Ugliness Abounds . . .

Tucson Weather Today

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George Will has written another pointed column titled Blowing the whistle on the federal Leviathan about how the federal government attacks and persecutes innocent citizens through mindless bullying and bureaucratic stupidity.

Below is the first paragraph of the nearly unbelievable story:

The huge humpback whale whose friendliness precipitated a surreal seven-year -- so far -- federal hunt for criminality surely did not feel put upon. Nevertheless, our unhinged government, with an obsession like that of Melville’s Ahab, has crippled Nancy Black’s scientific career, cost her more than $100,000 in legal fees -- so far -- and might sentence her to 20 years in prison. This Kafkaesque burlesque of law enforcement began when someone whistled.

Read this column here


Good Gravy! Almost every day I admonish myself for my enduring negativity, commanding my self to look for positive subjects to write about in the blog. Somehow I always seem to fail in that endeavor. Bad things happen to good people. And bad things happen to bad people. If good things ever happen to good people, these events seem to be hidden from my futile search. There seems to be so much more bad stuff out there than good.

Or perhaps I really am just a grumpy old curmudgeon and only seek out the sordid, the scandalous, and the gloomy side of human activity.

Yeah . . . that's probably it.

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WORD FOR TODAY

corrugate
v.tr.
To shape into folds or parallel and alternating ridges and grooves.
v.intr.
To become shaped into such folds or ridges and grooves.

"Now the immense ocean . . . sensed the change. Its surface rippled and corrugated where sweeping cloud shadows touched it"
--John Updike

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BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Wil Wheaton

Born July 29, 1972

Age: 39 years old.

Richard William "Wil" Wheaton III is an American actor and writer. As an actor, he is best known for his portrayals of Wesley Crusher on the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, Gordie Lachance in the film Stand by Me, Joey Trotta in Toy Soldiers and his recurring role playing himself on the sitcom, The Big Bang Theory. As a writer, he is best known for his blogs Wil Wheaton dot Net and WWdN: In Exile.

   
Clara Bow


Born July 29, 1905
Died Sept 27, 1965

Clara Gordon Bow was an American actress who rose to stardom in the silent film era of the 1920s. It was her appearance as a spunky shop girl in the film It that brought her global fame and the nickname "The It Girl". Bow came to personify the roaring twenties and is described as its leading sex symbol. She appeared in 46 silent films and 11 talkies, including hits such as Mantrap (1926), It (1927) and Wings (1927). She was named first box-office draw in 1928 and 1929 and second box-office draw in 1927 and 1930. Her presence in a motion picture was said to have ensured investors, by odds of almost 2-to-1, a "safe return". In January 1929, at the apex of her stardom, she received more than 45,000 fan letters. After marrying actor Rex Bell in 1931, Bow ended her career in 1933 with the film Hoop-La, becoming a rancher in Nevada.

Peter Jennings

 Born July 29, 1938
Died Aug. 7, 2005

Peter Charles Archibald Ewart Jennings, CM was a Canadian American journalist and news anchor. He was the sole anchor of ABC's World News Tonight from 1983 until his death in 2005 of complications from lung cancer. A high-school dropout, he transformed himself into one of American television's most prominent journalists.

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Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.
--P. J. O'Rourke