Desperate Wives

Even people spooked by guns will be drawn
into the search for new tools of destruction
--Video game report,
Tallahassee Democrat Limelight

Guess he’s been in Starkfield too many winters.
Most of the smart ones get away
--Ethan Frome, Edith Wharton

I can't get
Any rest
People say
I'm obsessed
--She Drives Me Crazy,
Fine Young Cannibals
______________

Whilst visiting the far-flung regions of Jacksonville, Ranger had the occasion to stay at an upscale motel for a couple of days and experience America in all its glory.

In the business center checking the news, he had occasion to witness five fine young cannibals playing a violent video game. One said animatedly, "It's really neat to cut off their heads and stick spears into people." The others nodded in agreement. Ranger left, but not before offering, "You are some sick puppies if you think cutting off heads is neat." End of story -- almost.

Proceeding to breakfast, he overheard the three young mothers equally animatedly discussing the colors of their toe nail polish (true!) Breakfast continued until one of the daughters walked by my table and deposited her dirty glass upon it. The garbage can was three feet away.

Ranger stood up and stared directly at the girl until the mother said, "The gentleman is upset about something." In explanation he described the video games and the glass, to which the mother replied, "My boy is a good boy!" And indeed, in today's society they are probably sterling examples, and would probably never execute a Columbine-type shooting. Maybe.

Where does this start, and where does it end? Television is full of Jerry Springer-type nastiness -- the abject end of respect for one's fellows, replete with slap downs, wrestling and cage fighting. Reality t.v. encourages nasty behavior and rewards it with prizes. We have moved the Roman Circus to prime time. The huge market of fantasy kill games glorifying murder are but an outgrowth of a society which disdains and ostracizes the losers.

We celebrate when stealth bombs snuff out human life, but cry when the Twin Towers fall. Death is death, but we do not find it equally hideous in its application. What is the difference between cutting off heads in video games and remotely piloting drones that kill people in a really neat, precision manner? If you don't have to see it and smell it, it is all rather, surgical, isn't it?

The America that was my pride no longer exists. Or perhaps, the America that I thought was my pride no longer exists. The U.S. is on a cultural bobsled ride, and it is not over until we hit the bottom of the run.

The judgment will be that Ranger is a grouchy old fart out of touch with reality. If participating in this behavior is being in the game, Ranger prefers the sidelines.

In the Red

The complaints of the privileged are too often
confused with the voice of the masses
--John Kenneth Galbraith

There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn't true;
and the other is to refuse to believe what is true
-- Søren Kierkegaard
___________

The latest audit by the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction sums up the Iraq venture in a nutshell ("Iraq Rebuilding Awash in Woes"):

U.S. efforts to rebuild Iraq are so beset with daily violence, corruption and poor maintenance that Iraqis will not be capable of managing reconstruction anytime soon, investigators say.

Rates of attacks are lower, but attacks are more devastating, meaning greater disruption of services and public works.

Iraq's annual financial loss now exceeds $5 billion due to fraud and abuse that "afflicts virtually every Iraqi ministry," according to the report. [The ministries of oil, interior and defense are the biggest offenders.]

In a cover letter, Inspector General Stuart Bowen Jr. said the Iraqi government was assuming more of the financial burden for the recovery effort, but U.S. support "will remain relatively robust for the foreseeable future."

The good news is that the Iraqi government was assuming more of the financial burden for the recovery effort; bad news, the bill will be robustly footed by America.

Who uses terms like robust anymore? It is certainly not a term America is accustomed to seeing in regards to our own economy, unless it is fronts "budget deficit." What precisely does assuming more financial burden mean? Will they be bringing their own packed lunches to the reconstruction sites now? Will the food-service catering contractors be taking it on the chin?

Have we Americans gone totally 'round the bend? Why are we spending hundreds of billions of dollars for our soldiers to support corruption and self-serving Iraqi interests?

If we don't care about the dead and wounded, then possibly the fiscal irresponsibility of this venture should be a wake-up call.

What is this money purchasing for America? Are the majority of Americans totally brain-dead?