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2025-06-03

Efficiency

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When asked whether it was OK to let low-income Americans die, Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) responded that "we are all going to die."

Ernst was right. We are all going to die. To be human is to be mortal. Mortals die.

Justifying letting people die is a bit of a jump though. That's taking efficiency a bit far, don't you think? The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) may have used this same logic to justify the deaths of tens of thousands of children.

In her dubious apology, Ernst said, no matter. Just accept Jesus, and you don't have to die.

I'm not sure how seriously Ernst takes Jesus, though. He said "whatever you did for one of the least of these, you did for me." I never understood that to mean killing them, or letting them die, so that they could get to heaven quicker.

There's a story Jesus told about a Samaritan who helped a robbery victim who was dying beside the road. The church people of the time decided to let him lie. 

Senator Ernst, it would seem, sees the priest and Levite as the heroes of the story. They were much more efficient about getting the victim to heaven.

2025-05-29

Substack

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I've decided to branch out. I'll be posting new entries on Substack as well as here.

Blogger has served me reasonably well, but about the time I got a few subscribers, Google informed me that they no longer supported subscriptions. On occasion someone would ask me why I wasn't writing anymore or whether I was. So I would send a link with my latest, but that didn't help for future posts. I could have given instructions on how to set up an RSS feed, but I didn't know how and never took the time to figure it out.

Granted, it's easy to think more people want to read what one has to say than actually do. But inhibiting folks from reading is hardly polite, much less conducive to sharing thoughts. So I decided to try something new.

For now, I'll be posting new material on both platforms. So if you do have an RSS feed set up and prefer to stay here, you should be fine. But if you want emails notifying when I've posted, you can subscribe to my Substack. I'll be posting some of my favorite older entries there too, with commentary.

I do not intend ever to ask for paid subscriptions. Some of the default messages from Substack call for "supporting" me. I'll try to catch those messages and rephrase them. If I miss some, ignore them. I don't have enough to say that is worth even a minimum subscription.

Thanks for listening. And I don't mind if you tell me when I haven't kept your attention. Or when I have.

2025-05-24

Corrupt

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Like many African countries, Liberia has struggled with corruption and the resulting barriers to development. A long civil war only made it worse. But recently elected President Joseph Boakai has promised to do something about it: among other things, he is requiring government officials to be transparent about their finances.

He's not the first to attempt to address the problem. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was also determined to fight corruption, but her attempts mostly failed. It is not an easy task getting rid of it. 

I once ignored the advice of a friend and planted bamboo by my house. A few years later it had taken over much of the yard. I ended up spending many hours removing it from flower beds and turning up the turf square by square and carefully separating bamboo roots from the grass. It was easy letting it start. If I had seen what was happening and addressed the problem early, I might have won my battle. As it was, I almost certainly ended up with as much risk as I'd had when I first planted it. But at least by then I knew better and knew I had to be vigilant.

I've heard there are only two solutions to a bamboo invasion: nuclear holocaust or selling the house. We sold (which almost feels corrupt, though I warned the buyers of the potential threat).

Corruption is like bamboo: easy to start, easy to ignore, difficult to root out.

The Republican Party has decided they like a big man who runs things his way, at least so long as they can promote themselves along with him. If that requires condoning corruption, so be it. They admire and wish to emulate Victor Orban of Hungary. Orban is quick to embrace traditional culture and heritage while blaming immigrants for the country's problems. Familiar.

Orban's government has slid into corruption. Or maybe it jumped. One result is that the economy has stagnated. An oligarchy of already rich opportunists has benefited immensely, but the rest of the population has had to tighten their belts. While in Liberia corruption has hindered growth, in Hungary it has caused a downward slide. Through it all, Orban continues to praise Hungary's Christian tradition, blame others for the problems, trample on a free press, eliminate dissension, and rake in what he can.

Here in the U.S., our Republican-majority government has said this is what we want. The richest men in the country are invited to help make it happen. The world's richest man eliminates help for the world's poorest children while promoting an outrageously expensive defense system for which he will be the major contractor. Those who dissent are publicly chastised, called names, and accused.

The most interesting accusation is "corrupt!" When Trump wanted to accept the personal gift of a luxury airplane, he called Democrats corrupt for resisting. It's a clever strategy, I suppose. If you accuse dissenters of the very thing they are dissenting about, it shifts attention. Regardless, the corruption is in accepting the bribe, not in trying to stop it. There is a definition for corruption. You can look it up.

Another interesting distraction is to say that all politicians are corrupt, so quit bellyaching. Not all politicians are corrupt, of course, but it's easier to say that than to figure out who is. But even if you want to assume that most are corrupt on some level, that they compromise their principles on occasion to stay in office, any corruption is not equal to massive corruption. A sandbag is not the Sahara desert.

"Well, at least this administration is honest about their corruption!" Now there's an odd statement. The corruption is blatant, to be sure. But calling the whistle-blower corrupt is simply a lie. That's the opposite of honesty.

While Republicans fawn over abuse of power by the Orban administration, Trump himself is more interested in ingratiating himself to those tyrants whose abuse extends beyond personal gain into cruelty and revenge, such as Putin and Kim Jong Un. Their behavior is that of ruthless war lords who, as in Liberia, emerge as a result of corruption and then live by it and for it.

I applaud President Boakai's attempt to rein in corruption in Liberia. I appreciate Democrats here calling foul on accepting bribes from foreign governments. I especially respect conservatives who call a spade a spade. One day, if the Republican Party survives, it too may attempt to stop or inhibit corruption rather than worship it. What are the odds?

2025-05-13

No Balls

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During World War II, Allied soldiers would sing a song to the tune of Colonel Bogey March to mock leaders of the Nazi regime. According to Wikipedia, the song has been cited as "morally correct disrespect." I rather like that label.

The lyrics go like this:

Hitler has only got one ball,
Göring has two but very small,
Himmler is rather sim'lar,
But poor old Goebbels has no balls at all.

Other verses were added, each concluding with poor old Goebbels.

I don't know if the song referred to courage, though apparently "no balls" was an accusation of cowardice already then. With the boot-licking and ass-kissing going on these days in U.S. politics, I think it may be a legitimate time to resurrect the ditty, with new words. I offer this version for public use and, in the spirit of the original, for modification and expansion:

Alito has only got one ball,
Thomas has two but very small,
Gorsuch, he's got some such,
But old Judge Roberts has no balls at all.

Another verse:

The Donald has only got one ball,
Elon has two but very small,
At Vance, we look askance,
'Cause like Judge Roberts he's got no balls at all.

One more:

Murdoch has only got one ball,
Zuck'berg has two but very small,
Bezos, he won't amaze us,
'Cause like Judge Roberts he's got no balls at all.

One little rhyme set to music will not dethrone a tyrant or change our political landscape. But it may be an outlet for expressing disrespect at influential people who expect our respect. It could be a fitting memorial, after a minute of silence, to our fathers who fought and died as Allies attempting to rid the world of autocrats.

When I am arrested or detained, I shall whistle the tune.

2025-05-06

Papal Bully

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Trump's claim to want to be the next Pope certainly is a joke. A bad joke, but that's to be expected.

Trump doesn't want to be Pope; he wants to be God. The ancient Pharaohs got away with it, and Roman emperors claimed deity, so Mr Trump is just trying to catch up. (Those earlier examples of deification were in the context of polytheism, so they might not suit Trump.)

Trump's ambitions come as no surprise.

What is surprising, at least to me, is how many people have already bestowed godhood on him, already worship him. For him they give up their morals, and reject their former gods. Christians reject the teachings of Jesus. Supreme Court justices reject the Constitution. Senators and Representatives in Congress reject governance. All in obeisance to a bully.

If Trump somehow represents God to all these people, I guess it says something about their view of God. Perhaps they have always worshiped, and aspire to live like, some divine asshole.

Little wonder the church is in decline.

2025-03-26

Kaos

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Top members of the Trump administration included Jeff Goldberg in a group text about a military raid in the Middle East. But they are to be forgiven this screw-up, as for their frequent screw-ups.

Seventy times seven will soon be surpassed, if it hasn't already, but those numbers are only symbolic. We should continue to forgive this administration at least until Judgment Day (which may be just around the corner).

In this case in particular, it was a simple mistake. Mr Hegseth confused Jeff Goldberg with Jeff Goldblum. Jeff Goldblum is Zeus, after all, and Trump is close to Zeus, closer than anyone anywhere ever. So it was only normal that he be included in the chat.

Prometheus said, "A line appears, the order wanes, the family falls, and Kaos reigns." Let us assure you that Prometheus is just a corrupt reporter. Nothing affects the gods, and whatever the gods do is right and good. This was a very orderly mistake, if you can even call it a mistake.

Which you can't. It wasn't. Ask Zeus.

2025-02-13

Ogle Maps

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In a surprise announcement, Alphabet Inc. informed the public that they would be renaming one of their corporate holdings. Ogle Maps replaces Google Maps as the official title for the popular mapping platform.

Under pressure from the Mump Regime, which insists that the primary purpose of the map app is to spy on people's movements and only secondarily to help them find their way, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said the company would comply. "Yes, your Eminence," he is reported to have replied to the regime. "Your superior intellect has convinced us that this is a fantastic decision."

Earlier reports indicated that the name change was controversial. "What the hell do they know about it?" one board member responded. "You'd think they have more important things to work on. I mean, one of my servants told me they paid $7.50 for a dozen eggs!"

Any dissension was quickly squelched, however. After threats from the Holy Oligarchy, Alphabet decided that Ogle Maps is a perfectly acceptable name for that division of the corporation. "In fact," Pichai commented, "we are considering changing the name of our search engine to Ogle. Our mission is to supply the Regime with as much personal information as we can. Our users need to be protected from themselves."

Formerly the stated mission of Alphabet was"Don't be evil." A spokesman (actually a woman who emphasized the need to dispel any hint of D. E. I. policy) said, "We believe that bowing to the demands of a demigod is the least evil thing we can possibly do."

2025-01-31

Art and I

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A Chromecast backdrop displayed on my TV: a photograph by Aravind Ravisankar of a beach and a rock and a sunset. I thought, why did they include that person? Shouldn't it be a picture of pure nature? Then I thought, maybe that's OK, but do we need to see the tripod next to the person?

The human provides scale. And it's appropriate for a high-tech image to to remind us that we humans interact with our environment. And the tripod, well, it reminds us that the camera taking this picture likely was mounted on a tripod. And I decided that the human figure and the tripod might just contribute to the art of the image.

I was also reminded that I am no expert on art. But that shouldn't mean I can't appreciate it.

One of the things I like about this picture is the reflection in the wet sand of the colors of the sunset. The muted colors reflected don't match the real thing. Art itself is like that reflection.

We can look at a sunset and say that's nice, and then get on with things. We can look at a photo or painting of a sunset and say that's pretty, and then get on with things. Or we can pause for either and try to absorb, however incompletely, that beauty. We can stop and appreciate the privilege of witnessing it.

The art I like most does more than paint a pretty picture. It helps us look at the world around us. It tells us this is worth looking at, to look some more. I went to a modern art exhibition once and one of the works was some rumpled cast-off paint tubes glued to a substrate. My initial reaction was that this wasn't art and it held no beauty. But then I looked more closely. The random pattern of wrinkles and dents in the tubes was interesting. We may admire the surface of a rough sea on those rare occasions we have the opportunity. Why not notice a similar surface on everyday objects, even ones being thrown out?

There is beauty of different types all around us. So much of it I fail to notice or don't appreciate. I read once that a single leaf on a common weed contains more mystery than we can possibly absorb or understand. We cannot see all that makes up a leaf, but we can learn to look at it and try to see it and consider how it differs from other leaves. There is more beauty and wonder in this world than we can possibly grasp.

Art I like reminds me of this. It asks me to stop and look. It might not even be pretty but it nudges me toward beauty. Toward noticing. Toward enjoying what's always all around us.

2025-01-24

Books (2025)

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This is a continuation of my earlier book post, which I updated through the end of last year. It's been a slow start to the new year.

The False White Gospel, by Jim Wallis. Good stuff, but a little disappointing. I think I might like Wallis better if he just quoted people without saying "my good friend" and emphasizing how he collaborated with famous people.

White Teeth, by Zadie Smith. Not sure what to think. Worth the read; it's amazing writing. Hilarious dialog, reflective on human nature, inventive. But the plot sort of meanders, and then ends abruptly with an unlikely coincidence.

Mogo's Flute, by Hilda van Stockum. A children's chapter book written by the mother-in-law of my neighbor's brother. A touching story with good attention to detail, the feel of Africa, and a heart-warming brother-sister relationship.

Liberalism, by John Gray. I consider myself a liberal, so thought I ought to know more what that means. Classical liberals sound a bit like what the Republican party stood for just a few years ago. Essentially, the key aspect of liberal is in its name: Freedom. Freedom of individuals to determine their own fate, rather than have it dictated by the government (or any one else), along with a free market. Its ancient predecessor was the democracy of Athens, where each citizen had a say in the governance of the whole. Unlike in Athens (and in our country until at least the 14th and 19th amendments to our constitution), the rights of any individual must be the rights of all.

Among Flowers, by Jamaica Kincaid. A travel story about a trek in Nepal to find seeds for exotic plants. Kincaids's writing is unpolished in a way that seems just right. Too perfect and it would detract from the inevitably bumpy and somewhat chaotic context of her adventure—or of most any travel, I suppose.

Seven Types of Atheism, by John Gray. Know the competition, I guess. A pretty good overview, though I dare say the categories are not mutually exclusive. An interesting conclusion: "A godless world is as mysterious as one suffused with divinity, and the difference between the two may be less than you think."

Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell. How gut responses can be spot on—or very misleading.

The Oak and the Calf, by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. I remembered Solzhenitsyn referring to the politburo as "conservatives," which is what prompted me to reread this. I struggle to understand conservatism at least as much as liberalism. In both cases the classification can be broad and misleading and both terms are frequently abused.

The Pillars of Earth, by Ken Follett. A good tale from the Middle Ages. A builder, a monk, a cathedral. What more could I want?

Clear, by Carys Davies. Well written. Not sure what to make of the story. I think it would have been great without the implied sex, for which I was unable to suspend disbelief.

Currently reading:

  • Patriot: A Memoir, by Alexei Navalny
  • Wenn ich einmal reich und tot bin, by Max Biller.

On my reading list: 

  • On Tyranny, by Timothy Snyder (recommended by Kristin Du Mez)
  • The Gate of Angels, by Penelope Fitzgerald (recommended by D. B. Hart)
  • Corruption and the Decline of Rome, Ramsay MacMullen (see here)
  • Long Walk to Freedom, by Nelson Mandela

2024-12-11

Joe

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It's worth a trip to see Alaska's vast wilderness and majestic scenery. But its people are at least as impressive. Characters like Bill, I reckon, are more common there than in the lower 48.

I met Joe while working as a deckhand on a "Captain" Mobley's barge in the Yukon flats in 1977. I got the job because a previous deckhand had broken his arm while winching off a sandbar on Birch Creek. Mobley hadn't wanted to pay for a proper boat pilot so made the mistake of going up the smaller mouth of Birch Creek and was frequently grounded. That trip took weeks instead of days, and the barge was behind schedule.

We loaded up at Fort Yukon in late June: 50,000 gallons of diesel fuel for the village generator in Chalkyitsik, on the Black River. Joe knew the river, so Mobley hired him to pilot. Joe lived in Fort Yukon with his wife, Diane, and an assortment of dogs and buildings, one of which he let me sleep in. His dogs would occasionally join others in town at night barking at some real or imagined threat. In a brief lull I could hear Joe say "Shut up," and all his dogs (at least) would cease their barking.

The barge headed up the Porcupine to the Black River, water levels dropping. On the Black we found ourselves scraping bottom. It was late when the hull slid onto a sandbar that we couldn't winch off of, so the captain let us sleep; we would try in the morning. Before going to bed we put a stick in the bank of the river where the water met the shore. Next morning the water had dropped four inches. The barge wasn't going anywhere before the next rain, so Joe and I took a canoe back to Fort Yukon.

Joe and I corresponded occasionally after that summer. I had intended to write about Joe, but reviewing a letter he wrote in 1979 convinced me I couldn't improve on his own account. So I'm publishing his letter here, including an endorsement of a now defunct company, as a snapshot of life on the last frontier.

January 5, 1979
Fort Yukon, Alaska

Tim,

Received your letter a few minutes ago and since I’m sitting home “babysitting” I thought I’d get a letter off to you.

I don’t know how to type but I’ve owned a typewriter for over ten years now and thought it’s time to get some use out of the thing, so I’m trying to learn how. Please bear with me and maybe you can make some sense out of this.

You asked quite a few good questions, and you’re sure to be interested in some of the answers. Then I will have a few questions to ask you.

We are going to have another baby this summer, then it will be four. Also we are down to two dogs now and using just snow-goes for transportation. We bought a 1959 Dodge flatbed truck and shipped it in on the barge. I use it in the summer and fall. Mostly to haul water and firewood. It’s a lot easier to cut and haul wood in the fall by truck than waiting and doing it in the winter with the sno-go. I’m always too busy trapping in the winter anyhow.

You sure couldn’t find anything around here for $45 a month, if you could even find a place for sale. [I had told him of the land contract we took over for our first home, 600 sq ft for $6500.]

The dog you said you found on Birch Creek? Well I have a little background on that one. Shortly after you left Fort Yukon the State Troopers found a car parked near the Birch Creek bridge on the Steese Highway. The car belonged to a fellow that had escaped from the federal prison. He was doing time on a cocaine dealing charge. Well he escaped; met his girlfriend in Anchorage; bought 10 rifles, 3 pistols, 15 cases of ammo, grub, winter gear, etc. and started floating down Birch Creek on a raft. He planned to build a cabin on the creek and spend the winter there while things cooled off. I guess the police figured out what he was up to and flew up and down the creek looking for him. He had planned to hold off the police with all of the firearms he had, but they landed downstream from where they saw him floating along and waited for him to come floating by. I guess they caught him floating down the creek like a sitting duck without a shot fired. Jim and I sat in as jail guards when they brought him into Fort Yukon. He said that he had a dog and it ran away and was left behind on Birch Creek. It’s my theory that is where your dog came from. How’s that grab you?

We’ve been having what we call mild weather here: it hasn’t been colder than -50 degrees f. more than a few days so far. A little more snow than usual.

Trapping has been good, though it could always be better. Pres. Carter is doing his best to put us out of business though. When Carter signed the Antiquities Act into effect last month it put 10,600,000 acres of the Yukon Flats into National Monuments in which trapping will not be allowed as we know it now. That is we will be able to trap to some extent, but will not be able to sell the fur. This will put me out of business since the majority of our income is from trapping and selling our fur. Jim and I are now in the process of packing an outfit to move over to his cabin on Kevinjek Creek, some 175 miles east of here. It is just out of the boundaries of the new National Monument, which means we will be able to trap and sell the fur, but since is is so far away we won’t be able to come in and visit our wives since travelling the 175 miles to Fort Yukon would be impractical, expensive, and too time consuming.

Close to 80 million acres of Alaska land are included in these monuments, with 666 trappers on record trapping within the boundaries, earning about $887,015.00 per year. I took these figures from a report I have concerning the Antiquities Act.

Last summer I worked for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game Division of Commercial Fisheries as a fisheries technician. During June and July I was in the Anvik/Grayling area on the lower Yukon River. I worked alone monitoring the commercial fishery. When fishing was closed there I moved back to Fort Yukon. Then in October I went back to work on the Sheenjek doing some data collecting and sampling salmon. It was interesting work and I hope to work there again next summer.

Diane’s sister Mabel is renting the large two-room cabin from us now. I sold the small frame building that you camped in and towed it away to the new owner’s property with a cat. Last summer we started building a new log cabin near where the frame building stood. The new cabin is 15’ x 15’ with a wood burning range and heater. Also a sleeping and storage loft. This coming summer we hope to have time, money, and materials to finish it.

Captain Mobley is another story.

I was called up a year ago last fall (the same season you and I worked for him). Mobley wanted me, my boat, and motor up at the barge where it was stuck when you and I quit.

I went up there and agreed to help him get the barge moved for $75.00 a day for my boat and $35.00 a day for me, he would pay all gas, oil, and groceries. We winched for a week and finally got the thing moved, but only after the water came up some. Before that the water got so low that the barge was high and dry and the river was only 12” deep at the deepest place. Mobley had hired some kind of expert bargeman from Homer and the two of us strung a cable and winched for 16 hours a day, while Mobley sat and watched us. When we finally got the thing floating Mobley got excited and ran it aground about 2 miles below where it was stuck before. Two more days of winching and we were floating again.

Mobley decided to park the barge in a slough and leave it there for the winter, which he did. The people from Chalkyitsik and Fort Yukon stole all the drums of gas and oil. Also propane, tools, etc. . Then when spring rolled around and the water started rising he thought the ice might freeze the barge down so he dynamited it out and cracked the hull. Finally he went belly up and sold the whole thing to Roy Smyth and Albert Carroll. Albert is Diane’s uncle and Smyth was the guy that lived down on the river-bank where you stored your canoe. Mobley never paid me for all of the work I did for him.

Do you remember the time Mobley’s motor quit on us at the mouth of the Porcupine River and he bought another one from Smyth? Well Mobley tore the two motors apart and overhauled them. He made the two motors into one. And the first time I took the boat out the thing threw a connecting rod. Some overhaul job.

Here’s the address to the place that I order my glasses from:
Prism Optical Inc.
10992 N.W. 7th Avenue
North Miami, Florida 33168

I have ordered about three pairs from them myself and Diane probably the same. One time they sent the wrong lenses and I returned them. They were good about it and straightened everything out for me. I have the catalogue here in front now and they have a 1/2 off sale on all frames. The average price for frames runs about $20.00 regular price and glass lenses go for $9.95 a set, so it looks like you could get a pair for around $30.00. I don’t know if there’s any difference in quality between $100.00 glasses and $30.00 glasses or not. I guess you can order a pair and find out.

I’m down to my last 1/2 sheet of paper so will start thinking of closing.

A few questions: How long did it take you to line up Birch Creek to the bridge? What did the people at Birch Creek Village think of your little expedition? No one ever mentioned seeing you that I heard about. Did you run into any other people along the way? Do you still have your Chevy Pick-up truck?

Don’t think we have any relations in Michigan named Firmin. My mother’s relations live there and the name is Morand. Most of our relations in Mich. live in Essexville, Bay City, Kalamazoo, Midland and that’s about all I can think of now. We do have some cousins in Essexville named Petty also.

Jim and I will be leaving for the trapline soon. Expect to be back in March. Maybe I will hear from you again by that time.

Do you still have the tent I sold you? Did you get much use out of it?

Your friend, 
Joe Firmin  


With trapping becoming less feasible, Joe got a pilot license and started an aviation company in Fort Yukon. In 1992, while helping a biologist from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service conduct a moose census, he crashed and died.

I hope this letter describing his life in central Alaska serves as one small tribute to him. It was a privilege to have known him.