Category Archives: Uncategorized
The Tolerant Left
"Remove this president or there will be violence"
I'm guessing they're so blinded by their own light that they don't realize it's that supposedly intolerant right - those that haven't been burning, looting, and destroying in "peaceful protests" - that have the weapons and would tend to "violence" back if push came to shove.
I've not seen any way to avoid large sale guerilla action in this country for quite a while; the only surprise is it hasn't gotten fully started yet. I suppose much of that reason is the so-called "right" hasn't started pushing back yet.
Going to be an interesting show this summer ...
Belt-Drive
Actually – I Don’t Have A Problem With This
"Indiana’s Chatterbox Jazz Club Threatens Patron with a Bat for Wearing MAGA Hat -Then Kicks Her Out"
Though the threat of physical harm was uncalled for.
Time to rock the boat and let my extreme right-wingness out of its box for a bit - I'm all in favor of a bit of judicious segregation.
Let me know you don't want me "there" and I won't go. Just don't be surprised or "offended" if I return the favor.
I believe the owner of a private business* has every right to "We reserve the right to refuse service"; to serve the customers desired and not serve those not desired. Put up a sign at the door: "Abandon all hope, ye honkies who enter here". I've known places like that, even without the sign.
If a bar owner wants to allow customers to smoke, those that don't smoke do not have to enter. It's certainly not the government's business ... and if the bar owner goes out of business because of such a policy, so be it, it's his concern. And "protestors" do not have the right to argue or block said business.
If I offer custom services, I get to pick and choose those I will work for. "No, I won't bake your cake. Find someone else or do it yourself."
If a store wishes to serve only the latest collection of letters and not straight white men, so be it. If a straight white man chooses to not serve those of that latest alphabet soup, so be it.
(There's a restaurant in town here that makes a point of telling all that it's "LGBTQ+ friendly". I don't go there. Not that I care who or what you sleep with but a place that feels the need to advertise such would probably get me involved in some sort of politics ...
... and I'm just looking for a good meal.
They're probably Democrats. Would they spit in my food knowing I'm not LGBTQ?
If someone doesn't want blacks or arabs or whites or gays as customers? ... there are plenty of businesses that prefer to not serve straight white Americans. That's OK ... just don't be upset if straight white men don't want you as a customer.
If store wishes to not serve gays, gays stay out ... as the same gays should be able to keep straights out of their places of business. Actually, I've found gays - the screaming queen types - to be more one-sided segregationist than any other group. Those I've known (I worked theatre for several years) want every "right" to do as they please, to go where they wish ... but want to keep straights away from their "special" places (not that I ever understood why a true "straight" would want to go to such places).
(Though there is a tale of me and a girlfriend looking for a room on Castro St in SF over 40 years ago.
We were meeting a gay friend who happened to be the editor of a national magazine in NYC.
He got pissed at that hotel over their treatment of us.
We ended up at the Sir Francis Drake instead ... It was a different world back then.)
People love the 1st Amendment because of "freedom of speech" (or hate it for the same reason). A less known phrase is "the right of the people peaceably to assemble" which may also be stated as freedom of non-assembly. Nothing is gained by forcing "togetherness". Gee - I have relatives I'd just as soon not "assemble" with.
Much might be gained by allowing voluntary separation ... aka, segregation. Screw "civil rights"; LBJ messed up this country more with his Great Society than he did with Kennedy's assassination or Vietnam. How can anyone claim "affirmative action" is not as >ra-a-ay-cist< as any Jim Crow law???
When all these "special" groups argue for "rights", they're not seeking equal treatment, they're arguing for "we're special" rights (rights being contrary to freedoms). Left-handed, 3-legged dwarfs don't want equal treatment - they want special consideration because they're victims of being left-handed 3-legged dwarfs and want the rest of us to be required to bow down to their victimhood.
Bah, humbug ...
*A business which chooses to become "public" - that is, raising money on the open market; selling stock on a public exchange for example, should not have that right.
Continue reading →Not That He Had A Choice
Schumer approved the "continuing resolution" the other day. Nothing more than kick the can a bit further down the road but the DNC was pissed because it didn't include funding for the study of transgender penguins in the Arctic and other such necessary Federal programs.
Seems the Dems are more pissed at Schumer than Trump this week; this may finally be the break-up of the DNC that's been coming.
Schumer didn't have a choice though. Much as I feel he's guilty of crimes worthy of public execution, he didn't dare bow to the wishes of the other loonies - if he had allowed the government to shut down last Friday, Trump would have had more evidence of other parts of the government to cut.
Now we all know the only parts of the government that shut down during a shut down are those parts that benefit the citizens.
Government owes you money? Oh, sorry, that office is closed.
You owe the government money? Funny - that part isn't closed.
Still waiting for arrests and convictions though ... underlings don't count so I won't hold my breath.
Continue reading →St Patrick’s Day
Even if Ulster-Scots
"Amazing Grace" and "Scotland The Brave" are over-done ...
Makes one want to go out and tweak some Sassunach bahookie, eh?
A Paragraph
It is my policy on this site to not publish any of Gerard's work until after AD goes dark - and to not publish anything that's been published in his book.
It's also my policy that if it weren't for rules, I'd have nothing to break.
Before AD goes dark in the next few days or maybe a week or so, I'd like to recommend those that haven't purchased "The Name in the Stone", to go to the archives and read "A Death On The Net" from Aug 30, 2022; titled "Thomas E Mandell" in the book.
It took the third or fourth time reading this post before it sank in.
An excerpt, just this single paragraph - the part that led to this post:
"What Tom Mandel knew, and what many companies and individuals still refuse to learn, is that on-line is not about selling something to someone or bringing information to the starving masses. what it is about is people wanting to connect in a real and genuine way to other people, free of the filters of older media -to establish, no matter how ephemerically, communities of like-minded souls who are not separated by facts of geography, and to create a place where it really is the content of one's character that is the first and foremost thing people see. Through his work on The Well and Time Online, Tom Mandel gave the net an example of how to transmit your soul through the medium of conferencing."
I'd say that Gerard Van der Leun also accomplished that as well as any before and possibly after.
It's not in my nature to be of that nature but perhaps it was some stirring of some inner voice of the same that led me to step up and start this site - this is not the me that I know. Perhaps it is to be my future self to at least find and follow the footsteps of those before me and to show that same path - good or bad - to those of you who desire to follow along.
Or maybe, just maybe, I'm full of it once again ... which is my nature.
Continue reading →The Season’s Not Quite Over
The Time Has Come Today
Neo made the announcement today that the last post of American Digest is now up.
Time to go and catch the last of Gerard's works directly from his site for the last few days the site will be active.
My thanks to Neo for all the work she has done to keep Gerard's site up as long as it was ... seems like not all that long ago Gerard was still writing.
My thanks to her also for her permission and help in getting this site up and running; hopefully "the gang" can stay together and comment on topics far and wide - or even contribute posts for those of you so inclined.
But all good things come to an end ... (bad things seem to last forever).
R.I.P., American Digest
Somehow, it's not hard imagining Gerard during the days these tunes were "new".
Continue reading →Lunar Eclipse
Did ya all catch the full lunar eclipse last night? Peaked about 1:30AM MDT.
Continue reading →