boxingfanmanic

Happy fourth of July, all. Just wanted to remind everyone why they're cranking up the grill today.
Unlike the latest version of (woke) history might tell you, the men involved in the revolution were mostly under 40 -- hardly the old white men they're often accused of being (as if people could help being white, or becoming old!). Those who were older, men like Benjamin Franklin, or John Hancock, staked their not inconsiderable reputations (in Franklin's case) and their fortunes (in Hancock's), as well as their lives, the lives of their families and their "sacred honor" (a concept we should consider bringing back posthaste!). British prison ships were horrendous, squalid places where the best one might hope for was being whipped daily and eventually released. If you were caught and not imprisoned, well, that was the end of you. But those people, living more than 200 years ago, thought the object was worth the risk. I wonder how many of us would undertake the same risks.
For anyone who has the time and interest, I highly recommend Madison's "notes on the constitutional convention." It's available on Amazon, and gives a lot of insight into the concepts the revolution was fought for, and the hopes of those long-ago ancestors for those of us living today.
Lucky for us, huh?

Imagine yourself carrying anywhere from 80 (minimum) to whatever your personal limits of pounds on your back. It is hot -- as much as 130 Farenheit. Begin walking. Make sure you remain vigilant in surveying your surroundings as you continue to walk, for death can come from any direction. It could come for you -- or worse, your friends who march beside you. You're already well acquainted with the ghosts, because they are already with you from past months.
Keep walking, and keep watching. It's a really busy day, war-wise, so it's just too risky for helicopters to arrive with more ammunition -- or water, or rations. The enemy is shockingly unmoved by your logistical problems, so continue to maintain your vigilance. Since it is such a busy day, your buddies joke about wearing your helmet, which no one can possibly do, because it's made of metal and it's 130 out.
Man, a shower would feel good right about now, but you haven't had one of those in months. Your two uniforms are uniformly filthy, and, since they weren't manufactured to withstand months of sweat and blood and filth in a climate with as much as 100% humidity, are really more like rags. What they no longer cover the sun blisters.
Keep walking. Here's some water to cross -- time to see who wins the "most leeches" contest. There's a possibility you may get some sleep tonight -- maybe even your full two hours -- but again, maybe you won't.
Live like this in your thirst and your heat and your filth for 13 months, but keep moving, because death is watching for you around every corner.
Manage to live out your enlistment and come HOME. Hooray! No -- complete strangers will spit on you and call you a baby killer. Live with your rage for 50 or 60 years.
Thank a Vietnam veteran today. They learned more about life and death by 17 or 18 than most of us ever will -- and they did it so we wouldn't have to, because old men in air-conditioned offices decided that it was their obligation.
Let us never, ever, repeat these sins with future veterans. God bless the fallen.

I recently became aware of a new global alliance, BRIC -- Brazil, Russia, Iran, China.
Thanks to we the consumers, cheap goods manufactured in China have brought never-before wealth to that country. With our wallets, it's increasingly apparent that we're funding our next World War -- and our elected and appointed representatives have assisted in the process.
Those cheap goods fund the war in Ukraine. They fund the acquisition of natural resources around the world, often to the complete exclusion of the countries in which those resources are found. Like your expensive cell phone (which was also manufactured for less than 1 cent on the dollar in China)? That battery, and the ones in electric cars which our governments are attempting to jam down our throats, contains lithium, an extremely limited natural resource that is controlled almost exclusively by China. Stores of lithium are to be found in other countries, but environmentalists have made sure that they can't be extracted -- which is all well and good as long as China doesn't become offended by any of us.
Worried about Putin's threats of atomic warfare? During Hilary Clinton's time as Secretary of State -- a job which she apparently qualified for by being the putative wife of a former US President -- she was responsible for giving rights to American uranium to Russia. Now there was a great idea.... Angela Merkel created Europe's dependence on the Russian energy supplies and lined her own pockets doing it.
Iran and Brazil seem to be part of this alliance largely for China to establish global beachheads in the Arab world and South America.
Please -- if you can read this -- FIGHT BACK. Stop buying Chinese manufactured goods. Demand that your governments onshore their natural resources and their manufacturing capabilities. In the meantime, buy goods from countries that align with your own national interests. Europe, Japan, Vietnam, Australia, South Korea and the United States, just to throw out a few names. When you go to make a major purchase (appliances, cars, etc.), demand to be told why you can't find one entirely manufactured in your own country -- from parts sourced in your own country.
As "the little people," it's our only way to fight back -- and as a bonus, it will created thousands of high-paying jobs for our own citizenries. If our governments won't protect our national interests, we have to.....

I just read (another!) story about how a belief in a meritocracy was not only false, but bad for you.

The next time someone tries to sell you this idea, ask them about their preference in heart transplant surgeons: the one with the highest skills, or just some guy from down the street.

Every year, I try to have a resolution that lasts. One year I learned to speak conversational French. One year I gave up complaining, which took a helluva long time. Another year, I gave up using the phrase "I hate." That took three months!
This year, I've decided on a year of discipline. Exercising every day, cleaning my house every day (ugh -- which is worse??), doing all of the things in a day that I'm supposed to be doing instead of blanking off.
Wish me luck! And Happy New Year!