Well, darn it all, the dryer still isn't working. Called Dennis and Bill again and they should be back today.
Yesterday was so filled with exciting and interesting activities, I can't even remember what they were. Oh, yeah, made a salad. Went to the cemetery to water. Picked cherry tomatoes off Frank and Barb's plants, which they invited me to do while they're in North Carolina for two weeks. Talked to Julie L. about the upcoming issue of The Breeze. Heard from Mary S. that my pictures of the O.'s didn't transfer properly, so will drop my chip off at her house during our walk. Had the salad for dinner. Ho hummy day, all right...
Late Breaking News: Today, my son, Mike, served as one of the torch bearers at the First Junior Olympic games in Singapore. (Pictures on Facebook, but I don't know how to transfer them here.) Go, Mike!
Wider: I just got Washington Rules: America's Path To Permanent War, by Andrew J. Bacevich and am about halfway through it. I feel dazed every time I read something like this. The conceit and self-aggrandizement that lead to decisions resulting in the slaughter of millions of people, the casual acceptance of the death and destruction of others in the pursuit of political gain, the knowing--that's just it, the knowing--that the "reasons" for military aggression are spurious, but doing it anyway--! It's horrifying and one of the most horrifying thing is that for years--centuries, even--the warmongers have had little difficulty in persuading huge numbers of citizens that their enemies are the Germans, the Japanese, the Communists, the "terrorists", rather than the ruling classes who profit from the wars. I was struck, in particular, by the language used to inflame so-easily-inflamed Americans against Communism. It's virtually identical to what's used now, of course. Naturally, then as now, the media picks up on it and the populace falls, hook, line, and sinker, into belief in the lies.
There's nothing so dangerous as respect for one's "leaders." It seems to me incredible that they're cheered and applauded as they spout their lies, and are treated with such deference, even reverence. They should be spat on in the streets, then run out of town on a rail, but where will that lead us? To more of the same in this benighted country, I'm afraid.
Anyway, it's an absorbing book.