Happy New Year; Now Let's Get Organized

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There's a good deal of plain wise-assery in The McGee Reader, and no change is foreseen. But crude and vulgar bile promulgated to the public should rest on some kind of philosophical and intellectual basis, to wit:

Three  kinds of people exist. 

(1) authoritarians -- the stunted cretins who  wish to use government to dictate the manner in which you live your  life

(2) libertarians -- the opposite, believers in personal sovereignty who suspect that things like the United States Constitution mean pretty much what they say

(3) inerts -- those who, in return for potted chickens,  put authoritarians in power

Thank you, Mr. Prime Minister

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We see by the news that World Leader Gordon Brown, boss politician of Britain, identifies security and the economy as the "major challenges" of 2009, and the world's media are dutifully reporting  it as a profound observation. 

Let's think historically about that, maybe going back to the late stone age. "I tell ya' tribe, we gotta find more nuts and berries next year or we're goinna starve. And it's time to do something about those sabre-tooth tiger attacks."  

True, Prime Minister Brown also said "climate change" is the third "major challenge" for 2009,  but that's just because it's fashionable.

Personally, I think we'd all be better off if the United Nations outlawed these annual  World Leader New Year's speeches about "major challenges."

Ho ho ho

The absolute last gift is wrapped and in the big box for transport to the action zone, so I'll probably need to stop only once or twice on the way to pick up what I forgot.  I have no idea about what will or won't show up on The McGee Reader before I return. Depends, I suppose, on whether I decide to further overload the vehicle with the macBook and/or how well I get along with the son's MS box.

Merry Christmas to all of you.

Christmas Guilt

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On the Christmas when I was  ten I snuck downstairs in the wee hours and found the coveted official Boy Scout sleeping bag AND the official Boy Scout Yucca Pack. I crawled into the bag, used the pack for a pillow and  dozed under the tree, content beyond my fantasies. The family means were quite modest, the BSA gear expensive beyond all reason, and two younger sisters had their own Yule dreams. 

I thanked Mom and Dad.  I wish I'd thanked them more. I never knew what important things they denied themselves, but it was something.

Travis had it right about the teary nostalgia of some Christmas memories. It's the good ones that get to you.