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?

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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?

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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.

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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.