>Didn't expect to be up this early, but the people who bought the house next
>door(young, snotty, brain workers, I believe) have left their Doberman
>puppy tied up and tortured in their back yard, while the house is being
>prepared for their arrival. Poor creature woke me up yeowling, so I went
>over and gave him some food. The other morning, he had his head stuck in a
>plastic gallon milk carton, for god knows how long, probably trying to get
>water. They have picked the wrong place to torture an animal. Left a note
>on their door. If I don't see improvement, that dog is going to be gone.
>He's very sweet and adoptable. I'm sure some nice people would love to
>have him.
Well, let's give 'em the benefit of the doubt, eh? People are busy these days, and sometimes, as another dignified victim of totalitarianism once said, they know not what they do. Now that you've made your case (and good on you), my guess is you'll know soon enough what sort of neighbours you have.
>Who are you referring to below. I know that's probably a dumb question.
>
>>'Pessimism of the intellect; optimism of the will', as
>>a bent, sick, old-before-his-time, little man once advised, whilst
>>languishing in a Fascist prison cell ...
Antonio Gramsci - erstwhile socialist comrade of one Benito Mussolini and contemporary socialist victim of same. Wrote a whole heap of incredibly thoughtful socialist stuff whilst incarcerated, with borrowed pencils and generally without references. The product of this all was *The Prison Notebooks* (the translation was, if memory serves, published in 1971). Gramsci got very sexy very quickly in Anglo-Saxon circles after that (that's when everybody started nodding knowingly at a working class that steadfastly refused to do its historical job; 'hegemony' was the answer, you see). My favourite fan of his is an American international political economist called Robert Cox.
>I'm glad someone else sees this formation taking place. I was beginning to
>wonder for my sanity. But I'm curious, why the '41 cut-off? When did US
>get in war? Was it 41?
Yeah, 'you' declared war on Japan on Pearl Harbor Day, 1941 (gawd, 'harbour' looks ridiculous without the 'u' in it) and Hitler made things very difficult for himself indeed by declaring war on you by way of response. You gotta wonder what the guy was on - invade Russia in June, declare war on America in December - the sort of ambition you see only on Wall St nowadays.
Anyway, I guess I was just thinking that if things got to a 1941 state-of-affairs nowadays, what followed wouldn't take four years to unfold. We'd all be shadows on the pavement by tea-time.
>Maybe in Australia. In the US, they'd probably support a permanent war
>state, out of annoyance at having their shopping and sports interrupted.
Ah. Hegemony, you see.
>Sleepy, grouchy and in a daze.
'Tis all I know ...
Cheers, Rob.