21 thoughts on “Paddle or Die”

  1. Bumped into an American couple here on holiday for three months. We had an interesting conversation. Am not sure whether or not they believed anything I said concerning my resume. The first time American tourists abroad doubted my story was in Spain btw krap
    The circle of life continues.

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    1. When I was around 19, I encountered a very interesting man at the Seattle airport. He was much older than I was-almost retired, and he was telling me about his career, which was very impressive, although I can’t remember anything about it now. He claimed to be some kind of scientist, or something, I think, and I totally believed everything he was saying until he veered off in a strange direction and started talking about his encounters with space aliens. The space aliens caused me to have doubts about everything else šŸ™‚

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  2. RAH, to the venturesome – and ‘good crazy’ Tim – and your willingness to venture with him: Semper Fi Do or Die, for sure. Virga Joy Forever!

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  3. Yeah..I mean, maybe the people you met will dine out on the events you recounted for months! Theyā€™ll say, ā€œof course, who knows who he was , really? But he told usā€¦ā€ Ƈa suffit!
    I met a guy in Italy who claimed to be an attorney whose entire practice consisted of people who had undergone circumcision. Oh, I said, you mean malpractice suits against physicians who hadnā€™t done it right? But no, apparently there are a lot of men who mourn their foreskins all their lives. And really fat men who kinda, grow a new oneā€¦.? Idk but the guy was a charming fascinating conversationalist. I think we encountered him in the Arena Chapel where he was quietly recounting all the Bible stories depicted. Oh and thatā€™s close to Padua, where horsemeat is a speciality . He also told us about having Cavallo for dinner the previous night. Was it all true? Doesnā€™t matter, he added to my travel experience.
    In Simonā€™s case of course, it WAS trueā€”and those travelers are lucky to have encountered him.

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    2. Thatā€™s the point I was making when I posted about VietNam a while ago: men of the professional classes did not go, not by the 70s. It was terrifying, the draft was real and every young man was a target, butā€¦the fact is I dont know anybody who actually went there. They all got out of it somehow, served in the National Guard or got stationed stateside. Shit, just the shadow of the draft was traumatic enough. I mean that. It really was. The horror suffered by the guys who actually got shot at in that jungle, I canā€™t even imagine.

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      1. I always have to remind myself that President Trump, whom I love, did everything he could to avoid going to Vietnam, and succeeded. But this is the thing: President Trump also did everything he could as President to avoid sending other men to war, while at the same time providing us with as strong a national security as possible.

        What I find so disturbing about so many members of the ruling class isn’t so much their reluctance to fight. It is their reluctance to fight combined with their enthusiasm for sending other men to war. It has become clear by now that they don’t take war seriously. They totally refuse to fight in one themselves, but they think nothing of sending others to fight. This is beyond offensive.

        And then, when Simon tells us about State Dept types who use our Armed Forces as personal bodyguards, and then spit in their faces, it’s really so far beyond intolerable.

        Not all men can fight in wars. We all get that, but if you can’t or won’t fight in a war, you damn well better respect those who do. President Trump does. Most members of the ruling class do not.

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      2. This is the main, over riding reason why I have serious reservations about women voting. Except in very extreme circumstances-such as enemy troops marching down my street-I believe strongly in leaving the fighting of wars to men. Unless it is literally Armageddon, any country that sends women into battle is committing suicide. But, if we leave the fighting of wars to men, then we ought to leave the decisions about when to fight or not fight wars to men as well. I do not feel comfortable telling men to fight in a war: I don’t feel comfortable telling them not to fight in a war either. They are the ones who do the fighting, they are the ones who should make these decisions.

        In my extended family, the women are the ones who decide how many kids are enough. We are Catholic, and we love kids, and many of us have large families, but none of us is a stickler for the rules against birth control: when the wife feels that 3 kids or 5 kids have pushed her to her limit, she says, enough, and the husband respects that. It is her decision to make, because she is the one giving birth. So, that is my position: women should be the ones to decide how many kids a couple should have, and men should be the ones who decide whether and when to go to war.

        * If my husband told me that he didn’t want anymore kids, I would respect that, and so would all the women in my family. The men in my family generally seem to be very enthusiastic about kids, so the decision to stop having them usually or always is made by the wife. šŸ™‚

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      4. Probably, which is why I would support men taking over. The best thing that could happen would be for men to take the vote away from women, and then not oppress them. For men to say, basically, “Look, you can do whatever you want, but you cannot and will not order American men into and out of wars.” Men of all colors could unite on this point, and many would.

        Men having all the power is feminists’ worst nightmare. What if men had all the power, and everything stayed pretty much the same?

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      5. Just to be clear, I realize that most American women are not purposely trying to destroy the country, but they are destroying the country nonetheless. I know and love these women: in most cases, they are wonderful people, but when it comes to politics, they are dumber than bricks. I have been dumber than bricks about plenty of things as well, but I am not asking anyone to put me in charge of the U.S. military. It’s time for men to just say No.

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      8. Simon, I am not sure whom your No is directed at? Is it directed at feminists, or at me, or at all of us? Probably all of us. I don’t know, but the danger of American women destroying America is all too real, and the only people who can stop it are American men. I can talk. I can speak out against feminism, and I do, in the hope that other women will join me, but a catfight between opposing groups of women will not resolve this.

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      11. I think when I was a freshman or sophomore in high school and big bro had to register or got his draft number (something like that) was when I realized that I was next in line. Neither uncle had much good to say about their stints as drafted Soldiers in the late 60s.

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