Went to B.J.'s to stock up, and happened to see Stephen King's new book of short stories, Just Before Sunset--or is it Just After Sunset? I'm too lazy to go into the bedroom to see. Anyway, because I have a sneaking fondness for King (yes, yes, I know I should be reading The Rise And Fall of Western Civilization instead, but I don't wanna), I bought it. Spent a few hours reading it; it's fair, but not up to his best, I'm afraid.
Before dinner, I was at loose ends and feeling low. Started driving and got all the way to route 206--guess that's about 25 miles--before turning back. It's
Oh! I was just interrupted by a very welcome web cam call from Mike. Had a nice chat and saw adorable little girls. We discussed the possibility--maybe probability?--of meeting at Ellen's in California for Christmas. We'll see.
To resume: Got two invitations, the first from Pat's niece, Donna, inviting me to lunch tomorrow, the second from A., asking me for dinner on Sunday. Yay! Accepted both, but will still go to Weight Watchers tomorrow morning.
Wider: Mike mentioned how health care in Singapore has been so stringently tightened that now, tipping the parking valets at the hospital is mandatory. We in the U.S. would certainly not want to be subjected to such cruel treatment of the sick or those who visit them. Of course, in Singapore, all medical procedures are covered in full for all, even for poor people, undeserving though they may be, not having had the foresight to be either physically or financially fit. I understand the care is top notch, often a cut above what's available here--but to have to tip the valet--outrageous!
Wider still: There's a great--and chilling--piece on Robert McNamara and his legacy on LewRockwell.com today. A snippet:
"...we’ve lost one warmonger (McNamara), but there are plenty more. The U.S. is making exactly the same mistakes in Iraq and Afghanistan as it did in Viet Nam. It’s almost a cookie cutter copy. We’re using all this high-tech junk – $200 million fighter planes, $2 billion bombers, etc. – to fight a primitive peasant army on their own ground. It’s exactly the same thing as Viet Nam. I don’t see any significant differences at all.
And just as Viet Nam was a major step closer to bankruptcy for the U.S. back then, what’s happening in Afghanistan and Iraq is the same – but on steroids, because the junk we’re using is much more expensive than it was back then."
Yep.