Thoughts on longevity and big house diversions

I will be reaching my big 8 oh one March 22.  Do you want advice like my workout and diet regimen or do you want to hear that I begin the day with a bloody Mary for breakfast, inhale cigars all day and only get off my Lazy Boy to use the john and get a beer out of the fridge, or how much time I devote to reading scripture to get myself an in with the Big Guy up in the sky?

You know it is nice to be born into wealth, and be good looking, and strong, and wise, but the best thing of all is to be lucky, and I guess that is a biggest factor on reaching the 8 oh.

Kind of on two minds on that prisoner thing.  I may be wrong but I think those guys are fighting fires voluntarily and are maybe glad to break up the tedium of prison, and those few bucks will buy plenty of cigs at the commissary.  But I'm guessing they are not allowed to smoke cigs.  I wonder what that is like for a three pack a day man.  10, 15 years of making license plates and no cig at getting off work.  Do they dream of the day when they get their clothes back and there is that pack of cigs, stale and all but likely smokeable and what a thrill as they step into the sunshine and that crumby little book of paper matches still works just fine.  Oh happy day.

Remember how when they built the soon to be reclaimed Panama Canal and they used prisoners as guinea pigs for yellow fever research?  If they survived they were given their freedom or years off their sentence and many of them took the deal.  I think I would have.  Seems like not the source of thing my fellow libs would approve of but I think it was alright.

Loopholes Debunked

The "subject to the jurisdiction thereof" clause does not apply here because anybody in the U.S., or any country for that matter, is subject to the law of the land.  If a non-citizen is accused of a crime, he can be arrested and prosecuted just like anybody else.  Okay, foreign diplomats cannot be prosecuted, but they can be expelled from the country, which means they are still under the jurisdiction thereof.  

The "Indians not taxed" exception was originally applied to members of tribes that used to be considered sovereign nations under the law.  The sovereign nation thing has been modified a few times in history and, while the tribes that have been re-recognized under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1932 are commonly referred to as sovereign nations, I believe that "autonomous" would be a more accurate description.  Be that as it may, all Indians in the U.S. currently pay some kind of taxes, so the term "Indians not taxed" is moot anyway.

We get some wildfires here in Michigan, but nothing like they get out west.  There have certainly been some disastrous fires in the state's history, but not lately.  I can remember one fire in the Upper Peninsula that burned all summer some years ago, but that was in a big swamp, and I don't believe any areas of human habitation were impacted.  Our fire season is early spring, after the snow has melted but before "green-up".  I believe that you can indeed be conscripted into fire-fighting duty because that happened to one of my paper mill colleagues many years ago.  He did get paid for it, but not enough to cover the money he lost by not going to his regular job that day.  

I credit my long life to tenacity.  Tenacity is like stubbornness, except that tenacity is a virtue while stubbornness is a fault.  Other people may be stubborn, but I am tenacious. 

The wheel turns

 

If I'm not mistaken, both of you gents will be attaining the status of octogenarian this year.  Any tips, tricks, or warnings for the youngster of the group?

-----

Wildfires have been in the news lately, both in the Los Angeles area and North Carolina, and I was wondering if Beaglesonia could ever be in danger.  Lots of trees up there but I don't know how dry it gets or if wildfires are a threat to the reasonable prepared homeowner.  Do you have a plan, Mr. Beagles?

-----

There's an interesting aspect of the citizenship dilemma, hiding right under our noses.

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.

Please note the highlighted loophole, "and subject to the jurisdiction thereof..."

Now check out this link:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/excluding-indians-trump-admin-questions-164312466.html and see how Native Americans can be denied citizenship.

I would never imply that the United States government is corrupt (and always has been) but here's another bit of Constitutional sleight of hand regarding slavery.  It's illegal, right?  Not so fast, Citizen!  Let me quote the relevant amendment:

    Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Again, notice the highlighted loophole.  There are a lot of firefighters working for a few dollars a day on the West Coast and they may not have had a choice.  There is a scandalously large business of employing inmates in the private sector, places and businesses we are all familiar with.

Maybe this is all part of a grand scheme to  replace the deported illegal aliens with prison inmates that will cost employers even less.  Such a deal!  And no worries about immigration, all perfectly legal.

-----

It's going to be quite a ride as the former "policeman to the world" evolves into the "bully to the world."  Sure, let's screw the economy with tariffs, seize the Panama Canal and grab Greenland while we're at it.  It has been said that we get the government we deserve but I wonder what we did to end up in such a place, but here we are.  The chickens are coming home to roost, if the price of eggs is any indication.

Tell it Like it Is

 I don't know if my immigrant grandparents ever became citizens, but I'm pretty sure that they were not in the country illegally.  Immigration laws have changed over the years, and I'm not sure exactly what they were when my grandparents came over, but I'm pretty sure they were in compliance.  My mother told me that, at the time, each immigrant had to have a sponsor who was responsible for helping them find a job and a place to live.  She also told me that there was no government assistance available to immigrants.  Come to think of it, I don't think there was a whole lot of government assistance available to anybody in those times, except maybe the railroad tycoons.  Ah, those were the good old days.  

I have never made it a practice to tell people either what they wanted to hear or what I wanted them to hear, unless I believed it to be true myself.  I have known lots of people who did that however, and they were not all politicians.  If I caught them in a lie and asked them why they said it, they would say something like, "I didn't want you to think......."  I have often wondered if they even made a distinction between truth and falsehood in their own minds.  I am reminded of the first time I looked up the definition of "propaganda" and learned that it is information, whether true or not, which is published for the purpose of persuading people to either support or oppose a cause.  I have come to believe over the years that much of what we hear or read, even from friends and family, is nothing but propaganda.  The intent is to get us to do or not do something, whether it's true or not is irrelevant.  (Present company excepted of course.)   

arguing

 Trump's lawyers aren't trying to pass a new constitutional amendment, they are trying to figure out a weaselly new interpretation of it, something about one or both parents have to be American citizens.  Which almost surely will not come to pass.  But if it does, if you read my last post you will know that chances are that you might be joining me at whatever passes as Ellis Island these days for the next boat to the old country.  I am assuming that you don't have any kind of evidence that your ancestors who came here later became citizens.

That elitist thing is you are just making a circular definition.  What is an elitist?  A person who tells us what they want us to hear. What is a person who tells us what they want us to hear?  An elitist.

And really don't we all tell people what we want them to hear?  If we have good information don't we want to spread it around, the way your doctor wants you to know that it is a good thing to get a vaccine?

Anyway the term elitist, a person who has gone to school and studied hard, has come acropper in the current political climate where what Trump sez trumps any learned opinion.

But it's good to see the blog coming back to life.  When we first started it was mostly about politics and I think we should go back to doing that.  I was arguing Vietnam with a buddy over beers a few nights ago.  And it got pretty strong, but not heated, certainly no insults or calling of names.  

At some point my buddy kind of apologized for arguing but I was all like no problem.  I love arguing so long as it doesn't descend into personal crap.  I think you do too.

Couple of Comments

Although the "comments" section would be a more appropriate venue, I'm posting this here because nobody reads the "comments" section.

I agree with Trump that children born to parents that are in the country illegally should not become citizens, but it would require a constitutional amendment to make that happen.  He can't do it by executive order, neither can Congress do it by regular legislation.  

Some time ago, we discussed the meaning of the term "populist".  It has since occurred to me that the opposite of a populist could be called an "elitist".  A populist tells us what we want to hear, while an elitist tells us what they want us to hear.  Neither one of them has any regard for objective truth.  Their remarks are solely intended to motivate us to either do or not do something.  

Is you is or is you isn't a citizen?

Fourteenth Amendment  Section 1

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. 

 I am a citizen of the USA, became one when I was born of my parents who became citizens when they were born of my grandparents, who became citizens when they were born of my great grandparents, who became citizens when, well I don't know.  

They came over on the boat, you know, from the Old Country, maybe they strode into that flag adorned courtroom, took some kind of test, and then an oath, or maybe they didn't.  I have no idea.

But wait a minute, it doesn't matter whether they did or not because I was born right here in Chicago USA.  Doesn't matter if my great grandparents were citizens, or my grandparents, or my parents.

But wait a minute, what if Trump gets his way and being born here is not enough?  Sure it's a long shot and it employs convoluted crazy arguments, but you know he has appointed a lot of judges who are clearly committed to him, and he holds the supreme court in his pocket.  You never know.

So maybe they will decide that being born in the USA doesn't make you a citizen in which case if there is no proof that my great grandparents took the oath then my grandparents were not citizens, and neither were my parents, and thus neither am I and likely I shall have to make that trek to whatever passes as Ellis Island these days.  And you may be joining me.