Smooth Operator

What's the use in tryin'?
All you get is pain.
When I needed sunshine I got rain
--I'm a Believer, The Monkees

There would be no society if living together
depended upon understanding each other
--Eric Hoffer

Liberty for wolves is death to the lambs
--Isaiah Berlin

You can take the boy out of Cleveland,
but you can't take Cleveland out of the boy
--Lisa
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A small observation on a moment in the life of your eponymous blogger.

Upon finding him outside of a public toilet in a coastal resort area interacting with the attendant who was gesticulating wildly, I approached cautiously. The attendant appeared to be in his 70's, though still robust, and sported a Combat Infantry Badge on his cap. Clearly, he was not amused.

Smiling, Ranger says, "He said he was gonna kick my ass!" This is not the sort of interchange one expects in an upmarket vacation area. They were approaching and separating, like bantam cocks. "Get outta heah! Commie, pinko bastid!" says the attendant, in (possibly) mock anger. Says I, "What's wrong?"

Apparently, Ranger had thought it funny to ask the attendant if he was on the lookout for any untoward Republican trysts; however, the attendant was a die-hard Republican. He is oblivious to Rule #1: Know your enemy.

Practically at fisticuffs, Ranger continued to sink his boat by attempting to engage the man on the futility of the current wars. The coup de grâce was handing the man his Ranger Against War card.

I shook my head violently, but the gesture had already been made. Of course the man's hands flew up and back, as if the card were saturated with anthrax. Gamely I interjected that the two loved their country, and probably agreed on 80% of what needed to be done to get it back on track. But the attendant was having none of it.

"Did he make you walk all the way down that hill? Why this. . . ," disgustedly gesturing at the confounded card-holder. My new hero.

The zeal of a true believer is a thing to behold.