COGNITIVE DISSONANCE

These sure are interesting times.  At least I think so.  I keep wishing that I could entertain myself with the antics of the DC Village Idiot.  It turns out that the more time goes by, the more mental garbage that flows into the Village Square.  The more I try to accommodate the language with the goal that I am told is desired, the more mushy my brain becomes.

I am told on a daily basis that the goal is the safety of the people and the security of the nation.  Oh, and by the way I also hear "Jobs, jobs, jobs."  The larger issue of safety and security is really where the fun is.

"Illegals" from Mexico are bad people sent here to make life miserable for us.
Answer:  Build a wall.
Me:  Huh?  Will you wall off the beach side too? You know, the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.  Are you including the eastern shore?  There are some interesting possibilities there.  I'll bet the Mexicans are already plotting those routes as I sit here doing this.

Drugs from Mexico are flowing across the border.  
Answer:  Build a wall.
Me?  Huh?  What about the drugs that are smuggled in through the border gates open to legal crossers, pedestrian and automotive.  Many people who cross through the border gates legally are USA citizens, traffickers bringing tons of drugs in every single day because the USA market has a ravenous appetite for them.

How much wall do we need?  
Me?  I wonder what we are going to do about walling off 7,558 miles of possible entry points, excluding the Alaska / Canada border of 1,538 miles more.  We also have a very decided habit of shooting ourselves in the foot by not forcing overstaying visa holders to get out and go back where they came from.  There are nearly 300,000 Illegal Filipinos here right now.

History of walls.
1. Jericho - Historical oddity - remembered in song.
2. China - Histrical oddity - Tourist attraction
3. Jerusalem - Historical oddity -  Tourist attraction
4. Constantinople - Historical oddity - Tourist attraction
5. Berlin - Tourist attraction
6. Athens - Tourist attraction
7. Carcassonne - Tourist attraction
8. West Bank - Tagger's playground
9. Belfast - Curiosity item
10. Masada - Tourist attraction
Me?  I'm laughing already because I think it will be a tourist attraction from the first shovel full

Tension, Apprehension and Dissension are alive and well.
The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester 1953
Department of State budget is in line for shrinkage of 37%.
Me?  Huh?  Safety?  Security?  Deals?  This does not make a wall anything but a tourist attraction.  We stay safe by interacting with the world, not by shutting it out.  Shaking my head in sheer disgust over this one.

Our country is retrogressing into being nothing but an object of humorous inanity.  Yes, our democratic constitutional republic is inching toward the edge of the tyrannical cliff.

One way or the other, now you have a reason not to cry at my funeral.

A TOAST TO "ALTERNATIVE FACTS"

Leonardo da Vinci

Not too long ago, I heard and saw a shameless political shill lie through her teeth on TV.  When the interlocutor pointed out her lie, she said, "Don't get so upset over nothing.  It's an alternative fact."

Upon hearing that, I was immediately reminded of one of my favorite poems.  It is entitled "My Madonna" and came from the pen of the prolific poet, Robert Service.  Through this genteel poem I present you an illustration of an alternative fact.

MY MADONNA

I haled me a woman from the street, 

Shameless, but, oh so fair!

I bade her sit in the model's seat

And I painted her sitting there.

I hid all trace of her heart unclean;

I painted a babe at her breast;

I painted her as she might have been

If the Worst had been the Best.

She laughed at my picture and went away.

Then came, with a knowing nod,

A Connoisseur, and I heard him say:

"'Tis Mary, the Mother of God."

So I painted a halo around her hair,

And I sold her and took my fee,

And she hangs in the church of Saint Hillaire,

Where you and all may see.

As far as I know this poem dates from late in the 19th century.I have been enjoying it for some two decades now.  This is the first time I share it.  Like I said, I couldn't resist after being subjected to the "alternative facts" intellectual dissonance.

I hope you enjoy it.