Sportsmenlike Conduct

One ought to think for a very long time before thinking of condemning others.

Moliere
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Hello Brest, Belarus
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Is violence becoming the American way of life? Is civility finally drifting out of our civilization and leaving behind a land of terrorists? So a Giant fan was beaten up in the Dodgers Stadium parking lot and is now in a coma. So what? It's baseball. It's important.

Players smashing into other players is the thrill of ice hockey. More players are carried off the football fields than ever were. I keep reading about what goes on in soccer games when the fans get unruly and the stadium comes down. Come on. Basketball players are easy targets. So are marathon runners.

If you can't beat up all the opposing fans, you can do what the sports Dad's do and go after the referee when your kid or your side gets a call you don't like. Knock him down.

If the other guy is about to win the tennis match, don't waste time, jump over the net and smack over the head a few times with your tennis racket. That should teach him a lesson.

When you're on the last golf green and another player is within one stroke of winning the tournament don't stand around gawking, have your buddies come out with clubs and break his knees.

Now lets see, there must be some way we can work the grand old red, white a blue violence into high jumping, discus throwing and table tennis.

This is nothing new, of course. When you read that some of our esteemed founding fathers would come into the floor of the House and Senate during the first few congresses and beat each other with sticks, you realize that some of the rules of condemnation were laid out early on.

I think it would be politically correct if a Republican and a Democrat were to duke it out on the floor of the House of Representatives. Don't you? Then we would know who is right.

If you don't like a guy's religion, burn his book. If you don't like a guy's sexuality, beat him up. If you don't like a guy's politics, buy a gun and shoot him, as happened in Arizona not too long ago.

What happened to civilized behavior? Where is it? What happened to American civilization? Where did it go?

DB - The Vagabond
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This Week's Contest

This is one I put up a few years ago and people seemed to enjoy it so here it goes again.

You are now ordered to take a famous remark, a cliche or otherwise and restate it in the most verbose manner possible. Example:

Night is an inappropriate time for the manufacture of animal feed.
(Make hay while the sun shines.)

Get it? Ken Riches won this contest the last time, so you're up against some heavy competition.

Good luck. The decision of the ornery, biased, curmudgeon is final.
DB
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SPRING QUESTION
(This is not a contest)

NASA has planned to send a two man mission on an 18 month trip to the planet Mars. It would take 6 months for the astronauts to get there and after 6 months of exploration another 6 months to return.

Should they do it and why, and if not, why not?

dbdacoba@aol.com

4 answers so far

I eagerly await your answer.

DB
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Swords Into Plows

The increasing number of the human species that behave well reduces the activity of those humans who try to further their means by war.

Immanuel Kant
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Hello Andorra. May there be peace in your mountains.
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I can't tell whether the human race is getting saner or madder. There is a lot of evidence to prove both theories. Some idiots in Florida burn a Quran, a book they've never read, and some other idiots in Afghanistan take revenge by attacking UN workers, who had nothing to do with it.

There are too many people in this world who believe the ancient canard that the way to resolve disagreements, disputes and dangers is by violence But as Isaac Asimov said "Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent."

We have our war machines in place. It used to be called The Department of War, in the days when we needed to be prepared to defend ourselves. Then, in the 40's it became euphemistically called The Department of Defense, and we've been waging war ever since. We are told that those wars are in order to protect our freedoms. We are told that by some whose pockets are benefited by them, and, sad to say, a great many people still believe it. But as Nehru noted "It is the habit of every aggressor nation to claim that it is acting on the defensive."

I don't know if Kant is correct. I want to believe that the human race is producing more and more people who wish to behave in a sane and reasonable manner. If they are there they certainly don't make the news. It's the mad and bad that make the news.

What can one humble senior citizen say to them?

STOP SPENDING MONEY ON WAR.

STOP GIVING TAX BREAKS TO THE WEALTHY.

STOP CUTTNG THE PROGRAMS THAT MAKE LIFE BEARABLE AND ENJOYABLE FOR THE REST OF US.

AND STOP ARGUING ABOUT IT.

(I, for one, am not impressed with you.)

DB - The Vagabond
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Puzzle

No fooling around, here is this week's puzzle.
These are all legitimate movie titles in translation.
Your task, if you wish to survive, is to translate them back into their original titles by the end of next week.

Several Saints
Uprising Over The Thanksgiving Dinner
How One Murders An Imitator
Swept Away In A Breeze
The Lion Is Burning It's Feet
What The Flute Makes
The Insects' Messiah
She Married The Monster
Mr. Summerfall Winterspring
The Chimpanzees Live There
Confessing When Drenched
He Paid Very Close Attention, Unfortunately
Boiling When It's Dark
Misplaced Religious Artifact Stolen
Trees Around The Little House
Leo's Secret Message
Ultimate Spanish Dance in France
Country In A Maternity Ward
Instructions In Stone
Creepy Creatures Aloft
The Bitch Is Domesticated

1 entry so far.

Good luck
dbdacoba@aol.com

DB
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SPRING QUESTION
(This is not a contest)

NASA has planned to send a two man mission on an 18 month trip to the planet Mars. It would take 6 months for the astronauts to get there and after 6 months of exploration another 6 months to return.

Should they do it and why, and if not, why not?

dbdacoba@aol.com

4 answers so far

I eagerly await your answer.

DB
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