I met these guys a long time ago.

and I think the world of both of them, but I never knew they were connected until now.

Ammon Hennacy and Utah Phillips

Ammon was a saint. My parents introduced me to him when I was too young to know who he was, but I could tell he was important by the way all the grownups revered him. Later I read some of his books and was very impressed by the way he thought and the way he really tried to put his ideals into practice.

I met Utah Phillips much later, through the Wobblies. Or was it at a demonstration in DC? I think it was both because I kept running into him all over the place. I loved his music even more than his politics. I'll miss him a lot.

If you never knew either of these fine gentlemen, I feel sorry for you. The world is poorer without them.

“We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California.”

Well, Hillary Clinton (and I) do remember. But a lot of Americans don't. Especially the ones who are voting for Hillary's opponent in the Democratic race.

Which highlights something about this race I haven't seen dealt with on the Internet.

Hillary is the last Baby Boomer standing. After 16 years of Baby Boomer hegemony half the people (all the non boomers?) are sick of Boomer rule. They're thinking either "hand it back to the grownups", or "move on to the next generation."

Our parents said boomers were only interested in three things: sex, drugs and rock & roll.

First we had the sex addict boomer president, who couldn't keep his pants zipped up.

Then we had the crackhead president, who kept hallucinating weapons of mass destruction and hearing voices.

I was hoping that we would get the Rock & Roll president next. But I'm not even sure which candidate that would have been.

If I can say anything here in defense of the baby boomers it would be that America's Greatest Generation was a hard act to follow. I just hope we won't go down in history as another "blundering generation".

Hood uh thunk it?

Remember when people were afraid that South African blacks would take revenge on the whites when they took power? Looks like they needn't have worried. Seems the black South Africans hate other African blacks more than they hate the whites in their own country.

Immigrants flee hate killings in South Africa

It seems race is less important than nationality here, and even ethnicity is less important than class in causing social conflicts. There are a lot of ways to analyze this, but those who believe in race warfare, or who think that race is the main factor dividing humans, should think long and hard about what's happening here.

That "quaint" Geneva Convention

Anyone who thinks Guantanamo,Abu Ghraib, etc. are not a break with American tradition should see this film. Abu Ghraib made Stalag 17 look like a Boy Scout Camp. We executed people after World War II for less than has been going on, and is still going on, in the United States' name today.

The two Democratic Parties

The Democratic Party has never been a coherent political party, at least not for long. It started out as an Andrew Jackson fan club, but couldn't hold together long after he died. That's how the Republican Party got the chance to elect Abe Lincoln. And the Democrats have had their share of splits since. 1968 wasn't the only time the police were called out on the floor of the national convention. 1924 had plenty of fights, too. Seems half the party couldn't reconcile themselves to the Catholic (Al Smith) that the other half of the party wanted to nominate. So they fell apart again until FDR put them back together, at least for a while. You get the idea. Falling apart over Civil Rights in the 1960s wasn't an aberration, it was par for the course.

The most interesting statistic about the 1994 election, when the Republicans took control of Congress back from the Democrats, is that people with high school or college educations were more likely to vote Republican. People who had less than a high school or more than a college education (i.e. advanced degrees) voted Democrat. Nearly half of the country was Democratic, but the two halves of the party couldn't, literally couldn't, talk to each other. They mostly never ran into each other in life.

This division is now reflected in the primary election results. Ironically, the candidate of the better educated is an African-American raised by a single mother, while the candidate who appeals to the less well educated is a conspicuously wealthy multi-millionaire. They both have plenty of education, though.

What's my take on all this? Heh! I'm in the 5% of Democrats who really doesn't care. All I care about is that the party gets its act together in time for the election. The only thing that scares me now is another Republican in the White House. Even John McCain. If there's any way to prevent that, I want to be part of it. I've had it with the Republican Party. Even John McCain. Would an Obama-Clinton ticket do it? I'd vote for it!

Where was I?

Don't ask. Workplace issues, family issues, another part-time job on top of the one I've already got. I even joined several of those high IQ societies. I know, I know. Believe me I know. High IQ societies are just for losers who have big brains, no real accomplishments and nothing better to do. I guess that's me. I also found out that a friend who keeps one of these things that he's a compulsive writer. I'm not. I am a compulsive reader, which keeps me well informed (I'd like to think) but writing doesn't come so easily to me. I'll try to keep this up better from now on, though.

It's more than just the other things keeping me busy, though. I've been depressed about the constant fighting among Democrats, and that McCain, who used to be my favorite Republican, has completely capitulated to the Bush line on just about everything from Social Security to National Security. America is going to hell, and it would be nice if we could all ride in a handbasket. More comfortable than the ride we're going to get, I'm afraid.

Now let me post something real.