At Two Hundred Yards I Thought She Was Gorgeous

'Twas the Fourth of July I read in the paper
A circus from Kansas had pulled into town
Now elephants had always kind of intrigued me
And I hadn't seen a woman in a month and a half.

A feller gets crazy in a bachelor quarters
And wishes to gaze on a woman or two
And so I forsook all the boss' fine heifers
And went to the circus alas and alack.

At two hundred yards I thought she was gorgeous
She looked like a mermaid with long golden hair
Somehow I missed the tattoo on her shoulder
And that she weighed in close to three hundred pounds.

I should have looked closer before I embraced her
It never occurred to me that she might have
The hairiest armpits in Ockletree County
I really goofed up there alas and alack.

I guess that some lasses ain't wild about cowboys
Who sneak up behind 'em and kiss on their face
In any event though she screamed like a panther
And messed up my jaw with a wicked left hook.

I sure 'nough was shocked that she had that big husband
A wrestler in fact with a bone in his nose
Before he was finished I really looked forward
To seeing my heifers alas and alack.

I'm warning you boys who stay on them ranches
A circus is no place for fellers like us
There's something about all the glittering costumes
That makes a poor cowboy go out of his mind.

Beware of the women with big ugly husbands
Especially that one with a bone in his nose
In courting a lass...a lack of good judgment
Can shorten your lifespan alas and alack.

Aurea Mediocritas

I have long considered what constitutes the mean. There many things from which the Christian is called to abstain completely, and many things which are permitted in moderation. I have no wish for excess in anything; the Christian (and the philosopher) is forbidden to indulge beyond the mean. Furthermore, this mean is different for everyone. The amount of food I eat the constitutes the mean is a lot for a 10-year old, but insufficient for someone like Michael Phelps.

Mostly I think about the questionable pleasures: tobacco and alcohol. Alcohol is not forbidden to Christians; we may enjoy it moderately without fear. I would argue that smoking is similar. Addiction is forbidden to Christians but I see no harm in G.K. Chesterton smoking a cigar or me having a cigarette. However, God speaks and relates to all men differently. He may not require a friend of mine to abstain from smoking, but he may tell me not to. My Question: How do I know what things are forbidden to me and which are not? I am beginning to get the feeling I should quit smoking, at least for the time being. Going clean might be fun. On the other hand, it could be that I am merely not enjoying it as well as I did before; also a reason to quit; why engage in a detrimental habit that produces no enjoyment? These two reasons (perhaps the second is a product of the first) make me think about smoking. I am not sure I would pick up roll-your-owns as an alternative; they taste great (I had one about 45 seconds ago) but are far worse though the enjoyment they produce is much better.

I am close to quitting. We'll see how this goes. Maybe I'll go completely clean (no alcohol or tobacco) but alcohol is a separate matter since I consume it illegally. I will think further along these lines and make a decision soon.

In Which I Contemplate Politics

"Of all tyrannies a tyranny exercised for the good of its victim may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated, but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience."

C. S. Lewis wrote those fine words; truer and finer political words have seldom been written.

I do not care for democracy. Rule of the mob, even indirect rule of the mob (representative republic, current U.S. Government) will never effect Justice. Neither political candidate will deliver us, not even the one treated like the Messiah (and they're serious, too. I haven't seen such devotion to a political candidate before and it's troubling), for they are both moral busybodies.

Aristocracy has a bad rap, but ever since reading The Republic, Gorgias, Politics, and Thucydides, "rule of the best" seems more and more attractive to me. In our modern world, maybe something like a strong constitutional monarchy, for it is far easier to have one strong virtuous ruler than have 300 million strong, virtuous citizens.

I have the cynicism of youth, not the idolization of cause like most college students flocking after Obama like the rest of the sheeple. I have had it with a two-party system; neither Republicans or Democrats have the right vision with respect to this country and I am sick of politics. I'm through. My last political action will be to throw in a useless vote in November. Finis.

President Bush addresses the fucking nation!?If you aren't getting it already... this financial crisis is fucking armaggeddon.The next to go are the biggest banks in the world. Citigroup, Bank of America, Wachovia.I predicted this was going to be a society altering event, I will be proven right. Shit is going to be bad, and then the cultural misallocations are going to reveal themselves. The final gasp will be the police state, followed by a new order, whatever it may be.The end result of free market interference is ALWAYS Rome. Degree and therefore time are the only variables.

Just to clarify, that was Kaizen, not me. I'm saving that so I can mock him when Armageddon doesn't hit.