Heroes of illusion

Big fuss last week as the Southern states celebrated Confederate Memorial Day.

Racism and all that.

However, racism is bred into the American soul, no longer linked to the "peculiar institution."

Schools don't teach much about slavery, and Southerners celebrate an illusion created by the rich Southern men who won the peace after losing the war.

Losers the world over celebrate their soldiers.

Why not the descendants of the Confederate States of America?

Living the dream.

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The current Stats page for this blog show recent viewers as based in the U.S.A. Did the Russians find me boring?

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Role model, not insult fodder

The professional ignoramus posing as POTUS considers "Pocahontas" an insult to U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

The historical Pocahontas, daughter of a powerful chief in Colonial America, wowed English society when she was presented as a "civilized savage" who converted to Christianity and took the name Rebecca. Her birth name was Matoaka; among her tribe, she was known as Amonute. She was taken hostage by the colonists and hauled to Europe as a prisoner.

Survival strategy: adapt and overcome.

There are legends about her, mostly lies told by the pink-skin, John Smith, to aggrandize himself by riding on her reputation.

Is it possible that Ignoramus knows no other Native American's name?

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D. Rickles, unhappy driver

Looking back: It's winter in the early 1980s and my little sports car fogs up inside whenever the weather's humid: rain or snow. Irritating, dangerous. The day after a fog episode, I was in downtown Reno on assignment, going into Harrah's. 

As I crossed Center Street, I saw a Rolls Royce maneuver around the corner, slowly. 

(Harrah's kept a fleet of small RRs for its headliners; Sammy Davis Jr. preferred the Ferrari.) 

The Rolls' windows were fogged inside. Whiteout. The driver's window was down and the driver craned his neck to see as he inched toward valet parking. 

Don Rickles. Unhappy Don Rickles. 

I, however, was happy. If a Rolls can fog up inside, I can't bitch about my $12,000 280ZX.

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Cool ... or disturbing

The Stats page that reports how many times this blog is visited includes a map, which currently shows Russia as source of recent page views.

Maybe it's payback for all those Russian novels I was forced to read in college.

And for all the unkind words I spewed then.

Or they think I work for the White House.

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If I was a savvy CEO, I'd announce — and follow through — that my company's going to follow the clean-whatever rules that DJT just ash-canned. He's not the boss of me.

I vaguely remember a news story a couple days ago reporting that several companies are doing just that.

Hip hip hooray and all that.

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