The Housing Market

My mailman was kind enough to deliver to me the latest bit of drivel from my local Congressional representative, who proclaimed within it that safe and affordable housing is a right. I am not enlightened.

The trouble with rights is that they imply obligations. If you have a right to something, who is obliged to fill that right? After all, if a certain nondescript fellow (whom we'll call Cloyce just to give him a name) has a right to a safe and affordable house, well, mine is safe and affordable. Do I have to give it to Cloyce?

Oh, don't be silly, Marty. Of course not.

Well, okay, then, how about the heavy machinists and the carpenters and the electricians and the heating and plumbing contractors who actually build homes? Do they have to build Cloyce a home for free? And do the folks who make the materials which go into home building have to supply the lumber and wire and ductwork and lighting gratis as well?

Come on, Marty, of course not.

Well, then, who does have come up with the house? Who owes Cloyce a safe, affordable home, since it's a right he has? Who must deliver on that right? Don't say the government, because that's just a longhand way of saying me, and we've already established I don't owe Cloyce a home.

And that's the trouble when you begin bandying about rights. If you aren't ready and willing to talk rationally about obligations as well, Congressional representative, you're just blowing smoke. 

I Don't Get It

I'm going to be him: I'm going to be that guy. I don't care. I think it has to be said.

Have we become such party animals that so mundane a trifle as a sports draft is literally tying our streets in knots? The NFL, the National Football League to you who don't know (and I have been surprised by the number of folks who don't know and, thankfully, don't care; there is hope for the world), is holding its player draft in Detroit this week. And the city is teeming with visitors and all sorts of temporary construction is happening and streets are being closed...so teams can choose who can play for them?

To begin with, and I mean this quite seriously, why a draft of players? Why can't they select who they want to have a catch with? Isn't it some form of involuntary servitude to say that if you want to play with us you have to play with who we (those in power) say you have to play for? I'm willing to argue that there's a real moral wrong at work here.

Then there's all the stuff and nonsense surrounding the thing. I get it, to a point, anyway, when sportsball is happening, a Super Bowl or what not. But we're not even talking about an actual game or event here. We're talking about, at best, an eenie, meenie, minee, moe: who picks who first and so on. It's inane, and I mean that quite seriously too, to force all this hullaballoo on a community for such ultimately meaningless drivel. 

When bread and circuses have devolved to this point, friends, I have to honestly wonder whether our national priorities are anywhere near right. Yet judging by the recent history of these United States, perhaps this is a symptom of a greater disease.

Truly Sublime

Here I am, touting my own writing. How gauche, but my blog, my rules.

Still, here's a cool review of my 'memoir' The Sublime to the Ridiculous

Kidding aside, it's pretty much what I intended about the collection. It's available here: STTR

Kindle only just yet, but I hope to have a print edition ready soon!

The Day Dawns

When I bought a copy of Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, the noted Beatles album from 1967, I found a gem. I especially liked the song When I'm 64, a Paul McCartney tune which is the second track on side two. 64; that was a long time off for a twelve year old.

Not so much now. Today I hit that milestone, fifty some years after first hearing the song. When I get older? I am older. Losing my hair? Oh, yeah. Many years from now? Not anymore.

But I'm living the life. All my years humming that tune, and here we are. Thank you, Lord.

Looney Sunday

I discovered last night that a cable station is having a Looney Toons - Merrie Melodies marathon this weekend. Man, I had almost forgotten how laugh out loud hilarious all those old Warner Brothers shorts could be.

First there was The Old Grey Hare, where Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd were transported all the way to the year 2000 - 2000, showing how old the old toons were - for them to see how their relationship ended. No spoiler here, but dynamite was involved.

Ever see Duck Amuck? If you haven't you need to. The animator puts Daffy Duck through all kinds of bizarre situations which you have to see to believe. And who, it turns out, was that artist? 

There was stone age Elmer who sounded like Jack Benny. I saw the Three Little Bops, narrated in jazz style by Stan Freberg. Hilarious. Foghorn Leghorn painted a dog's tongue green. Uh, you had to see it. But it was the sort of thing which leaves the viewer asking, 'People got paid to write that?'.

Of course, there was What's Opera, Doc?, one of the few where Elmer got the best of Bugs. It's classic.

The marathon lasts until 6 tomorrow, Monday, morning. Don't bother me the rest of the day.

Pleading the Fourth

This one might make a better Sunday entry, but as I have to get a few things done at the old barn this Saturday and feel a bit inspired by it this minute, I'll put it out there today.

We all know the Ten Commandments. An old priest once explained to me that they're a hierarchy: though they are each tremendously important in their own right, the lower the number, the more significant it is.

The first three deal with our relationship with God. The other seven concern our relationship with each other. And what's the first of those?

Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother.

Why is this Fourth Commandment so important? Of course, because as a rule our parents merit veneration and respect. But beyond that? The priest told me that when you violate any of the other Commandments you at the same time violate this one. Why? Because when you lie, cheat, and steal you're telling the world that your folks taught you that was okay. You impugn their integrity by making it appear they taught you that lying and so forth are all right. You insult your mother and father when you do wrong things.

About time y'all started listening to Momma again, eh?

April 19, 1775

On this day in 1775 the American Revolution began in earnest. The militiamen, the ordinary citizen soldiers of Lexington and Concord, turned back the more organized and more highly trained British, harassing them all the way back to Charlestown outside of Boston. The Shot Heard Round the World had been fired. April 19, 1775 had secured its place in American and World history.

The significance of this event cannot be underscored enough. To date, it lit the lamp of almost surely the only large scale revolution which has had any modicum of positive success. Most new nations sink into anarchy, more terrible tyranny, or simply the same old same old with a new face after a known form of government falls.

To be sure, even our Revolution was subject to severe trials early on. It was no certainty that a civil government based on popular will would result from the breaking of age old ties. Yet somehow it did; I believe that it was American Exceptionalism through Divine Providence that our nation rose from those battles as it did.

I do not mean this as an insult towards other people and nations who have or are now seeking similar freedom and respect. I know that we aren't and never have been perfect, and that there are and have been other rightly proud and blessed peoples and countries. But the fact is that popular uprisings need more than simple change. They need enlightened leadership. They need more than mob mentality. Any dictator with charisma and organizational skills can turn crowds to their will quite readily.

The colonists had rational leadership. The colonist themselves were on the whole reasonable people. They were able to overcome the occasional rabble to form a stable, reasonably free nation. And that's exactly what makes April 19, 1775 so memorable. Our revolution is truly unique in history. It was essentially founded 249 years ago today.