The NRA and controlled insanity

There is a vast system of mental cheating in the US. It starts with a misreading of the 2nd Amendment, completely ignoring the phrase “a well-regulated militia” into guns for everyone including nuts. What we get is more gun deaths in America than in any other civilized country. The term “controlled insansity” is from the thesis for Orwell's “1984” called “The theory and practice of Oligarchial Collectivism” by Emanuel Goldstein. I read it last week. It's a thick and detailed treatise that leads from doublethink to Ignorance is Strength. The people you can trust with guns are the police and maybe some hunters (although Dick Cheney hits people as well as ducks). I grew up in Canada so I don't understand guns. I've never owned one and the only time I've ever used a rifle was to bring down clay pigeons. I suppose there'll be an effort to control these lethal automatics that can spray enough bullets to kill 20 innocent kids in a few minutes but the NRA is locked and loaded for anyone who challenges them. Homer Simpson, that everyman savant on Fox, summed it up with his remark when he joined the survivalist movement: “If Jesus had had a gun he'd be alive today”. Amen.

Actor Depardieu follows Napoleon into Russia

Eta ekonomicheskiya zadacha (It's an economic thing), using his new language to renounce his French citizenship and join Putin's brand of Liberte, egalite et fraternite. Gerard objects to the tax rate in France. Why didn't he just go to Montreal where taxes are low and they speak a rough form of French, and it's a whole lot warmer than the Russian Riviera. Actually the Russians I've met are a lot friendlier than your average waiter in Paris. I would also put any ballerina from the Bolshoi against any woman in France. Well, maybe not Catherine DeNeuve or Marion Cotillard or...you know what I mean. Usually it's artistic Russians like Stravinsky and Nabokov who head west to France. Still, we might get a new artistic combination. Scho idyat vi kino cevodnya vecherom? (What's playing at the movies tonight?) Gerard Depardieu in “Tovarich Mon Amour”

Fiscal follies? It's a no Boehner.

Yes, death and taxes are inevitable even for Republicans. Luckily we have a President and a Senate to protect the people and do the right thing. Frankly I'm sick of all of it. The NHL is on strike and baseball season is still months away. I'm certainly getting plenty of reading done and that's a plus. As Oliver Wendell Holmes once said, “Taxes are the price we pay for civilization”. You can look it up.