Is Too

Music is to the mind as air is to the body.
—     Plato
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On This Day In:
2022	When Scratching Can Be Too Late
2021	Is Too
	Food For Thought (Cheeseburger In Paradise)
2020	Says Every Generation Since Schools Were Invented
	Chokin’ My Thoughts Away (She’s Gone)
2019	Dance The Night Away
2018	#45: The Poorest President In History
2017	Bull’s Eye
2016	Gifts
	Jacked 3
2015	I’d Settle For Interesting
2014	Old Math
2013	Adequate Explanation
2012	Superior Discovery
2011	Welcome Home And Thank You!!
	Two Heritages

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The Only Winning Move

President Biden is still being criticized for completing the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan.  Here are some quotes and then some of my own passing thoughts about the last twenty years of neo-conservative hawkish foreign “action”…    —    kmab
You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of discussion.
—     Plato
What is absurd and monstrous about war is that men who have no personal quarrel should be trained to murder one another in cold blood.
—     Aldous Huxley
One is left with the horrible feeling now that war settles nothing;  that to win a war is as disastrous as to lose one.
—     Agatha Christie
Joshua / WOPR:  Greetings, Professor Falken.
Stephen Falken:  Hello, Joshua.
Joshua / WOPR:  A strange game.  The only winning move is not to play.  How about a nice game of chess?
—    A conversation between (Joshua) an A.I. system “programmed” to fight a thermonuclear war and its inventor (Falken).  The lines are from the movie:  “War Games“.
Invading Afghanistan was NOT a mistake.  The correct action should have concluded shortly after capturing / killing Bin Laden at Tora Bora, or not.  Either way, we should have withdrawn from Afghanistan within ninety days and told the the Taliban: “We don’t want to occupy or change your country, but you can be darn sure if you harbor terrorist again, we’ll be back.”  Iraq was a war of choice by the Bush / Cheney Administration.  They took advantage of the fear generated by “9/11” and manufactured reasons to invade there (Iraq).  I’m NOT saying either Saddam or the Taliban were “good” for their respective countries.  I am saying we had no business invading one and and trying to “nation build” in the other.  Both countries have a right to self-rule, no matter how poor we may view their choices.  The correct “moves” were “not to play” (in Iraq) and not to stay (in Afghanistan).  Nothing was settled in either country and it was (not) done at a tremendous cost to our military and their families.    —    kmab
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On This Day In:
2022	Probably A Very Small Set
2021	The Only Winning Move
	Says Who? (I Feel Fine)
2020	I’m Guessing It’s Real
	For One More Day (Hold On)
2019	Like Smartphones And FOMO?
	Getting Ready For Halloween
2018	Nothing To Build On
2017	This One Is…
2016	Happy Is…
2015	Dare Yourself To
2014	Damned If You Do…
2013	On A Rainy Sunday
2012	Not Sure Anymore
2011	But What Does It Cost?
2009	Another Day, Another Diet…

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Why Republicans Are Failing America

Government can be preserved only by statesmen with knowledge in proportion to their task.
—   Plato
[A “loyal” opposition / minority party, should be working to guide government to better policies through compromise, not fighting to stop EVERYTHING dead in the water.  The same is true when you have a unified government in control of both the White House and Congress.  A “loyal” majority party should not have to force anything through with no concessions to the minority.  The majority party needs to be particularly careful when the dis-loyal minority attempts to force you into these actions.  Their purpose is to create a “moral equivalency” to justify their past actions and further / future undemocratic actions when / if the dis-loyal minority ever manages to regain control of the government.    —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2022	Be More Cattle, Less Hat
2021	Why Republicans Are Failing America
	Dreams Come True
2020	Normal Scientific Assumptions
2019	Close Change
2018	Don’t Break It
2017	Representative Government For The 99%
2016	Trying To Ignite Ice
2015	Or Increasingly Unwilling To Pay For…
2014	Returning Time
2013	Gentle Invitation
2012	Pleading The Insanity Defense
2011	Graduations And Conservatives
	The Big Sin

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Still Hoping To Soar

The true lover of knowledge naturally strives for truth, and is not content with common opinion, but soars with undimmed and unwearied passion till he grasps the essential nature of things.
—    Plato
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On This Day In:
2022	No Equal Two
2021	I Hope To See You Later
	To Do With You (Time In A Bottle)
2020	More Than Satisfying Hunger
	End Of Year Thoughts Of Those Gone Before Us (Night Shift)
2019	Still Hoping To Soar
2018	Why America Stinks More Than It Did 50 Years Ago
2017	No Universal Thinking
2016	Supervise The Results
2015	Just Magic!
2014	It Lies Ahead…
2013	At Least One Difference
2012	Are We, Are We?
	On Not Playing The Game
	Scale
2011	Nutcracker And Nooks
	Seeing Differences

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When Reason Comes

Musical training is a more potent instrument than any other, because rhythm and harmony find their way into the inward places of the soul;  on which they mightily fasten, imparting grace, and making the soul of him who is rightly educated graceful, or of him who is ill-educated ungraceful;  and also because he who has received this education of the inner being will most shrewdly perceive omissions or faults in art and nature, and with a true taste, while he praises and rejoices over and receives into his soul the good, and becomes noble and good, he will justly blame and hate the bad, now in the days of his youth, even before he is able to know the reason why;  and when reason comes he will recognize and salute the friend with whom his education has made him long familiar.
—    Plato
From:   “The Republic“
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On This Day In:
2022	Good AND / OR Bad
2021	And Fields Of Green
	Success Has Been So Easy (Don’t You Want Me)
2020	Build It To Last
	Thumpin’ Bass (Get The Funk Out Ma Face)
2019	30 Day Health / Weight Update (Oct 2019)
	When Reason Comes
2018	One Of The Great Ones
2017	Mirror In The Oval Office
	True Courage
2016	What’s Your Excuse?
2015	Some Meaningful Resemblance
2014	Bloom
	Orange October (VII) – The Giants Win The Pennant!!
2013	Walking The Walk
2012	Legacy Of Star Trek (TOS)
2011	Tolerating The Intolerant
	Passionate Germs
2010	Giants Win Game 1 In Philly (4 to 3)!!

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Mutual Assistance

We are, as Plato beautifully says, born not for ourselves alone.  Our country claims a share in our existence, and our friends a share.   . . .The whole produce of the earth was created for the use of men, and men themselves are here for the sake of their fellow men that they may mutually assist one another.
—    Marcus Tullius Cicero
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On This Day In:
2023	Into Redemption
2022	A Little More Each Day
	Zappa-ed!!
2021	Every Time It Gets Better
	Distant! (How Do You Like Me Now?!)
2020	I’m Persuaded (Crystal Blue Persuasion)
2019	Hungry For Trust
2018	Mutual Assistance
2017	The Toughest Job
2016	Congratulations!!
	Better Yet, Read!
2015	Even If It Kills Us Slowly
2014	Fun To Play God
	Of Anything
2013	Legal (Almost)
2012	Great Scots!
2011	The GI Bill – A Simple History Lesson
	Breaking Even

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Inauguration Day 2017

The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.
―    Leonard Henry Courtney
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
—    Edmund Burke
The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.
―    Plato
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On This Day In:
2023	Share Love
2022	Biden Starts His Second Year
2021	DIY: Outdoor Gym Modifications (2)
	Inauguration Day 2021 (The Boys Are Back In Town)
	(Hopefully) Good-Bye To The Trump Dark Ages
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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Looking To November

The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.
―    Plato
[Actually, I believe this is the “cost” of indifference, the “price” paid is freedom, security and — ultimately — blood.
And, although I am a life-long Democrat, I am not foolish enough to believe the members of the party I disagree with (Republicans) are unanimously “evil”;  misguided maybe, but not evil.  There have been (and will be) evil Democrats and Independents as well.     —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2023	Wide And Yawning
2022	Where One Goes
2021	A Direct Relationship
	Another Night Train South (Can’t You See)
2020	One Person’s Roses…
2019	In The Long-Run
2018	#NeverAgain
	Doss II
	Doesn’t / Does
2017	Talent Hates To Move
2016	Looking To November
2015	It Isn’t The End
	Prospero’s Precepts
2014	Friends
2013	Learning Bitter
2012	Remembrance, Minstrels & Going Off To War
	May I Have More Happiness, Please?
2011	There Is No God, But God
2010	Another Running Book…

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I’m Talking To You

Wise men speak because they have something to say;  fools because they have to say something.
―    Plato
[But which witch is which?  And is now, then?   —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2022	Start By Living This One
2021	Almost, But Not Quite
	Just Messin’ (It’s A Shame)
2020	The Definition Of A Modern Republican Senator
	#45 Has Got To Go (Back Stabbers)
2019	Just Rewards
2018	Diet Resolutions For The New Year
	Day 3: Late December Diet / Fast
2017	Daily, Mr. President, Daily
2016	We Did This
2015	I’m Talking To You
	Forced (Again)
2014	We Are Not A Fearful Nation!
2013	Risking Truth
2012	Working On Reality
2011	Massive Contradictory Changes

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