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The Daily Dose/May 3, 2011
By Gaylon Kent
The Writer's Shack
Notes from around the Human Experience...
STRAGGLER'S BIN: Following are some tidbits from assorted reactions from the international community after some Navy SEALs invaded Pakistan, gained access to Osama bin Laden's compound and killed him. Along with some others, including his kid.
The Pot Calling The Kettle Black: Leading off we have the Palestenian Authority, of all things, calling for an end to violence. This, from a Palestine Authority spokesman, is rich:
Getting rid of Bin Laden is good for the cause of peace worldwide but what counts is to overcome the discourse and the methods - the violent methods - that were created and encouraged by bin Laden and others in the world.
Striking While The Iron Is Hot: India took advantage of the opportunity to take a poke or two at Pakistan, whom they've been bickering with for decades:
We take note with grave concern that part of the statement in which President Obama said that the firefight in which Osama bin Laden was killed took place in Abbottabad "deep inside Pakistan".
This fact underlines our concern that terrorists belonging to different organisations find sanctuary in Pakistan.
Well, OK: Pakistan, rather humiliated, really didn't have much to say, but kept a stiff upper lip. They do get props, however for saying something while not really saying anything, nicely dancing around the fact a foreign nation invaded their sovereign country through the air to kill someone by basically stating a fact:
This operation was conducted by the US Forces in accordance with declared US policy that Osama bin Laden will be eliminated in a direct action by the US forces, wherever found in the world.
Oh, Jesus H: And since no international incident would be complete without hearing from the Vice-President of goddamn Venezuela, we offer this from Elias Jaua. No, we hadn't heard of him either.
Now, you might expect somebody who works for the whack job known as Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to throw out some half-baked drivel out there, but Jaua's comments actually have merit:
It is surprising to see how normal crime and killing has become and how it is celebrated by imperial governments...Now, the death of any individual independent of what they are accused of…are openly celebrated by the heads of the governments that bomb them…It is an ethical question from the human point of view to celebrate death as an instrument of resolution of a problem.
Get Your Official Writer's Shack Policy Right Here: We're not entirely pleased we invaded a country we're not at war with to get this done, but we'll get over it. Bin Laden's continued existence wasn't doing anybody any good and this species is better off with him dead.
DON'T EVEN START: You know, I am used to doing new things with The Woman. Camping, staying out past 8pm and doing the dishes on the same day used to be uncharted waters, but now they are things that are now done regularly. Or every now and then, at least. Plus, I'm pretty good about picking up my clothes, though it's turning out 'pretty good' can be an awfully subjective term.
Now Here This: Add buying onions from Shriners to the list of previously undone things that have now been done.
Now, I'd heard of Shriners (the ones in the funny hats who run children's hospitals), and I've heard of onions (famous sandwich accompaniment), but until last week I had never actually put the two together. But there we were Saturday afternoon at the local Shriner's temple picking a ten pound bag of onions The Woman had actually paid in advance for.
Hum Baby: Not just any onions, either. These were sweet Vidalias, straight from the ground in Georgia. An older guy, who looked like he had been sent over from central casting when a request for 'Shriner' had been received, said the Las Vegas temple would have no trouble selling its 40,000 pound onion allotment by the middle of the week.
Dry, Technical Matter: We did some research, and it appears the Shriners, who are actually Freemasons looking to branch out and wear new hats, have been selling onions as a fundraiser since 1988.
Financial Watch/Health Beat: We also forked over ten bucks total for a jar of barbecue sauce and a bottle of creamy onion salad dressing.
DULY NOTED: The University of Athens is founded on this date in 1837.
You might have thought that one of the oldest cities in the world, once the center of the civilization that gave us Plato, Socrates and Aristotle, and which discovered astronomy and geometry and made great advances in mathematics, philosophy and, hell, the whole foundation of Western thought, would have gotten around to opening a university before the 19th century, but you'd be wrong.
We The Defeated People: The current constitution of Japan goes into effect on this date in 1947. While the Emperor doesn't have to worry about going out and earning a living, it does strip him of divine status, allowing to do almost nothing except his drink his morning tea without the approval of the Cabinet.
Maybe It's Still Under Warranty: The Old Man of the Mountain, a rock formation in New Hampshire that looks like the profile of a human face when viewed from the north, collapses in the early morning hours on this date in 2003. New Hampshire had been restoring the Old Man of the Mountain since the 1920's and the mountain had given no hints it was about to kick the Old Man off.
Thought For The Day: No man ever followed his genius till it misled him. - Henry David Thoreau, Walden
Answer To The Last Trivia Question: The ditty bag was originally known as the ditto bag, because it contained two of everything. For example, the ditto bag was where the sewing kit was kept, so there were two needles, two buttons and whatnot in it. Over time it changed from ditto bag to ditty bag.
Today's Stumper: Shriners Hospitals for Children currently offer burn and orthopedic care, among other things. What disease did they originally offer treatment for? - Answer next time!
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