DoctorD's Observations

Hans J. Morgenthau is ridiculous

He was one of my biggest gripes when I was a sophomore and junior, and we studied his famous textbook Politics Among Nations and were supposed to believe it.  However, his theory is silly.

Here it is now, more than 45 years later; I've gotten two additional graduate degrees and spent a lifetime studying government and public affairs.  And I am still annoyed by Morgenthau's shortcomings and inaccuracies!

Old resentments never die, I guess.  At least mine don't.  I'm a hard case.  Unforgiving, I guess.

It is astonishing how much damage can be done by such intellectuals who are stuck into false theories and doctrines.  An example is the former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, a faithful student of the libertarian novelist Ayn Rand.  He didn't realize his error until October 2008, by which time it was rather too late.  All of us are paying the price.  Greenspan did a lot more damage than al Qaeda could have ever dreamed of.  He and the Wall Street crowd were the real terrorists.

On Arthur Laffer, don't get me started!  He is still writing books (and rewriting history).  I was astonished to see it at Border's.

Nonetheless, I'm not going to let Morgenthau off the hook.  He theory of international relations and politics is simply preposterous.  Every bright undergraduate (as I was) knows it.

Also, I discovered continental drift in the fourth grade.  Didn't you?

The Unfortunate 500

Fortune500_big

Do you remember when it was being argued that the U.S. was shifting from an "industrial" to a "service" economy, and that that was a good thing--that it was a new and modern (or post-modern) way?  Who would believe that now.  To be healthy, we've got to be able to make stuff, and sell it.  Just moving money around doesn't keep the average Joe and Jane employed.

Wish you could see the details in this wonderful, and apparently not to be published, illustration.

BTW, I did work for a really major Fortune 500 company for a couple years, one that had enjoyed a sterling reputation.  I was shocked to see how poorly, how superficially, it was managed and operated compared to the federal governmental agencies I had been involved with previously.  I know it is not fair to generalize, but still, that was my personal experience.  

Computer give-away

I packed up 11 old computers from my old house today, to be recycled at a local environmental fair.  Plus many hard drives, printers, etc.

Some computer discards

That wasn't all of them.  Four old but still working computers are still at my old house, including an original Macintosh:

An original 1984 Mac

I actually used to lug it to work on the bus, in its special brown canvas carrying case.

I am giving away the original Apple ][ though.

I've had a lot of computers!

Lunch

Sometimes you get a really good meal.  This was mine, today:

Spinach Lasagne Roll

They called it a spinach lasagna roll, and that is indeed what it tasted like.  So excellent, as was everything else we were served.

The restaurant itself is a modest place in a small suburban strip mall. 

Joe and Giuseppe restaurant

It used to be in a larger location, but one of the investors went broke, even though the restaurant was successful.  Anyhow, if you are ever near Arlington Heights, Illinois, I would definitely give Joe and Giuseppe a try.

One way you might get there is if you follow U.S. 14 out to Yellowstone Park.  I keep putting in plugs for that drive.  It is one I really liked.  Joe & Giuseppe is located just two blocks south of 14, which was originally called the Black and Yellow Trail.  Around Chicago, it is named Northwest Highway.

Is there a "real America?"

Yes, I think there is.  And I am nostalgic for it.

I guess I would argue that some places are more "real," or at least more distinctively American, than others are.  Urban highways line with strip malls are quite typically American now, but they aren't distinctively American.  And they aren't one of the things of which we are or ought to be proud.  Family farms (which are rapidly disappearing) are distinctively American.  So are small towns and ethnic urban neighborhoods.

But the "real America" isn't most a place, but rather it is a set of beliefs or ideals.  And what is the first and most self-evident of those American beliefs?  "All men are created equal."  Americans believe that.  It wasn't believed where there was a caste or class system fixed from birth, which was almost all of the "old world."  France, like most of Europe, had its three estates:  the clergy, the nobility, and everyone else, the commoners (the latter being around 97% of the population).  Only the first two counted for much.

America is different.  Everyone is born equal here.  Not the same, but equal in the eyes of the law and of God.

I know, I know what you are thinking:  well, we may not have a landed aristocracy based on birth, but we sure do have a big group of very rich people who inherited their wealth, did nothing to earn it, and in many cases do nothing of value with it.

Yes, that's true.  And it is one of the ways in which we have departed from the "real America."  It is a falling away from our ideals, our traditions.

You have to go looking for the real America, sometimes down the side roads, and sometimes in the history books.  I try to do both those things.

For the moment, all Real Americans should stand up and cheer.  At least the President is one of us!  And at least Wall Street, the "anti-America" house of frauds and horrors, the black hole of the economy where everyman's well-being is sucked in and nothing useful is spit back out, is finally under attack--at least a bit, and at least for a while.  Maybe it will be put back under control, as a servant, not our master.

There is still room for hope.  Not optimism really, but at least hope.

Change of heart?

It bothers me some that I am blogging here much more about public affairs than I am about travel.  That was not my initial intention.

I do think that we are living in an historically-important period, one in which politics is certainly worth following and trying to participate in.  But, really, personally, I would rather be traveling.  It is just that I don't get to do it as much.  And I haven't figured out a really good way to blog while on the road.

Security is another concern.  I'm not sure that I want to "advertise" being out of town, away from home.  Then when I do get back home there is often so much work to do, things to catch up on, it is hard to go back and update my blog(s).  So things get left out.

Anyhow, I am reminded of the ancient Asian sages, some of whom, frustrated in their efforts to educate or help various princes improve the government of their warring and oppressive provinces, tossed out most of their worldly possessions and hit the road with just a knapsack on their back.  Wrote some poems, sang the praises of the moon, drank some wine, begged for rice.

Xunzi

I do feel like that sometimes.  Anyhow, I identify with them.

With Johnny Appleseed, too.  And Woody Guthrie.  In a way, they are all kind of the same.  Right?

Dear Reader, does it bother you that I mix political and travel commentaries together?  Many bloggers do stick to a single subject.  I seem unable to.

I tried logging in through my Vox account

New bank fees

Bank Fees

Cabin in the woods?

I have often said that I would like to live in a cabin in the woods, and most particularly (in my imagination) in Montana.

Cabin-in-Woods

But, would I really?  What's stopping me?

One consideration is that I need a lot of medical care and health care support.  Here I have a good doctor and a good hospital within five miles.  Mostly "the woods" doesn't have those amenities.

Another factor is that I like being connected to the world.  I like my computers, the tv, internet.  Bookstores, too.  I don't know that I could really manage without them.

Right now we are living in an historically important time.  There is lots happening, and actually many dangers.  I don't think that I would want to "miss it."

On the other hand, maybe it would be easier to sleep peacefully away from it all, out with the birds and animals, fresh air, streams and lakes and trees and mountains nearby?  Maybe so.

I know what the single thing I dislike most about living near the city is:  the traffic.  Actually, our house is located in a spot where the basic necessities stores (grocery, drug store, electronics, barber, a couple restaurants) are not at all far away.  But, still, basically I hate traffic.

I suppose it is odd, because I like road trips so much and dislike traffic so greatly!  We try to work out routes that aren't too heavily traveled.  One basic rule of thumb:  stay away from Atlanta!  I don't think that I will ever go back into New York City again, either.

Breaking Bad

I've gotten to really like the AMC series "Breaking Bad."  I didn't watch it the first year or two because I didn't like the premise about drugs.  But now I find that it is so well done, the characters and the plot so interesting.  I still "disapprove"--but not as much as the justification-of-torture line on 24, which I quit watching entirely.  

The website has a "criminal aptitude test," but I didn't take it.  I assume my score would be very low, and would be so embarrassed if it were high!  I've never stolen anything in my life--wait, take that back, a did once a book from someone else's office.  I feel pretty guilty even having a library book be overdue.

However, I can sympathize some with the difficult situation of the main character, Walt.  

BreakingBad_800x600_02

And of course he is a school teacher.  I can relate to teachers.

Also, I like the southwestern scenery.  Much of the photography is very good.