Odds and Ends

A couple of more or less brief things.

First, I am amazed at the number of blogs I that mentioned the death of Gore Vidal and then admitted that they hadn't read anything he'd written.  I guess I can understand not finding time to read the Novels, but to not have read any of his essays strikes me as either shocking or sad, I'm not sure which.  He has to have been one of the very greatest essayists in the English language on either side of the big water.

On the other hand, perhaps he would be pleased since this is what he argued for years:  That we are in a post literate society.

I've got mine fuck you.

Second, In reading about Paul Ryan's saving his dad's social security death benefits while he was in high school to go to college on got me thinking.  (Am I the only one who thinks that a 16/17 year old who is in control enough to save all of daddy's death benefits is a little creepy?}  So anyway, in the late 60s and early 70s my girl friend of the time (with whom I lived for a couple of years) got a little over $300.00 a months in death benefits as long as she was in an accredited four year program and progressing towards a degree.

I looked it up and that sort of thing stopped in May 1982.  Reagan was president but there was a democratic congress.  I guess my excuse for not noticing, was that I was in my second year of law school.  Although, I was aware of the way that the G.I. Bill was cut.  I got less then my father a WWII veteran got for college:  he got his tuition paid plus a stipend, I got around $330.00 a month.  A friend joined in the middle 70s and had to put money away while he was in the military in order have a "G.I.Bill" to use to go to college with.  I do remember listening to the radio one day during or just after one of the Gulf Wars while the administration was talking about cutting the benefits again.  I thought it took a lot of balls to try to cut veteran's benefits during a war, but apparently I'm wrong.

So, anyway my entire adult life has been spent watching ordinary Americans government benefits get cut, under one or the other political parties.  While the rich get richer.  We live in a country that is, apparently, full of people who see themselves as subjects rather then citizens and will willingly tug their forelock when their betters pass by.

UPDATE:  I've looked around and see that the Ryan family owns a fairly impressive construction company that's been around since the 1880's doing, it appears, mostly government work: railroads, highways, airports, etc.  I haven't been able to figure out how close the owners are to Paul baby.  That is, is he a shit tail relation or is he close enough that they would have helped him.

Merely a simulation, the hookers in this town tend, if the arrest photos are accurate,
to north of 300 pounds with one full set of teeth amongst them.

Finally, some fun.  The City Law Director got busted by a city cop for solicitation of a prostitute and criminal trespassing.  Now understand this it is the City Law Director who takes the criminal cases filed by the police department and prosecutes them.  This is not a large place, somebody was seriously pissed at this guy and I wonder who.