Super Frauds

There are some frauds so well conducted that it would be stupidity not to be deceived by them. - Charles Caleb Colton


I'm going to remember this fancy sounding excuse the next time I'm duped!


(Other posts on Mistakes)

Easy Evil

Evil is committed without effort, naturally, fatally; goodness is always the product of some art. - Charles Baudelaire 


Is that why people are inclined to believe things are a conspiracy?


(Other posts on Conspiracy) 

Sanctioned Force

Confronted with the choice, the American people would choose the policeman's truncheon over the anarchist's bomb. - Spiro T. Agnew

We are now confronted with this choice. I choose the anarchist's (or terrorist's) bomb. The policeman's truncheon will not eliminate bombing but will effect the freedom of everyone. Never trust anyone with sanctioned force.

Odious Light

You are not superior just because you see the world in an odious light. - Vicomte de Chateaubriand

Being positive will get more done, besides it's more fun.

Conspiracy Theory

America is a vast conspiracy to make you happy. - John Updike

Now that's my kind of conspiracy theory.

Fried Chicken Sandwich Evironmentalism

This is Blog Action Day on Environmentalism so I am breaking with the normal post format and expressing my view on environmentalism.


When I was a kid my dad had a portable sawmill and logging operation. Yes, he cut down trees; sawed them into boards; hauled them out of the woods on roads he built himself. When the trees were all cut down he would move the mill and start in a new area.


Saturdays were the days to do maintenance and repair on the machinery and on occasion my brother and I were invited to go along for the day. It was a big deal because we got to get a pop from the little gas station and go to the woods with the men.


On one of these occasions we sat down for lunch with the crew on a stack of rough-sawn lumber and everyone got out their lunch box. I was not real excited about my lunch so when one of the crew (Vern) ask if anyone wanted to trade their sandwich for his fried chicken sandwich I agreed and we made the trade. His sandwich turned out to be a fried egg sandwich. I hated cold fried eggs - still do today. I then saw why he made the trade. He could tell from my tears I was disappointed and offered to trade back but my Dad told me to eat the sandwich like a man and to remember that things are not always what you think they are. I haven't forgotten.


It wasn't that long ago when the consensus was that the turn of the century (Y2K) was going to be a global disaster. People bought generators; put up a stock of food; took money out of their bank; bought gold; prepared for the lights to go out. The doom and gloomers did a good job of convincing the average guy it was going to be bad - and some made a lot of money in the process. I thought about fried chicken sandwiches and tried to convince some of my friends it was just a ruse. I failed because doom and gloom for most is more believable than milk and honey. It was put very well by Susan Jeffers:

We have been taught to believe that negative equals realistic and positive equals unrealistic.

The current gloom is global warming. Think fried chicken sandwiches.