Archives for category: 1989

For reasons outside the scope of this post, some Japanese whiskys command ‘impressive’ sums of money.
This is a fact.

Another fact is that “Federal employees are not allowed to keep gifts from foreign governments as souvenirs or for their own personal use, unless their value is under $415. When foreign gifts exceed that threshold, staffers can accept them if their refusal “would likely cause offense or embarrassment or otherwise adversely affect the foreign relations of the United States,” but they’re considered the property of the federal government unless the State Department allows them to be sold, according to federal law.

Then why on Earth would anybody make such a gift to a ‘federal employee’?
Oh, to give something ‘trivial’ to such an ‘honorable character’ would diminish the stature of the giver…
Not to mention another fact! That it’s the receiver’s job to obey ‘their’ rules… the giver has nothing to do with what happens after the gift has changed hands…

And what else might become lost in the American bureaucratic maze?

Why do I waste my time with things like these?
Why do I waste your time with things like these?
Why does the US State Department waste its time reporting on things like these?

As former President Donald Trump wades into contested primaries across the country, he’s trying to exact revenge and remake the Republican Party in his image. In doing so, he has endorsed a series of candidates involved in allegations of wrongdoing, especially concerning their treatment of women.

That’s contributing to anxiety among some Republicans who worry that Trump is lending his powerful political backing only to those who flatter his ego. Such candidates may be able to win GOP primaries in which the party’s Trump-supporting base dominates, only to struggle in the general election.

And with control of Congress hinging on just a few seats, such missteps could be costly.

“There is no vetting process — at least not on policy and electability,” said Dan Eberhart, a GOP donor and Trump supporter who said the concerns extend to many corners of the party. “The endorsement process comes down to how much a candidate supports the former president and is willing to have the Trump machine run their campaign and fundraising. … Whether they are the most viable candidate in a given race is secondary.”

What are some of the Republicans concerned about? Whether the candidates backed by Trump will be elected?!?

Is anybody concerned whether they will be able to do something, anything, for the United States?
As a whole?

Whether they, any of them, will be a true asset?
Rather than make expensive bottles of alien whisky ‘disappear’?

https://www.gearpatrol.com/food/drinks/a33806261/yamazaki-55-year-old-most-expensive-japanese-whisky-auction/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/joewalsh/2021/08/04/missing-5800-bottle-of-japanese-whiskey-given-to-trump-administration-has-state-dept-on-the-rocks/
https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-entertainment-congress-senate-elections-general-elections-ea0839430fc28a6b08227223c0b4e045

Until recently – historically speaking, people had two ideologies to choose from.

Conservative and liberal.

The conservatives used to posit ‘law’ as a ‘cage’ which didn’t allow any transgression while the liberals understood ‘law’ as an agreed upon environment which allowed people an individual but orderly pursuit of happiness.

The advent of Marx’s communism changed everything. His promotion of ‘class warfare’ as a legitimate political instrument had effectively muddled that which had previously been considered a clear choice.

After communism proved itself to be an abject failure, the naifs have forgotten about Marx.
Flying under the ideological radar, ‘class warfare’ has metastasized.

Nowadays, Regular Joe is confronted with three ideologies. And to make things worse, their names – attributed and/or assumed, are misleading.

We have a line of thought which uses (natural) ‘law’ as a line of defense against any kind of change. And as a means of bringing back the ‘better yesterday’.

Another line of thought which sees (man made) ‘law’ as an instrument to implement – forcefully, if needed, whatever the ‘implementer’ wants to achieve. One of the most often professed goals being ‘equality’. Close on its heels comes ‘diversity’.

And the ‘classical’ liberals who are squeezed between the previous two.

The state/government – whose job is to keep ‘the playing field’ level and functional, is paralyzed by the first two factions fighting to control it.
The ‘conservatives’ want to use the state/government as a ‘preserving agent’ for what they consider to be their (natural) ‘rights’.
The ‘progressives’ want to use the state/government as an instrument of (forceful, if needed) change towards what they consider to be ‘the common good’.

Meanwhile, the classical liberals – berated by both of the above, have a hard time explaining to a shrinking audience that the state/government is an extremely dangerous instrument if allowed to fall into the hands of ‘single-minded’ operators. That as soon as the freedom of the markets (the economic and, way more importantly, the ideatic ones) is curtailed, everything starts to go south. Fast!

Democracy and the free market have brought us so far.
The freedom of thought/expression and the freedom to act as an honest entrepreneur have been instrumental in us reaching the present state. With the goods and the bads in it.

Each instance in which the state/government had fallen prisoner in the hands of ‘men of state’ with ‘focused vision’, history started to run backwards.
No matter whether that ‘limited vision’ had been focused in the past or on “a certain” future.

Each time this subject comes about I remember about Francis Fukuyama’s The End of History.
About how concentrated he was on the future he considered to be forthcoming.
About how his ‘hard focus’ had prevented him from noticing the sunken part of the iceberg.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/10/texas-abortion-law-jonathan-f-mitchell-profile
https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/download/pdf/Manifesto.pdf

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Let me put this another way.

Nobody can survive alone.
Not for a considerable amount of time, anyway.

“It takes nothing to join the crowd”.
To join, maybe… but if you choose to remain, you must ‘follow the rules’.

So yes, it takes everything to stand alone… Your very life!
And the ‘membership price’ is your ‘absolute’ freedom…

Hard to make up your mind, eh?
Then let me raise up a few points.

I started this argument by mentioning that nobody can live alone. Not for long and not very comfortably. No matter how hard you may prepare yourself.
Don’t kid yourself. All those hermits and preppers you hear about – on ‘social media’!, are able to do that because of modern technology. Which technology has been developed by somebody else…
On the other hand, most individuals are able to survive, alone or in small groups, while jumping from ‘one boat to another’. Think emigration, for instance. Or ‘acculturation’.

But no crowd will ever survive its members leaving in droves!

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RANFLUÁ vb. I. tr. (Mar.) A ridica de pe fund și a repune în stare de plutire (o navă scufundată). [Pron. -flu-a. / < fr. renflouer].

Ce faci atunci când descoperi ca ai schizofrenie?

Îl înjuri pe tac-tu că era bețiv?
Pe mă-ta că era deja babă când l-a primit pe tac-tu beat în pat?
Pe educatoarea de la creșă că vă adormea pe toți cu ‘biciul’ după masa de prânz? Ca să poata fuma ea liniștită?

Sau, mai bine, te duci la doctor și te tratezi?

Ce faci când descoperi că trăiești într-un stat eșuat?
Îl înjuri pe Iliescu? Și pe toți care au votat vreodata cu el?
Pe Iorgovan, că a scris constituția așa cum a scris-o?
Pe Coposu? Că nu știu ce a făcut?
Pe Radu Câmpeanu și pe Rațiu că n-au mâncat salam cu soia?
Pe Mihai, că l-a arestat pe Antonescu și a dat țara pe mâna sovieticilor?

Sau îți aduci aminte de Băsescu?
Cel mai bandit dintre președinții post-revoluționari…
Dar și cel mai sincer!

„”Competitivitatea unei ţări nu poate fi dată numai de Guvern şi administraţie. Sectorul privat este parte a indicatorilor de competitivitate pentru o ţară. Şi, ca să mă înţelegeţi fără să interpretaţi că este vreun atac, cum a contribuit la competitivitatea României sistemul bancar care a fost atât de generos în perioadele în care ne-am umflat şi acum devine tot mai restrictiv? Cât de competitivă a fost analiza factorului privat în finan­ţarea aproape fără limite şi fără o bună analiză a capacităţii împrumutatului de a mai plăti banii înapoi? Cât de competitiv este să dai credite cu buletinul?”, a declarat ieri Băsescu în faţa unei audienţe formate în principal din membri ai Camerei de Comerţ Americană în România (AmCham), ambasadori şi reprezentanţi ai autorităţilor.”

„Un funcţionar nu poate fi corupt dacă nu există cineva care să dea mită, la fel cum un minister nu poate plăti cu 50% mai mult pentru un contract dacă nu există un consultant care să facă o expertiză în acest sens, a explicat Băsescu.

“Să ieşim din ipocrizie. Dacă există corupţie, singur statul nu poate fi corupt, are un partener. Statul nu poate fi singur neperformant. Are un partener şi acesta este economia privată.””

Băsescu atacă Nokia şi Ford şi continuă să-i critice pe bancheri,
Claudia Medrega, 15.12.2011, Ziarul Financiar

Cu alte cuvinte, oricât de schizofrenă ar fi constituția scrisă de Iorgovan, și oricât de nepriceput ‘comandantul’, statul n-ar fi putut eșua dacă noi, echipajul, nu dormeam în cizme.
Dacă îi trăgeam de mânecă pe aceia dintre noi care au tot furat – de la piese din motor pana la scânduri din bordaj, și le-au vândut pe la depozitele de ‘fier vechi’.
Sub ochii noștri!
Și, câte odată, chiar cu ajutorul nostru…

Vrem să repunem statul pe linia de plutire?
Atunci trebuie să ne apucăm fiecare de treabă.

Cu cât prelungim circul ăsta ieftin, cu atât mai adânc ne afundăm în noroi!

Cu alte cuvinte, conform Constituției României, statul este distinct de societate.
Iar președintele – chemat, la nevoie, să medieze între cele două, este, și el, distinct de fiecare dintre cele două entități separate.

Și noi chiar sperăm că alcătuirea asta cât se poate de schizofrenă va putea funcționa vreodată?

Că un stat distinct de societatea pe care se presupune că trebuie să o apere își va îndeplini vreodată menirea?
Că un președinte, oricât de dedicat, va fi vreodată în stare să medieze între două entități care n-au nimic în comun?

Care n-au nimic în comun în afară de oamenii care le populează?

Chiar!
Ce-o fi în capul oamenilor care ‘lucrează la stat’? Care fac parte atât din ‘societate’ cât și din ‘stat’? Și care, pentru a respecta constituția, trebuie să țină statul separat de societate?
Și ce-o fi în capul lui Iohannis?!? Care face parte din societate – ca cetățean al acestei țări, din stat – ca „șef”, și care, colac peste pupăză, mai trebuie să și medieze între două chestii din care face parte simultan?!?

V-a luat durerea de cap?
Așa e la schizofrenie… face parte din fișa postului!

https://www.g4media.ro/presedintele-klaus-iohannis-despre-incendiul-de-la-constanta-astazi-din-pacate-statul-roman-a-esuat-in-misiunea-sa-fundamentala-de-a-si-proteja-cetatenii-sunt-ingrozit-de-tragedie.html
https://www.presidency.ro/ro/presedinte/rol-si-atributii

More than ten years ago I was preparing my thesis.
To get a ‘title’ – BA in sociology, in my case, each Romanian student must submit a paper to a commission. To help them, students are allowed to chose a Professor.
My choice had been Petre Anghel.
We had many interesting ‘exchanges’. Before, during and after preparing my thesis.
One of the most interesting ones had been about education.

Education is, maybe, the most ‘conservative’ things known to man.
The transfer of knowledge from one generation to the next one is the single thing which allows a society to survive.
And to thrive, if each successive generation diligently improves
what has been bestowed upon it!

Petre Anghel

Fast forward to right now.

The US is the current ‘top dog’.

According to my Teacher, for a nation to reach this ‘stage’ it needs a smooth flow of knowledge from one generation to the next one. And a strenuous effort to improve that knowledge made by each successive generation.

Nowadays, both current generations – the one trying to pass over its knowledge and the one at the receiving end of the process, are dissatisfied with the current ‘education system’.
Many belonging to the ‘mature’ generation are obsessing about ‘who runs the system and towards which end’ while the ‘learning generation’ is buckling under the costs incurred during the process.

Do I need to remind you that it’s the conservatives the world over who are whining about this?

OK, I understand the whiners living in failed states. Afghanistan, Somalia…
But those enjoying the perks of living in the ‘civilized’ world?
What are they complaining about?
Weren’t they in charge while the current education system had been put in place?
Aren’t they the parents, and educators, of the current student generation?

What’s going on here?!?
Why are the American Conservatives, living in the most advanced country of the world – no doubt here!, the most vocal critics of their own education system?

What, and why, went wrong?

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Some of you will agree and some will say I’ve lost it.

First things first.

Socialism does take away liberties.
One by one. Under various pretexts.
I’ve learned this on my own skin.

Spending the first 30 years of your life under a communist regime teaches you a thing or two…

On the other hand, the meme above does have a certain ‘appeal’.
A significant number of people had their pensions slashed, watched their savings disappear and their jobs being exported. Health care and education have become exorbitant. Racism, xenophobia and hate have again risen their ugly heads and more and more people die at the wrong end of a gun. Of a gun ‘manhandled’ by ’emotionally distressed’ persons…

What’s going on here?
Why so many people’s lives are so badly ruined?

Fugazi can be used to describe a situation as “fucked up” or to describe an item as fake.

You see, “capitalism” stealing anything is a lie.
A blatant lie!

Capitalism cannot steal anything!

Socialism can rob you of your rights because it actually says it will do it.
Given the slightest chance, those who promote socialism will use the doctrine to ‘discipline’ their followers into a herd.

Capitalism doesn’t promote stealing!
Stealing is not condoned by any capitalist ideology while concentrating all decision making in the hands of the ruling coterie is the cornerstone of socialism.

‘If capitalism doesn’t condone stealing then why an increasing number of people end up penniless while so much money gets concentrated in such a small number of hands?!?’

Why are we living in such fugazi times?

Replace “capitalism” with ‘some (fake) capitalists’ and the text above will make so much more sense!

You see, what we have here is the perfect illustration of fugazi.
We are in a fucked up situation!
And instead of trying to solve it, some of us attempt to ‘fake it’!
And consequently make it worse…

Socialism won’t bring any respite!

Solving the current untenable situation starts with acknowledging its causes!
Its real causes…

Blaming the socialists for the errors committed because too much greed had been ‘expressed’ at ‘very high levels’ doesn’t solve anything.
Promising that socialism will making things right is just as malignant as blaming the socialists for the mistakes made by the greedy who have brought us where we currently are.

Only when we’ll stop faking it we’ll be able to look for solutions.
For workable solutions…

Oh, I almost forgot!
Don’t allow the ‘con-artists’ to convince you that social democracy is equivalent to socialism.
This is a thesis put forward by the same people who maintain that “republic” is good while “democracy” is bad.
And don’t allow the ‘other’ ‘con-artists’ to convince you that all wealthy people are bad and that (forced) “equality” will solve everything.

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10220264321259677&set=a.10200798952597626
https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/fugazi/
https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/download/pdf/Manifesto.pdf
https://www.britannica.com/topic/democracy/Democracy-or-republic

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The single truth which is accessible to us is that while there is a single truth – we may call it ‘reality’, if you want, we’ll never know it in its entirety.
We may get ever closer to getting there but we will never arrive.

The corollary – which is an integral part of the kernel truth, being that the effort to get closer to that single truth can be exerted only as a collective endeavor. Any other approach will, sooner rather than later, end up in a cul-de-sac.

The sooner we agree about this ‘kernel’ truth, the more peaceful the journey to never get there will become.

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As much as I love writing, I do have to eat.
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Ordinary people are aware of their own self, have an identity and are driven by goals.
The ‘fulfilled’ ones have developed an understanding, belong to a community and are driven by compassion.
The really ‘lucky’ have found meaning.

And peace.
Those who are still driven try to spread it.

Cine a învins?
Cinicii, impostorii, bandiții și alte mutații social-politice-economice foarte stranii.

“Ce să-i spui unui tânăr ca să reușească în viață? Să fie corect, să se educe, să fie altruist, să ajute pe celălalt, să se sacrifice, să lupte pentru dreptate, să împartă cu celălalt, să respecte legea? Dacă face asta e terminat.
Realitatea spune invers: fură, încalcă legea, fii tupeist și cinic până la cer, bagă-ți picioarele în lege și în tot, folosește-te de ceilalți fără milă, ia tot, nu împărți cu nimeni, fii nemilos și lasă morala și adevărul. Astea sunt pentru cei slabi, tu ești învingător: poți călca pe cadavre pentru că meriți. Suntem o junglă: sfâșie tot ca să poți reuși. Aceasta este singura putere de lege. Tu ești legea.
Asta este cheia succesului noii societăți. Asta ne arată ”noua elită” parvenită.

NU!

De învins, n-a învins nimeni!
Am pierdut noi.
Noi. Noi ăștia!
Fraierii ăștia care considerăm că țopârlanul cu Mercedes este un invingător.
Noi, care îi validăm pe ‘cinici, pe impostori, pe bandiți și pe celelalte mutații social-politice-economice’ de fiecare dată când ne uităm cu jind la ‘realizările’ lor.
De fiecare dată când bălim după mașinile lor strălucitoare și după femeile lor triste.

Atât de frumoase și atât de triste…

Construirea socială a realității, Peter L. Berger și Thomas Luckmann