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Nothing like emergency landing...

To get your addrenalin pumping. We had to come in with no flaps.

Weekend

Ever get to the end of the week and you feel like a truck has run over you? Not in a bad sense, but in a sense that the week has been so intense and filled with non stop activity. This is one of those times. Glad for all the great stuff that happened during the week, but also very glad to have the weekend here. Hope to recharge a little and be ready to pick up where we left off this week.

Lessons I don't care to learn

Seems that every few years, the life teaches me a lesson which is contrary to my fundamental belief system. One of the "pillars" of who I am is a belief that people are fundamentally good. That the next person I meet is presumed good and decent before I learn otherwise. Through the years that approach has resulted in some spectacular disappointments. And so today, once again, I am faced with true personal and professional betrayal by people I have known for many years. As in prior cases, the root cause is the same - money.

Margie Gunderson (Fargo): "And for what? For a little bit of money. There's more to life than a little money, you know. Don'tcha know that? And here ya are, and it's a beautiful day. Well. I just don't understand it. "

It always catches me by surprise. I can never imagine being able to do that to someone. And I would rather keep it that way. For one lesson that I did learn is that we only suspect others in things we are capable of doing ourselves.

So, once again, I learn that majority of people are small, greedy, full of complexes and excuses. And that since they know better, they hide, pretend, and lie. But once the question comes to money or power they can't help themselves and they become themselves.

I am far from perfect, but I face the people I disagree with, I tell them what I think of them, and I confront them in the open. I count some truly great scumbags as my enemies and I am proud of it.

Doctor Who: "You can always judge a man by the quality of his enemies."

What I never understood is how do THEY look at themselves in the mirror every morning? What web of lies must they construct around their lives to justify their deeds !!! In the end, I have to believe that they end up carrying the burden of who they are and what they have done. They have to know.

Stansfield (Leon the Professional): "What filthy piece of shit did I do now? "

I will not learn from this lesson either. I am peculiarly handicapped in this area. For if I did learn from this lesson, it would mean that the next person I meet would be assumed to be a liar, lacking principles  and morals. Capable of doing anything for the right price. And I would miss knowing a potentially great friend or partner. And then I would become just like the majority I don't want to be.

Last Chance

Most of the time we do not appreciate significance of the moment until well after the fact. There are exceptions of course. Everyone remembers where they were when a man walked on the moon or when Kennedy was shot. But generally, that sort of clarity is only allowed to us in a rear view mirror.

I think we all know the significance of this moment. This is not just an election. Unless there is a last minute miracle, we are about to enter a new phase of American history. Every election claims it, this one is the real thing. Finally the generation of world war II is about to relinquish the steering wheel to the children of the 60's. Everything that is good and everything that is bad which has been seeded in American kids during those times is about to reflect itself through the most powerful prism of all: American Government. I suspect the balance will be far from positive and will usher a permanent state of decline to this country. Even if we are spared this spectacle tomorrow, election of McCain will only delay the inevitable by four years.

So, strength, decency, self reliance, and commitment are on the way out with the greatest generation. Equal rights, civil rights, everyone's rights,  anything-american, "diversity", whining, weakness, and profound ignorance are on the way in. We will finally pay the price for decades of neglect of public education, loss of production capability of anything of lasting value, and the acceptance of "i am owed it all" attitude of the ruling generation. It will not happen at once, it will take its toll like rust on what used to be a shiny new car. And in the end there will be a hole where there used to be substance.

33 years ago my family came to this country as one would gravitate to a shining beacon. This country has given me every opportunity to be everything I could be. Few of its natives would ever appreciate its full gift. And today, it is on a brink of voting for a reflection of its lowest common denominator. A demagogue with no principles or even an inkling of the realities of the real world. A hollow image of the modern ideal American man. All TV, all image, leading no one, standing for no particular ideal or a vision. Truly, we get the leaders we deserve.

Tomorrow is the last chance to postpone the inevitable. Can we buy another four years? we will see.