick of hearing about this.  On the other hand, I am not.  What I am finding most wrong about this is the dialog itself.  It is a dialog we need to have, that is 100% true.  But we need to also understand what the problem is, and there seem to be a awful lot of folks who want it to be about the differences in genitalia.  That isn't the problem.  The problem is in power, perceived or otherwise.  For centuries, men have indeed dominated the positions considered powerful, but we have seen that change over the last 50 years.  What hasn't changed is the perceived 'rights' that we consider attendant to those positions.  The taped statement made by Donald Trump during hi...

We've again been bombarded with multiple news events over this past week, from Capitol Hill to Texas churches.  Gets damn hard to sort them all out.  I leave the heavy lifting to those more professional and capable than I, and simply do my best to keep up as best I can with my limited intelligence. From a news aspect, I have tried to follow the recent GOP tax reform bills as they ping-pong themselves between the houses of Congress.  House has this one, Senate has that one--but, wait.  Oddly, they seem to be the same one, only worded differently.  As with anything, it's the wording that contains the details.  Or, should.  Careful wording will also hide a lot of details.  This so called tax reform bill is, first, far from reform.  It revises many tax laws, certainly.  It's authors made the claim ( a while back, not so much now ) that is simplifies our tax codes.  Well, from what I have followed, it actually does the opposite for the...