Going to War - It's a Good Cause for History Shall be its Proof

Escalante, Utah

I bought my first tank of gas for the new truck – got about 17 mpg in the city which is not bad as the window sticker gave an urban fleet average of 13 mpg. I stayed in this morning to greet the Sears repairman – the pulley for the lawnmower came and he was to come and put it on. London broil was on sale and I put three pounds in the crock-pot overnight – shredded beef and noodles for dinner. I was going to make scalloped potatoes but they can wait. A cold front is moving in. This morning is cool. It feels like an autumn morning but I know that it is not.

The eye wants to sleep… but the head is no mattress – Paul Bowles – Too Far From Home: Selected Writing of, 1993 p272

It is easy enough to
       Count three score
But 992 is very
       Different
Numerated, demarcated
       Individualted
Accounted, amassed
       Collectivized
Owned, acquired and
       Disposed of

By looking at things aesthetically, just as much as by looking at things moralistically or pragmatically, we are destroying their value, their significance. Objects do not fade away with time: they are destroyed! From the moment that we cease to regard them awesomely they die… Objects die in proportion as the vision of things dies. The object and the vision are one. Nothing flourishes after the vital flow is broken, neither the thing seen, nor the one who sees – Henry Miller – The Wisdom to the Heart, 1960 p178

As combat troops come out mercenaries go in – the same old story, the privatization of war, endless war. The State Dept is taking over the chore, doubling the size of its armed contractors in Iraq – it was already employing 1,370 armored vehicles and is in the process of purchasing 60 more mine-resistant vehicles from Defense. It is expanding it’s airforce as well, from one to three aircraft and from 17 to 29 helicopters. In an age in which violence is considered an integral aspect of national policy this assumption of responsibilities by the State Department is only natural – it is just the next step in a historical progression – first the War Department became the Department of Defense then internal violence was transferred to Homeland Security (I waiting for the BIA to be transfered there) and irregular (read secret) violence as gone to our security agencies (which now conduct open programs of assignation – call the anit-terrorist Predator attacks if you want to make it sound more  civil). So it is no big stretch of the imagination to move military activity (police action to use a Korean era term) in with foreign policy – they make good roommates. And with same sex marrige on the crest of a wave - they could even get married.

No more gentlemen of the old guard commissioned to / safeguard, as Chief commanding blackguard in / the rearguard of the home guard, the / inch, / 3 inch, 6 inch, 10 inch, 12 inch. / No more 14, 16, 18 inch shells – Kenneth Fearing – Selected Poems, 2004 p53

Nicholas tore up the yellow pages – Dave is going to be sore – Maybe the dog thinks he getting revenge but he is not, he is just going to get another lesson. Yesterday after taking a dump on the dinning room floor he had his nose rubbed in it and is still sore. He went and hid under the car and wouldn’t come back in. Half a dozen rain showers yesterday from noon to midnight – a boom, boom, crack and the thud of rain on the roof and then they would pass on – ten to fifteen minutes each, intermittingly until around midnight (I suppose as by then I was asleep – nothing like rain in the summer to make you drowsy).

If a writer can incite anyone to question and ultimately to reject the present structure of any facet of society, he’s perform end a function – Paul Bowles – Too Far From Home: Selected Writing of, 1993 p533

An historical success proves a theological truth

All arrangements for a better life here on earth mean increased suffering and misery. Everything that is being planned for tomorrow means the destruction of that which now exists. The best world is that which is now this very moment – Henry Miller – The Wisdom to the Heart, 1960 p99

New-home sales dropped by a third after the expiration of the federal first-time homebuyer project. Which program helped 241 individuals serving life sentences in prison to become new homeowners.

The enthroned cannot revolt. / What was the pain / he needed to kill / if not the ultimate pain // of feeling no pain? – Thom Gunn [Collected Poems] 1994 –362

You have no emotional debt for that for which you have already paid, but it is beneficial to feign one anyway

The elimination of struggle is the greatest struggle of all – the struggle not to struggle – Henry Miller – The Wisdom to the Heart, 1960 p99

Individualism is not a concrete action but the an abstract attempt to merge into a collective identity

Most of the time in our world, truth is just opinion – Michael Ondaatje – Anil’s Ghost, 2000 p102

What ever happened to Angie Dickenson? When she posed nude she was over forty and it cause quite a stir and a lot of interest - it was considered a milestone for the older woman. I looked up the images on the Internet. They were noting sensational. Llater Kathy Bates exposed breasts to Jack Nickelson and it was considered another liberating moment for all aging babyboomers. Nudity as a rule does not harm an actreess’ career regardless of age even the Singing Nun got into the act. And maybe the Flyiing Nun did also but I have no proof of such any photos.

When a story is good I listen, and if it develops afterwards that it was a lie, why so much the better – I like a good lie just as much as the truth. A story is a story, whether it’s based on fact or fancy – Henry Miller – The Wisdom to the Heart, 1960 p136

Reality resides in the language itself rather than in what it purports to describe

Human beings may be unusual among living things in being able to augment their mate-selection strategies by conscious choice – David P Barash – How Women Got Their Curves – 2009 p111