Hal - Deliberately Basic

A Generation of Protesters

Where have all the hippies gone? We, as a country, are embroiled in an unpopular war that is unwinable. More than 3000 of our countrymen have been killed in this small country in the Middle East. Are we more afraid of our own government than the enemy - whoever the enemy is? And the big question, why are we not seeing the college generation all over the US protesting this war like the sixties generation did?Yes, there have been protests, but nothing on the scale of young people in the past. Most people these days associate anti-war protesting with the Vietnam era. In fact, there was a very powerful movement against the war in Europe in the 1930s. Of course opposition to war in the US started with the American Revolution. The colonies were markedly divided, those who remained loyal to the king, and the rebels.In the current war young men and women are not faced with the draft, and except for everyday exposure to the horrors of Baghdad through the news media, the effect on young people, in general, is minimal. In no way does this mean that the troops and families involved are experiencing any less pain than in any other war ever fought. Of course they are, and for them I feel the utmost sympathy.

I am one, to be blunt, who feels we should get the hell out of Iraq and let them fight the inevitable civil war - in fact, this has already begun. I was against this war from the beginning, but a protester four years ago was a societal pariah.

I know there are those are “experts” those PHDs who study sociology, and may have very structured explanations for the phenomena of protest. I don’t care. It does not take a PHD to understand the wrongness of this war.

The kids of the sixties displayed a high energy, a rebelliousness akin to the American Revolutionaries. I believe, as Thomas Jefferson did, that the government should reflect the will of the people. When the government reflects the will of one man, we have a name for that - a dictatorship.

Where are the protesters now? I don’t really have an answer for that, but I suspect they are having a few frat parties, thinking about their careers, their future lives, and how much money they can make. Meanwhile, who is thinking of the kids in the Middle East, and their shaky, unstable future? Their families and loved ones at home, and maybe a few old war veterans from Vietnam.

Sorry folks, but what I am seeing is a movement toward selfishness. And that is more scary than even the war. If you really want to “support the troops” bring them home.

Hal Brown

Lest Ye Be Judged

With the recent pathetic display of judge Larry Seidlin crying in the court room, after he “suffered” and “struggled” with the case, my reaction was to ponder just how many judges are as ridicules and lame as this. The case concerning Anna Nicole Smith is as exciting as any afternoon soap opera can be, but judge Seidlin at least has given us a good laugh.

As it happened, I was in the sanctum sanctorum (the shit-house) reading Harper’s Magazine about the same time CNN was showing the crying judge. What to my wondering eyes did appear, yet another little article about a freaky judge who is testosterone driven.

Judge William A. Carter, a judge in Albany, New York was handed a decision by the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct as a result of complaints filed. At one point he “angrily left the bench, threw off his glasses and judicial robes, and proceeded rapidly toward the defendant.” He said, “You want a piece of me?”
In another incident he told a police officer, in response to an angry defendant, “If you are so upset about it, why don’t you just thump the shit out of him outside the courthouse?”

And it goes on. In Clearwater Florida a judge is taken to task for compulsive viewing of Internet porn. In Michigan political rivalry resulted in a judge spreading rumors to ruin an opponent’s career. In Maryland a woman is doused with gasoline and set afire by her husband, because a judge refused to listen to her pleas for help.

Think about this before you vote for a judge to “get tough with the bad guys.” There is a fine line between you and the bad guys, a gray area where you could find yourself at the whim of one of these simpleton bastards. Or maybe you are under the illusion that everyone who is judged as such deserves what they get. In that case I won’t even bother to say good luck.

Hal Brown

What Will Be Your Last Words

What a grand thing it would be if you could have at least ten family members present  at your death, all hovered around the bed waiting to hear the last words you will ever say. Given this scenario, what would you say? Straining, barely audible, I would like to exhale the final words,
“There is over a million dollars in bonds and cash buried in the…” and then stop breathing. The problem is, I wouldn’t be there to watch the scramble.

Of course there are many well known “last words” of celebrities and famous historical figures. Oscar Wilde is supposed to have said,
“Either that wallpaper goes, or I do.”
The poet, Dylan Thomas said,
“I’ve had eighteen straight whiskies, I think that’s the record.”
François Rabelais, a controversial, satirical 16th century writer, known for his humor said,
“I owe much; I have nothing; the rest I leave to the poor.”

Your last words may not be just before the moment of death. On his arrival in Dallas in 1963, John F. Kennedy said,
“If someone is going to kill me, they will kill me.”
It follows that if you say something the may require an apology, there is a good possibility you may not be around to render the apology. Think about that the next time you mouth those nasty words to your wife during a heated discussion.

In the end, even if you happen to be acclaimed, renowned for curing cancer, a Nobel prize winner, a poet or a plumber, your last words may never be recorded. Or you may say something you wouldn’t want recorded. You step in front of a bus, turn and scream,
“What the f**k!”

What will be your last words? Even you don’t know, because you don’t know when the end will come. At his death, Pancho Villa said,
“Don’t let it end like this. Tell them I said something.”

Just be careful what you say, or better be careful what you think.

Hal Brown

Bullshit And Windows Vista

Traditionally, things that you can always count on are death and taxes, as the cliché goes. I propose a change to that worn platitude. Death, taxes and bullshit are certainties in life.

In the process of giving more thought to bullshit, I read On Bullshit by Harry G. Frankfurt, a Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at Princeton University. This of course has led to more bullshit books, one example being Bullshit and Philosophy, A collection of essays on the original bullshit book by Frankfurt. I like this bullshit. And this of course has lead me to the master bullshitter of our time, Microsoft.

Am I the only person tired of hearing about Windows Vista? Most of my working life has been in technology, and I have witnessed all the Windows releases, the hype, and the bullshit that precedes each and every one. To upgrade or not to upgrade, that is the question, assuming you care.

I no longer have to care, as I no longer work as a network consultant or assist in deployment of upgrades, or have anything to do with computer systems management. My only duty is to see that my personal system works, and spews forth the fruits of what I sow into it. I’m tired, tired of the years of bullshit about the importance of something purported to change the world, when in fact it is just another computer system to do what we already do with what we already have. Is this all we have to think about? A fucking computer operating system? It is when you are bombed with news reports about it for months on end.

I can think of a number of things more important than this, lofty world events, governments coming apart, wars, famine and plagues. Even this I don’t fret about. A good bit of even this is bullshit as well. But, Windows, Mac, Linux, Internet brawls over which is the best OS, is in the scheme of things important, for little minds only.

To end this rant, let us pray that the free advertising that Microsoft gets from those who perpetrate the bullshit about Windows Vista, gives them a pox in very private areas. If you want it, buy it. Just leave me in peace to think about the other bullshit in the world.

Hal Brown