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Sunday, July 24, 2016

"Frog Hospital" And "Pax On Both Houses" Discuss Presidential Politics And Smelt Fishing


Dear Fred,

Thanks for Frog Hospital.

I love your Al Versino reflection. (I was -- to my own surprise! -- okay with your first reference to "me and Al." But the second time you used "me" as a subject pronoun it didn't sit well. Small point. You might be interested.)

I applaud your  brilliant epitomization of Hillary: "She cannot be outsmarted but she might outsmart herself." 

I have a good friend who outsmarted herself. Fortunately, she's over the worst of it.

I wonder how often those of us with capacious intellects outsmart ourselves. 

Perhaps it's commonplace but we rarely "make the allegation" for fear our "pointed finger" will go all 'round our "curved-space world" and poke us in the back.

I think Laura (The Thinking Housewife) has outsmarted herself.

Her "need" to claim "false flag attack" EVERY time there's a mass firearm killing is, well, embarrassing.

Even if it were true -- which it isn't -- there would be half a dozen "copy cats" for every time "Homeland Security's troop of traveling actors" feigns slaughter. (I do not deny the existence of false flag attacks.)

Compendium Of "Pax" Posts On "The Thinking Housewife," Laura Wood

I don't object to"radical doubt."


But to take one's doubts and regard them as truth just because I am clever enough to see through "the ubiquitious scam" is shoddy epistemology.

It is much more likely that The Vatican has perped fundamental scams for two millennia than it is likely every act of mass firearm carnage is a plot to deprive people of freedom - particularly Americans' freedom to bear arms. Ouch.

What Second Amendment Evangelists Fail To Understand About Their Opposition

"Gun Cartoons and Gun Violence Bibliography"

I agree with you: The Ruling Class is strangled by Ivy.

That said, I think Kaine's working class roots -- coupled with his year in Honduras (teaching kids carpentry skills) and his grounding in the same Richmond parish for thirty years -- will enable him to escape the chilly curse of The Bluebloods.

Tim Kaine's First Speech: "I'm Sitting Here In Shock. Shock. Tim Kaine Is Unbelievable"

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/07/tim-kaines-first-speech-im-sitting-here.html

Hillary's Veep Choice,Tim Kaine, Believes Life Is Sacred. ALL Life


5 Faith Facts About Tim Kaine: "I Do What I Do For Spiritual Reasons"

"There is no fear in love. 
But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. 
The one who fears is not made perfect in love."
1 John 4:18
"Any Religion That Needs Fear To Thrive Is Bad Religion"

Pax

Alan


On Sun, Jul 24, 2016 at 1:41 PM, Fred Owens <froghospital911@gmail.com> wrote:

FROG HOSPITAL -- July 24, 2016 -- unsubscribe anytime
Me and Al Go Fishing

By Fred Owens
I was thinking of my childhood friend Al Versino. When we were kids he lived on Elmwood Avenue, two blocks away from us. Al had two younger brothers, Ken and Larry, and a smothering mom who kept him home a lot.
But Al's dad was cool. Mr. Versino owned the Bike Shop on Green Bay Road. It was a sporting goods store with baseball mitts and hockey sticks and fishing lures, but mainly it was for bikes and the back half of the store was the repair shop. All the kids went to the bike shop.
Al himself got to have the best of all kinds of sporting equipment, like a new baseball glove whenever he wanted one, or super hockey skates.
In the spring me and Al went smelt fishing at the pier in Lake Michigan, which was only a mile from our house. Our folks let us go out in the evening to catch smelt, even if it was a school night. Al had a Coleman lantern -- from his dad's store of course -- and a smelt net, which was a small-mesh gill net that entangled the smelt as they came into shore to spawn on evenings in the spring time.
We could catch a bucket of smelt and bring them home. It was huge fun.
In high school Al began dating Nancy. She was the first girl in his life, and then the only girl, because they stayed together and got married after college. But Al and me weren't hanging out together during those years.
The last time I saw him, more than twenty years ago, he had taken over the bike shop from his dad, but Nancy had left him and his two kids. Al used to have such a bright happy smile, but when I saw him that time he was unhappy and lonely and I didn't have much to tell him.
Like I said, that was more than twenty years ago. Maybe he's happy now. Maybe he has that smile again. I ought to look him up. The high school we went to -- they would have his contact information, or he might even still own the bike shop.
It's All His Fault. The Washington Post editors published a detailed indictment of Republican nominee Donald Trump. I agree point by point with their assessment of his character and the danger he presents to our good country.
But they left out a few things in condemning Trump. It wasn't just Trump that did this. It was us. It was me. And it was you guys at the Washington Post.
I find abundant fault among the Democrats and their leaders, and I will be getting to that. But they will be gathering in Philadelphia in two days, so first we let can them speak. Let them present their alternative to the Trump nightmare. I hope they don't blame it all on the Republicans. I hope a good Catholic boy like Tim Kaine remembers that old prayer -- mea culpa, mea culpa....
I hope the Democrats do not present a parade of victims and grievances. Trump has given success and winning a bad name, but let's take that back from him. Dear Hillary, tell us how we will win and succeed with you as President.
Vote Your Conscience.  My best takeaway from Cleveland was Ted Cruz's ringing cry to vote your conscience. I hope that every living soul in this good country votes their conscience. Hillary Clinton is too strategic for her own good. She will plan this republic into a swamp. She cannot be outsmarted, but she might outsmart herself.

New York Times Headline. "Gunman in Munich Who Killed 9 Had No Terror Ties."
They searched his wallet. They didn't find the ISIS membership card. It's kind of like the AAA card many of us carry, with a membership ID number and expiration date. Only this card is for Islamic terror. But the gunman didn't have the card, so he is not linked to ISIS.
Why do they still say gunman, shouldn't they be saying gunperson?
Prestigious Schools. Senator Tim Kaine went to Harvard Law School. As did his wife, as did Barack Obama and half the Supreme Court. Bill and Hillary Clinton went to Yale Law School. John Kerry went to Yale. Michelle Obama went to Princeton.
The Democratic party is top heavy with the Ivy League. Do they even know this is a problem?
Schools like Harvard and Yale teach power, privilege and prestige. Graduates of these schools believe in their own exceptional talent and in their right to prevail, because they know better, They're not just folks. The amazing thing is that Trump, with his billions, can come across like just folks -- because he's from Queens and he went to a school nobody heard of.
Frog Hospital Boiler Plate. The Frog Hospital email newsletter goes to 370 readers. The mailing list has never been shared with anybody. The content of the newsletter may be forwarded to friends and colleagues, but re-publication, including posting on social media, requires my permission.
Thank you, enjoy your day,

--
Fred Owens
cell: 360-739-0214

My gardening blog is  Fred Owens
My writing blog is Frog Hospital



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