A Brief History of American Mendacity

My first sip of coffee is always magical – I know my morning routine is full-on, and I have a lot to accomplish. But today, incredulity stunts my ardor, derailing noteworthy thoughts and interrupting my course with inconceivable idiocy. It’s another WTF moment. Unfortunately, I’ve been having a lot of those lately.

It must be global warming…

For the past several months, I’ve thought about the birth of our nation. I’m mindful of what happened to that sanguine start and the sorrowful situation in which I see our republic. My reference here is to the actions of patriots in 1775, NOT the silent film of the same name from 1915. Although both are seminal events in our history, I’d prefer to concentrate on the loyal and patriotic intents of 1775.

This is a story of the new America, now bereft of aspirations. We’re greedy and betrayed by the lengths people will go to acquire power. It’s the saga of how many trusted leaders sold their souls to some Devil, and citizens of the republic did precisely as they were programmed; nothing.

Albert Camus said: “The entire history of mankind is, in any case, nothing but a prolonged fight to the death for the conquest of universal prestige and absolute power.”

Like all fairytales, this tale begins with the obligatory phrase – Once Upon A Time... Continue reading →

Nestled in the backwaters of the Potomac River, a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay estuary, is a swamp full of the expected bog critters and marsh nasties.

It’s technically in the State of Maryland, but they didn’t want the mor-ASS for some undisclosed reason. Not even the Nacotchtank Indians wanted it, so they sold it to the fledgling colonial government.

So on July 16th, 1790, the new US government took over, and the “improvements” continue today. Like every government involvement, it is a rousing success, which depends significantly on your perspective like everything it does. (sarcasm off) Continue reading →

It’s another day like every other – exactly the same but different. It began like every other day… except today, there was frost on everything.

Winter has finally snuck into the Valley of the Sun while no one was watching.

I can hear the sardonic sighs emanating from the north – poor baby… I feel the same when local temperatures break the century mark, everything is too hot to touch, and your car’s interior is 170 degrees.

It must be Global Warming… Maybe Al Gore and John Kerry are inconveniently correct… AND perhaps the DemoSocs are destroying America for our own good… Both are equally plausible in today’s parlance and are ironically preposterous.

What’s the world coming to… Continue reading →

I genuinely like early morning, so I comfortably slip into my daily routine…

The midterm elections are behind us; as I predicted, not much has changed. The DemoSocs have stolen elections in too many states. Not enough for the sheeple to notice, but the DemoSocs’ surreptitious efforts ensured enough power to carry their agenda forward for the next several years. The mid-term elections effectively gave America another dose of Hopium.

Hopium is a portmanteau of the words “hope” and “opium” used to describe a fictional drug to help one stay hopeful in times when there is none. The fictional drug acts as a ‘protective barrier that shields the love and hopes you have for your region’s teams while suppressing realistic concerns.

The DemoSoc’s theatrical antics continue unacknowledged and unabated. Continue reading →

I’m sitting here sipping coffee and slogging through what passes for news. I’m not sure what bothers me more, the lies or the inept leadership in America. It could be both…

What passes for news is nothing more than pabulum and the misleadership of this country. It would be laughable if the results were not so devastating.

Regrettably, the American sheeple bought that bridge.

America is the door mate of the world. Please wipe your feet as you cross our closed and secured borders. Continue reading →

September 15, 2022 ~ I awoke this morning to a feeling of dread. An uneasiness and uncomfortable feeling consumed me. I know the reasons and the source of this discomfort.

I’ve lost all faith in the American government.

Today’s America is not the country I volunteered to serve and for whom I swore an oath to protect with my life. I consider that oath valid in perpetuity as long as that country existed.

Since that country is no more, I consider my oath fulfilled. Continue reading →

The title is a curious military cliche that ricocheted through my consciousness as I sipped my morning coffee.

So I said to my self – self I said, this would make a dandy title for your next article.

Who am I to argue with myself?

I’d lose anyway…

Son of a gun – I was right!

“It’s easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.” ~ Mark Twain
Continue reading →

So they show that what Isaiah said about them is true: ‘You people will listen and listen, but you will not understand. You will look and look, but you will not really see. Yes, the minds of these people are now closed. They have ears, but they don’t listen. They have eyes, but they refuse to see. If their minds were not closed, they might see with their eyes; they might hear with their ears; they might understand with their minds. Then they might turn back to me and be healed.’ But God has blessed you. You understand what you see with your eyes. And you understand what you hear with your ears. I can assure you, many prophets and godly people wanted to see what you now see. But they did not see it. And many prophets and godly people wanted to hear what you now hear. But they did not hear it. Continue reading →

Yup, We Is Dead!

It’s early Thursday morning. I finished my morning tomato juice as I scanned the media feeds. I discovered some interesting opinion pieces (Op-eds) as I wade through the usual intellectual pablum that passes for insight.

Three cups of coffee in, and I’m amazed that the Op-eds are so consistently aligned along party lines. But why would I expect anything other than divisive rhetoric from a system broken by partisan politics?

Yes, America is dead…

We are not the country our founders intended. We’re not even the country our grandparents and parents fought to preserve. We are the country that lied to us about our interests in Korea, Viet Nam, Iraquistan, Ukraine, and all the wars started by the Military Industrial Congressional Complex.

We’ve crossed the Rubicon. Continue reading →

Around 150 BC, Cato, the grumpy Roman senator, ended every speech, no matter what the topic (grain allotments for the plebs, plans for a new aqueduct, whatever), with the injunction –

“Ceterum autem censeo Carthaginem esse delendam”

· translated: “And another thing, I think that Carthage ought to be destroyed.”

That refrain has come down to us as a lapidary which is defined as or characterized by an exactitude and extreme refinement that suggests gem cutting a three-word imperative.

“Carthago delenda est” ~ (“Carthage must be destroyed.”) Continue reading →

All kind of quiet on the western front – at least the neighborhood is finally quiet.

Saturday night, a significant thunderstorm dumped just under 2 inches of rain in 45 minutes. I was awake writing my last article. The streets flooded, and the downpour moved a tremendous amount of debris into the cul de sac where I live. Some of the rocks were too big to drive over. Let’s just say that living in a hillside community has advantages and disadvantages.

The neighborhood was a hive of activity for the past couple of days. The sound of gas-powered chainsaws, chippers, and power blowers shattered the quiet like an attack of pissed-off dirt bikers.

I hate power blowers. Their purpose is to move things from one place to another, usually from your yard to the neighbors. They shred the quiet with an obnoxious drone. They belch two-cycle exhaust – a combination of gasoline and oil – into the air, leaving a heady aroma of fumes hanging in the humidity. The funk lingers like cheap perfume after a cocktail party. Continue reading →

No, I’m not going to touch abortion, even though I have some definite opinions. This article concerns decisions that directly and indirectly cause the death of over 170,000 American Citizens, untold numbers of immigrants, and cost undisclosed billions of tax dollars to support a political agenda.

Yes, this is about America’s open border policy.

It’s early in the morning, and I’m enjoying my first of many cups of coffee. The incessant political driveling to place blame has nearly depleted my give-a-shit.

I’m worn out.

I suppose if I want good news, I should ignore the media feeds. Continue reading →

The media feeds are like a combat zone full of mines, tripwires, and pitfalls. I’m constantly setting off something as I stravage along.

BOOM!

Hey buddy, wanna buy a bridge? Continue reading →

I am invisible.

Leaving the restaurant this morning, I was walking out when a person with whom I made eye contact continued to try to walk through me without a word or a sound. He tried to walk through me as if I didn’t exist.

Leaving the car park at the local CVS, two cars nearly backed into me as I carefully proceeded through the lot toward the exit. They were backing out and on their cellphones. Neither driver noticed me. I am invisible even in my car. Continue reading →

My usual Saturday morning involves a cup of coffee or three. A leisurely scan of the Media Info Feeds (MIFs). And some contemplation on the alleged news as I awaken to the chaos. A noticeable lack of integrity in the morning’s observation haunted me as I read several articles. My disappointment with our lack of moral direction has been with me for some time, but today was especially bitter. We’ve crossed the line from unacceptable to “you’ve got to be shitting me!”

Deceit and dishonesty supplant American virtue, erasing the line dividing principle and ambiguity. I wonder, did we stagger into this quagmire alone, or did someone lead us over this cliff? Who’s holding the reigns?

Our moral deficiency is crucial because it impacts everything America espoused, especially our example as a world leader. We effectively transitioned from a symbol of liberty to a shining example of how to ruin a country.

Funny, here’s another misnomer – world leader.

Who’s leading who? Continue reading →

Misrepresentation is the act or state of being represented incorrectly, improperly, falsely, or unsatisfactorily.

In most cases, it is an intentional misstatement of or the avoidance of facts to support or strengthen an agenda or plan.

Do you understand collateral damage? We’ve all heard the phrase in the movies and thrown about flippantly in conversation, but do you know what it is? Are you aware that it defines incidental damage for an activity? And do you ever think that adhering to the principle of the Seven Ps would eliminate this problem? Continue reading →

“It means a person refuses to see something in plain view because of preconceived notions of what this something should look like.”

BTW… It was a terrible film.

When you look around you, what do you see?

Do you see a country on the right track, or do you see an impending disaster?

Does this make sense to you? Continue reading →

Have I learned from my great-great grandfather?

My life of late has been a blur of appointments and disappointments centered on infirmities and my questionable decisions to fix or repair self-inflicted and age-related damages.

If I’d known I would live this long, I’d have taken better care of myself… Not really… I’d do the same stupid shit that caused much of this.

At twenty years old, I was indestructible and lived that delusion. At seventy, I’m paying the price for my cavalier attitude. I can only imagine what the next twenty years will bring.

How interesting that my youth so closely parallels America. At least I’ve learned my lesson, some of them anyway. Continue reading →

A jumble of incongruities brought about by media noise and nonsense fragmented last night’s sleep. On the surface, it seems innocuous, but I’m perplexed by an annoying undercurrent that defies naming.

“There’s something happening here.
    What it is ain’t exactly clear…”

I read the news today; oh, boy, about the latest spate of new mandates, revised government positions, and fresh allegations of government malfeasance. WTFO? Continue reading →

Another sleepless night in a continuum of sleepless nights awash with absurd dreams – It’s early morning. There’s no stopping the torrent of thoughts careening through my mind, so I don’t even try. It’s all a perplexing tangle of knowledge and fear. The enigmatic reports of my overall health and the myriad things left to chance create a vexing presurgery dilemma.

One incessant, persistent thought – You don’t know The Shape I’m In.

You may quantify my physical well-being.
You may estimate my overall health on some scale.
You might even judge me as physically unfit.
What about the other part of me?
What about my mind?

I keep returning to Hippocrates’ assertion that the person and the illness are inextricably joined. He understood that health is holistic – meaning that where the mind goes, the body follows. Recent research proves that mindset has a powerful impact on our health. So says a 2021 study by Stanford University.

Funny, the shape I’m in is coincident with our society and republic. It’s all part and parcel of my uneasiness; as Hippocrates extols the link between patient and illness, I am linked to America – by choice. Continue reading →