Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Crab Trap And Our Government

Stopped for Aline at 10:30 and met her nephew, Jonathan, who was doing some yard work for his mother, Susan.  Met him and stayed to chat for a bit, then we took off for Somers Point.  I thought it would take longer to get there, so we arrived at The Crab Trap much too early--11:15--for lunch (for me, anyway; I prefer to eat at least two hours later).  I suggested we drive to Longport first, and we did, then was back at the restaurant at noon.
The Crab Trap was pretty crowded, as ever, but we didn't have to wait to be seated.  I got deviled clams, spinach, and roasted potatoes, along with a Stella Arios (on draft).
We had a leisurely lunch, then drove over the soaring new bridge into Ocean City.  That was jammed, of course, as it's the height of the season, and I parked on Central Avenue, three blocks from the boardwalk.  No prob, though.
Conveniently, an ice cream store was the first thing we saw and we both got cones, then sat on the boardwalk with them.  Had to eat them as fast as we could, because they melted away rapidly. 
Aline wanted to get home to see more of her nephew, and I heard the pool calling my name, so we drove back.  Dropped A. off about 3:00, then changed, and zipped to the pool.
It was heavenly, of course, but sparsely attended, as usual.  I did talk to "Buck" (Susan and I see him every morning outside feeding his nicotine habit) and Mary Lou S.  I was taken aback to learn she has lung cancer and will be operated at Penn tomorrow.  She quit 18 years ago, but you never escape, I guess.  It reminded me, although I didn't want to be reminded, of my own habit of so many years.  But I quit 25 years ago, so surely it's been long enough...
Guess that can never been said confidently.
WIDER:   If this doesn't make your blood run cold, noting will.
"Just beyond the view of the rest of us, (the U.S. government) began recreating its famed tripartite, checks-and-balances government, now more than two centuries old, in a new form. There, in those shadows, the executive, judicial, and legislative branches began to meld into a unicameral shadow government, part of a new architecture of control that has nothing to do with 'of the people, by the people, for the people.'” 
Here's the rest of it:
http://original.antiwar.com/engelhardt/2013/07/16/can-edward-snowden-be-deterred/

2 comments:

Jim Wetzel said...

I think we surely, in some ways, must now know what it was like to be German citizens, circa 1938 or so. Thus, I cheer for every bit of "bad" news about the gang and sexual-assault culture in Our Glorious Military. I mean, wouldn't any decent person have wished every possible misfortune on the Wehrmacht, and the Kriegsmarine, and the Luftwaffe? May the suicide rate among The Troops soar ever higher.

As Mr. Engelhardt says, the serfs are obedient. I'd go even farther: the serfs are content. As long as the serfs can be convinced that their masters are providing them with a desirable material quality of life, there'll be no pitchforks and torches, or even Guy Fawkes masks. For this reason, I'm also a cheerleader for economic catastrophe. C'mon, Bernanke, full speed ahead on Qualitative Easing! More and more government purchases of "troubled assets!" Keep making your buddies in the debt-paper shuffling "industry" rich ... if that's what it takes to collapse the system a little quicker. Tanks won't run, nor warplanes fly, on pure evil; they also require fuel and parts.

If your blood hasn't already run cold enough, here is a little more.

Mimi said...

Jim, I read Paul Craig Roberts regularly, and had seen this. Yes, it's chilling, but also deeply tragic. Look at all we had--all we still have--the country, with its oceans and mountains, its people of all types, its huge resources, its thrilling potential and how eagerly we allow it to be tossed away.

Wednesday

It was quite an enjoyable day after all the must-do-this, can't-find-that of the last few.  Changed the bed, washed the sheets, and jump...