I Think They Mean It

Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it.
—     Mark Twain
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On This Day In:
2020	ITF (365) – Update
	Word Up!
	My Fear: A Second More Tyrannous Term
2019	Reality And Imperfection
	Day 8: One Stone
2018	Pity The Nation (Part 1)
	Day 41: Hiccup Or End Of Days?
2017	Sharp-Edged Beauty
2016	Start, Keep, Finish
2015	Lifetime Friends
2014	Acknowledgement
2013	Longevity, Tenacity and Diversity
2012	What Reagan Really Cared About
2011	Seeming Sane (Or Not)

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The Same Goes For Countries And Elected Leaders

If each of us hires people who are smaller than we are, we shall become a company of dwarfs.  But, if each of us hires people who are bigger than we are, we shall become a company of giants.
—     David Ogilvy
Founder of Ogilvy & Mather’s
(a famous marketing company)
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On This Day In:
2020	Your True Standard
	But When The Smoke Had Cleared Away…
2019	Ooh, Shiny
	Day 4: Surprised
2018	We Are Approaching Default
	Running On History
	Day 37: Blended Not Juiced
2017	Today Is Not Lost
	Day 8
2016	Paying Attention
2015	An Awful Ordeal
2014	What Are You Doing?
2013	Lives > 1
2012	Strange To All The World
2011	Unnecessary Stagefright

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And Initiative Gets You Started

Enthusiasm finds the opportunities, and energy makes the most of them.
—    Henry S. Haskins
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On This Day In:
2020	#IncometentDonald Says The Economy Will Rebound Quickly
	A Family Horror Story
2019	A State With No Business
2018	Reflections
2017	Opposites Attract
2016	Completely Unreasonable
	Starting To Be A Reacher
2015	Avengers Assemble II
	But If I Had To Perish Twice…
2014	Turning Pages
2013	We Are All Accountable
2012	American Sign Language
2011	Happy Disproof
2010	Book Review – Managing Your Government Career

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The Imposition Of Position

Rank does not confer privilege or give power.  It imposes responsibility.
—    Peter Drucker
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On This Day In:
2020	Stand Up!
	Crowd Sourced Scouting Report
2019	Only One Direction
2018	Respect Is Long Gone
2017	Dream Of Dreamers
2016	Dear Automakers
2015	And Some Not So Brave Too
2014	In My Lifetime…
2013	Democracy
2012	Borrowed Expectations
2011	Not Necessarily True

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How Many Times

Do not judge me by my success, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.
—    Nelson Mandela
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On This Day In:
2020	When Looking Around
2019	Except Dying
2018	History Will Judge Him Favorably
2017	Are You Confused?
2016	The Golden Mean
2015	To Infinity And Beyond
2014	Taken Back
2013	Windows Or Doors
2012	All Rise
2011	Vote Weight

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Not Here, Not Again

Pit race against race, religion against religion, prejudice against prejudice.  Divide and conquer!  We must not let that happen here.
—   Eleanor Roosevelt
[We will soon see if the Senate is interested in protecting Democracy or whether party continues to be more important than country.  What we saw last month was a President promote civil insurrection to destabilize the Congress while it was performing its Constitutionally mandated duty of confirming a democratically held (and fair) election, simply because he (and his insurrectionist supports) lost the election.  The President did this in front of the cameras and there is no denying his culpability.  He spent almost a year promoting the line that the election would be unfair and, in fact, “stolen” if he lost.  He then spent two months after the election calling on his supporters to come to Washington to “protest” to Congress about them approving the legitimate results of the election.  On the day (6 January 2021), he called on his followers to halt the proceedings in Congress and he promised to walk to Congress with them in protest.  Of course, being a coward, he did no such thing.  He retreated to the White House, where he could be protected from the immediate results of his induced riot.
The former President should be tried and convicted of violation of his oath of office and then the Senate should vote to remove the privileges of his former Office – primarily retirement pay and the ability to run for future public office.  That is what should happen.  I have very little faith it will.  The simple truth is Republicans seek a return to power in an off-year (non-Presidential) election next year (November 2022), and they don’t want to jeopardize that election protecting the Constitution or the Country by punishing a faithless (IMHO a traitorous) former President.
We’ll see if there are any “Profiles In Courage” in the Republican Party, but my money is on this leopard not changing its spots.   —  KMAB]
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On This Day In:
2020	Senate Perfidy
2019	Contributing To Congress
	Yellow Signs Of Spring
2018	But Take Heart
	Poetic Marker
2017	The Few, The Many, The Most
2016	To My Brother
2015	For Junior
	A Roman Rome
2014	Hmmm
2013	What’s A Motto With You?
2012	Worthy Companions
2011	Bourne Again
	Which Ten Are You In?

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Inauguration Day 2021

The Boys Are Back In Town
Favorite Line(s):
The boys are back in town
(The boys are back in town)
I said the boys are back in town
(The boys are back in town)
The boys are back in town
(The boys are back in town)
The boys are back in town
(The boys are back in town)
[Congratulations to President Joe Biden and to our first female (“MVP” – Madam VP) Vice-President Kamala Harris.  We are praying for you and your new Administration.  We do not expect you to SAVE us.  We expect you to LEAD us.  We don’t believe you’ll make life easy for us.  We just hope you’ll be able to make it a little bit easier.  Now, let’s get to work!!  —  KMAB]
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On This Day In:
2020	Posting As A Continual Exercise
2019	Border Security – Yes, Border Wall – No
2018	Supporting Survival Values
2017	Inauguration Day 2017 [Sometimes, I hate it when I’m right! — KMAB]
2016	Or A Pot Of Gold After The Storm
2015	One, Two, Three…
2014	Lend Your Hand
2013	Amnesty, n.
2012	Best Resolv’d
	The Clock Is Running
2011	Magic

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Tomorrow President Biden Starts Wrestling

Most of our problems can be solved.  Some of them will take brains, and some of them will take patience, but all of them will have to be wrestled with like an alligator in the swamp.
—   Harold Washington
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On This Day In:
2020	The Burden Of Faith
	On To Superbowl LIV (54)!!
2019	Are Your Dogs Barking?
	Dangerous Waistcoats
2018	And 40+ Years Later?
2017	He Is Alone
2016	Compensation
2015	Charlie Redux
2014	The Crux
2013	Erosion And Rechannelling
	Alliance, n.
2012	How Many Thought… (One I Know Of)
	Choices And Decisions
2011	Speed Spoils
	Simply Intended
2010	A Second 4 Hour Jog

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The Honor Is To Serve…

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, everyone!!
If you have a chance, please be of service to someone today.  It doesn’t matter how trivial the service may seem.  Even a smile can change someone’s day and alter their life.
Start a vibration in the universe!!
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On This Day In:
2020	Each Meaning
2019	The Deep End
	Is Anyone ELSE Out There Listening?
2018	Defining Characteristic
2017	Just Asking
2016	Still A Burden
	15 And Counting
2015	All A Game
2014	Two Thoughts
2013	RIP – Dear Abby
	Half-Life Problems
2012	To The Soul…
2011	Reverted!!

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Only So Long

You only have power over people so long as you don’t take everything away from them.  But when you’ve robbed a man of everything, he’s no longer in your power — he’s free again.
—    Alexander Solzhenitsyn
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On This Day In:
2020	Each Meaning
2019	The Deep End
	Is Anyone ELSE Out There Listening?
2018	Defining Characteristic
2017	Just Asking
2016	Still A Burden
	15 And Counting
2015	All A Game
2014	Two Thoughts
2013	RIP – Dear Abby
	Half-Life Problems
2012	To The Soul…
2011	Reverted!!

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Tomorrow: Will Republicans Choose Democracy Or Tyranny?

One’s philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes.  In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves.  The process never ends until we die.  And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.
—    Eleanor Roosevelt
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
—    Edmund Burke
The President is merely the most important among a large number of public servants.  He should be supported or opposed exactly to the degree which is warranted by his good conduct or bad conduct, his efficiency or inefficiency in rendering loyal, able, and disinterested service to the nation as a whole.  Therefore it is absolutely necessary that there should be full liberty to tell the truth about his acts, and this means that it is exactly as necessary to blame him when he does wrong as to praise him when he does right.  Any other attitude in an American citizen is both base and servile.  To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.  Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or any one else.  But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about any one else.
—    Republican President Theodore (“Teddy”) Roosevelt
[Tomorrow, Congress (both House and Senate) will meet in joint session to “officially” count votes from the electoral college and declare the winner of the 2020 Presidential election.  The “winner” of the election was former Vice-President Joe Biden.  The loser of the election was the current President: Donald Trump.  Biden won the election by over 7 million voters nationwide and surpassed the 270 electoral college votes required to become President.  The losing President (Trump) and his political party (the Republicans) are claiming there was voter fraud and election “irregularities” – but, only in the swing states where the President lost the election and only on the votes for the Presidency (not for Republicans who kept their offices while the President did not).  There is NO evidence to support claims of either significant voter fraud or irregularity in ANY state.  The Republicans are lying to the American public and to the voters they represent in the hopes of furthering their own political careers.  The American public has voted.  Trump LOST by a significant margin.  It is well past time to accept reality and turn to solving the outstanding problems facing our country.  Tomorrow we will see which “representatives” (Congressmen and Senators) in our government believe in “democracy” and which are willing to sacrifice our country’s principles for the sake of an incompetent businessman / politician / con-artist.  —  KMAB]
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On This Day In:
2020	On Killing Foreign Generals…
2019	Patient Understanding
2018	I Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Form
2017	Fashionista
2016	A Faulty Model Of God
2015	Non Sequitur
2014	No Flags League
	I Ain’t Who Am
2013	Spoiling For Fame?
2012	How Many?
2011	Too Tired To Chat Much
2010	I Must Be Crazy!!

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Speaking For Us

We need someone who will stand up and speak up and speak out for the people who need help, for people who are being discriminated against.  And it doesn’t matter whether they are black or white, Latino, Asian or Native American, whether they are straight or gay, Muslim, Christian, or Jews.
—     John Lewis
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On This Day In:
2019	Foundational Pillar Of Civilized Discourse
2018	Seven Minutes. Not Six, Not Eight
2017	Falling Forward One Step At A Time
2016	And Without Expectation
2015	Just Do It
	I Am A Runner
2014	Some Things I Learned (Mostly) In The Army:
2013	Who You Are
2012	Mine Stands
2011	Aversions

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The Main Thing: Vote!

No one has the right to sit down and feel hopeless.  There’s too much to do.
—   Dorothy Day
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On This Day In:
2019	A Big “IF”
2018	Committed To Thinking
2017	More Pictures From My (Family) Retirement Party
	A Fondness For Sins
2016	Are You Waiting?
2015	The Future Myth
2014	Hands
2013	Because You Have Lived
2012	47%
2011	Conservative Values: Low And Lax
2010	A Non-Zero Sum Game
	What If “c” Isn’t A Constant?
2009	Pictures from UCLA trip…

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An Eye For An Eye

“Failsafe” — movie review
Today’s movie review is for the 1964 military / political thriller “Failsafe“.  The plot revolves around a falsely identified aircraft entering U.S. airspace and the nuclear destruction which follows.  The premise is that both men and machines can fail when humanity trains specifically for world-wide destruction.
Henry Fonda stars as the (un-named) President of the U.S., a young Larry Hagman of “Dallas” and “I Dream of Jeannie” fame is the translator working for the President, Ed (Edward) Binns is the flight commander attacking Moscow, Frank Overton plays General Bogan (in command of the Strategic Air Command (SAC)), Fritz Weaver plays Colonel Cascio who believes the Soviets are actually attacking and tries to mutiny against Bogan and the President, Walter Matthau plays Dr. Groeteschele, an academic / Pentagon consultant who wants to use the “mistake” to initiate an all-out attack / war against “the Communists”, and Dan O’Herlihy plays General Black (“Blackie”) a college friend of the President who is called upon to bomb New York City to compensate for Moscow and to prevent a full-scale nuclear exchange.
To “understand” the movie, a little historical perspective is required…  In the previous year (1963), the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. faced off in what would come to be known as the “Cuban Missile Crisis”.  As far as we know, this is the closest humanity has ever come to nuclear annihilation. Earlier in the year (1964), another movie of a similar vein (“Dr. Strangelove“), but more of a political / military satire was also released.  Both involved a rogue aircraft destroying a Soviet city.  However, in the first movie, the Soviets have a world destroyer which is activated.  In this movie, the President acts to placate the Soviets and save humanity from destruction.
So, is this movie any good?  Is it realistic?  Is it entertaining?  Yes!  Yes!  And, yes!  The film is an interesting throw-back to the days of the black and white drama.  This role and Fonda’s role in “12 Angry Men” are the two signature roles which I remember Fonda for.  “The Grapes of Wrath” and “On Golden Pond” are both equally memorable, but the former was before my time / interest and the latter was at the very end of his long career (he appeared in over 60 films).  And, of course, in my day, EVERYONE was compelled to view “The Ox-Bow Incident” in high school.  For me, the title is more memorable than the film – of which I have almost no recollection.  (Just sayin’.)
Is “Failsafe” realistic?  Yes, particularly compared to “Strangelove“.  Aside from the B&W filming, the technology was “advanced” for its time and quite well done.  The acting was tense and there were a lot of close, sweaty shots which brought the tenseness which real participants would have felt if we were approaching nuclear war.  An interesting side note:  the Air Force did not want to promote the idea such an event (“mistake”) was possible and therefore refused to participate in production.  The film uses stock footage of planes to depict a fictional bomber and a mixture of other aircraft to represent U.S. and Soviet fighters.
Entertaining?  Yes!  I haven’t seen this film in over 40 years and I could still feel the “moment” of the film.  The number of times you see actors with shaky hands and sweaty forearms really high-lights the nervous energy which the movie conveys with virtually no music score to “artificially” build emotional impact.
Final recommendation:  Very Highly Recommended!  This is a movie which should be viewed widely in America.  In 2020, the world is racing to a different type of annihilation (climate change), but it is important to remember there are multiple nuclear powers in the world and any one of them could initiate the end of humanity through either human or technical failure.  The moral of the story is one of personal responsibility and taking action to ensure nothing like this film portrays ever happens in real life.
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On This Day In:
2019	Is #45 Warning Alabama Again?
	Day 11: 49ers Win
2018	Worry (x2)
2017	Still Working
	Gold In The Morning Sun
2016	Power Inside
2015	Sometimes I Feel Small
2014	It Slipped Away
2013	Corollary
2012	Working Retired
2011	The Web Is Not Authoritative! (Really?)

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Making Potential Come True

Love is the only way to grasp another human being in the innermost core of his personality.  No one can become fully aware of the very essence of another human being unless he loves him.  By his love he is enabled to see the essential traits and features in the beloved person; and even more, he sees that which is potential in him, which is not yet actualized but yet ought to be actualized.  Furthermore, by his love, the loving person enables the beloved person to actualize these potentialities.  By making him aware of what he can be and of what he should become, he makes these potentialities come true.
―     Viktor E. Frankl
From his book:  “Man’s Search for Meaning“
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On This Day In:
2019	Duration Unknown
	Day 6: Almost There
2018	Just Trying To Be Me
	Day 39: Half This Game Is 90% Mental
2017	A Letter To 45
	Some Small Place
2016	REDs
2015	Cities
2014	Still
2013	Dare = Hope
2012	Check My Math
2011	Just Asking

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