July 5, 2014

At the Blue Sky Café...

P1110440

... you can talk about whatever you want.

55 comments:

Anonymous said...

Terrible Reading Comprehension Guy says:

Althouse continues to take photos of things that have nothing to do with Scarlett Johansson -- it is almost comical at this point. Can you imagine a photo of the morning sun glinting upon Scarlett's glistening lips? I can. The Professor, however, only photographs that sun upon rocks and shrubs. Missed opportunities, Althouse, missed opportunities.

The Crack Emcee said...

I've been up all night, trying to figure out reasons not to kill myself. Still coming up short.

Pretty much from the day I was born, I've been abandoned - by parents, family, you name it - I was in foster care before I really knew my name. I became aware of the world, conscience of it, when I got hit with an ironing cord for misplacing a TV Guide. I've been watching it, cautiously, ever since.

I don't like this place.

Now I'm an adult and realize I'm surrounded by insane inferiority complexes, bullying others to feel better about themselves. Outside of the ghetto, you can't kill them, or even beat them up - they are the treacherous landscape that must navigated to survive, with their insane lusts, depressing drug addictions, petty excuses, evil plots, and a general state of mental and ethical retardation.

Plus the whites. They run the show. They wrote the history. They've killed millions of American blacks, and everyone else, but walk amongst us like normal people. Love us, they say, like it's possible without a resolution beyond them happily keeping what they've stolen - including our memories of ourselves.

I don't like these people.

But, I know, I don't have long for this world. That's the only real reason not to do anything - it'll come. Might as well watch the show - horror's never bothered me. Dying either. It's always been living that's hard.

I probably won't like the alternative either,...

Anonymous said...

Terrible Reading Comprehension Guy says:

I'm beginning to think reading these posts is a waste of time. Every day I peruse Althouse's writing and every day I am disappointed: not a word written about Scarlett Johansson. It is as if the Professor is purposely ignoring her: I can only guess at the reasons that this may be. Troubling, Althouse, troubling.

Anonymous said...

Terrible Reading Comprehension Guy says:

It is not as if Scarlett Johansson isn't newsworthy on practically any given day. I mean, just yesterday in the Guardian was the headline "Scarlett Johansson wins defamation case against French novelist." See? It even involves law and the freedom (or lack thereof) to write what one's art requires: typical Althouse topics for insight, yet -- again -- she casually ignores this.

From the article:
"Johansson, however, was not amused. The star of Lost in Translation and The Girl With the Pearl Earring sued Delacourt for making false claims about her private life: the fictional character who was not really Scarlett Johansson had two affairs that the real Johansson never had. It was, she said, defamatory – and a French judge agreed."

An artist suing an artist over art -- is this not something the Professor would obviously elucidate upon? Again: it is as if the Professor is purposely ignoring her, and I can only speculate at the reasons that this may be. Perplexing, Althouse, perplexing.

L Day said...

From a climber's perspective, the quality of the Boulder area sandstone is almost unbelievably good. Many people happily center their lives around those rocks.

Anonymous said...

Terrible Reading Comprehension Guy says:

A Constitutional Law professor purposely ignoring a story showcasing the differences in Free Speech between the United States and France? Just because it involves Scarlett Johansson? It is not like Althouse even has to post a photo of the actress, although that would be nice. No, instead of Scarlett Johansson we get Hillary, yet again. I am growing ever more concerned about the Professor's objectivity.

Paco Wové said...

"Biden, in his keynote address, ... called same-sex marriage the next equality frontier, saying, “The landmark events we celebrate today make clear that the narrowminded and reactionary forces of the past and the present will never prevail in America.”"

Emphasis added.

What a fucking turd, turning the 4th into yet another occasion for partisan rabble-rousing.

In my 50+ year lifetime, I don't remember any other administration that seemed to take such malicious glee in kicking fellow Americans in the crotch. Or maybe it's just that now it's my crotch.

Anonymous said...

Terrible Reading Comprehension Guy says:

From the Guardian:

"He added that had he known Johansson would kick up such a fuss, he would have chosen someone else as his icon of modern-day beauty. "I thought she might send me flowers as [the book] was a declaration of love for her, but she didn't understand it at all," he said. "It's a strange paradox – but a very American one."

A very American paradox: yet, somehow Althouse is not intrigued in the slightest. What is this animosity to Scarlett Johansson that the Professor so obviously emanates? I suspect Althouse will remain silent to this damning truth.

Paco Wové said...

"the quality of the Boulder area sandstone is almost unbelievably good"

Agreed. My first ever rock-climbing experience was the Third Flatiron, and I remember thinking that you could not design or manufacture a more beautiful climbing experience. Firm rock, not too sharp, handholds and footholds just where you wanted them, not too steep, lots of places to pause and admire the view.

Anonymous said...

Terrible Reading Comprehension Guy says:

I believe that Scarlett Johansson could win an Oscar starring in the Film Biography of Sandra Day O'Connor and the Professor would still ignore Scarlett. This is quite the blind spot, Althouse.

Saint Croix said...

Crack, I know you've had bad experiences with Christianity in the past, but please give us another chance. Find a church. You don't have to believe, just go. It's good for your spirit, good for your soul.

cf said...

My July fourth was awfully somber, I may as well have drawn the curtains.

Lately -- especially with this season's glad news about more gay marriages in more states -- I have been sobered by the current Regime's cowardice in the face of extreme Islamists. If the imams say kill all Americans because of the growth of gay marriage, would this administration fight to the death, or throw all the queers under the bus? Their history shows the answer.

Look at sept.11 2011, when the regime "condemned" "the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims – as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions". And proceeded to arrest and jail for a year the schmuck silly enough to create bad film.

That is the true crime of that awful night. Our president and his fellow Cunts threw an American citizen's right of expression to the Islamist mob as quickly as they could -- An historic cowardice and breach of our contract.

This nation will not defend our right of free expression? We each stand alone. Sobering.

So the highlight of my holiday was lifting a glass to toast Molly Norris, wherever she is, if she is actually still alive -- who knows? (Maybe she was quietly traded to Saudi Arabia to ingratiate) I am sorry, Molly, that our nation's massive defense apparatus would not protect you AND your right to speak your mind, and to even be silly and irresponsible.

Instead you were silenced. That is most convenient, and that is all that counts these days.

Worst July fourth ever.

http://factreal.wordpress.com/2012/09/13/images-deleted-tweets-by-us-embassy-in-cairo-egypt-september-11-2012/

http://www.seattleweekly.com/2010-09-15/news/on-the-advice-of-the-fbi-cartoonist-molly-norris-disappears-from-view/


Anonymous said...

Terrible Reading Comprehension Guy says:

Do not misunderstand me: it is not like I am a stalker or some such: I just happen to take a scholarly interest in the activities of the most amazing woman in the world, Scarlett Johansson. Through the internet I can achieve a fuller understanding of her life, her thoughts, her dreams, and through this I acquire a more voluptuous appreciation of what Life means in the 21st Century. Through the internet I can also acquire pictures. Althouse is missing the big picture.

Anonymous said...

Terrible Reading Comprehension Guy says:

Did Scarlett Johansson's choice in the new day's undergarments have significance in her decision to sue the French author? If she had chosen a different color of panties -- say yellow with white polka dots instead of austere navy blue -- would her mood -- and thus her decision -- have been different? Althouse refuses to consider such questions.

Anonymous said...

Terrible Reading Comprehension Guy says:

As an artist, would Scarlett Johansson still consider taking the role in the film version of the book over which she sued? Does this thought even cross Althouse's mind? I think not.

Anonymous said...

Terrible Reading Comprehension Guy says:

Sometimes I am concerned that my appreciation for Scarlett Johansson is not returned; she probably doesn't even know who I am. Of course, her unawareness of me is -- for me -- a conscious decision: I cannot let an intimate relationship with her interfere with my scholarly pursuit. Yet. Althouse pretends to know nothing of this. Typical.

Unknown said...

CrackEmcee, how are white people supposed to walk?
not walk at all? die?

The Professor is a very good photographer (and knows a few tricks) so it is both clever and fair to entertain us with a moderately manipulated photo which I imagine is easier for her to do than write a post. I miss the post but I am placated with the photo.

Bruce Hayden said...

From a climber's perspective, the quality of the Boulder area sandstone is almost unbelievably good. Many people happily center their lives around those rocks.

Do know some of those, including a cousin. On the other hand, it can be quite dangerous, which is how I lost my youngest brother (actually, I believe, in Boulder Canyon).

Anonymous said...

Terrible Reading Comprehension Guy says:

I am not a Fool: I do not believe that everything Scarlett Johansson does is right. In fact, I believe that her suing the French author was a needless mistake -- a mistake that wouldn't have happened if she had a steadying hand in her life, the kind of hand I could provide. For instance. Perhaps Althouse requires a steadying hand, too.

Bruce Hayden said...

One of the things that you take for granted, if you live in a place like Colorado, or, indeed, through much of the Rocky Mountain west (excluding Salt Lack City and environs) is that blue sky. Or, at least until you move somewhere that doesn't have it. 300+ days of blue sky is de minimis.

Which reminds me of a friend of my mother from back east, I think, from the Boston area. She used to talk about another beautiful boring day in paradise, when describing Colorado weather. It was so bad, that she ultimately moved back east again.

Frankly, I am happy to be bored by it - though in the summer in the mountains, you seem to often get clouds roll in in the afternoon, maybe rain just a little bit, and be cloudless again by dusk. Not sure of why that happens, but it is enough of a reality, that when we were all in camp around Estes Park, much of the camping activities revolved around that fact, with, for example, hikes above timber line leaving early enough that you could get back down before any threat of lightening. Except for today, when we have decent cloud cover, and it isn't noon yet.

SomeoneHasToSayIt said...


Inquiring minds want to know.

Is it the scenery, or the legal pot, that takes you so frequently to Colorado?

Being a law professor and all.

rhhardin said...

I thought Scarlett Johansson was Gone with the Wind.

Instead she seems to be some Hollywood bimbo.

SomeoneHasToSayIt said...

The Crack Emcee said...
I've been up all night, trying to figure out reasons not to kill myself. Still coming up short.


But if one changs one's thinking, one can change one's life.

There is an order that things flow in, in we homo sapiens. First come thoughts (from who knows where, they just come) THEN comes the emotions those particular thoughts 'cause'.

You can change your emotions and feelings, by changing your thoughts. Not necessarily easily, but it can be done, and whit no help from the outside. Just your own 'will'.

Start with something simple. Go do a random act of kindness to a complete stranger. See what happens inside you. Then, do another, a bit later.

Long journeys start with a single step.

Heartless Aztec said...

Frank Sinatra and the Tommy Dorsey band - 1941 "Blue Skies". In which the singer has to wait his turn because you know, the Band and music is more important than a singer. The back up vocals are CLASSIC. This is crooner Frank. He was young....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=andb46kjf0g


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=andb46kjf0g

ALP said...

Ann - you may find this interesting: a study that found some people would rather administer themselves an electric shock than be alone with their own thoughts:


http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-03/shocking-many-pick-electric-jolt-over-solitude-in-study.html

Anonymous said...

Scarlett Johansson's Lawyer Robot says:

It is legal for you to fantasize about my client's beautiful rounded naked breasts, and you can even write about imagining touching them with no trouble from the law; however, if you state that you have indeed touched my client's beautiful rounded naked breasts as a matter of fact when you have not actually touched said breasts I will sue you to the ends of the Earth.

Anonymous said...

Scarlett Johansson's Lawyer Robot says:

Your Photoshopping of a penis being inserted into the mouth of my client when said penis never was near my client's mouth will cost you dearly.

Anonymous said...

Scarlett Johansson's Lawyer Robot says:

You can claim that you have slept with Angelina Jolie all you want: she is not my client. However, if you make the same claim about MY client I will financially ruin you. Free advice.

Anonymous said...

Scarlett Johansson's Lawyer Robot says:

Unless you have incontrovertible evidence to prove that my client can fit nine golf balls into her vagina I will see you in court.

MnMark said...

Crack Emcee,

Find some kind of beauty to create. Instead of focusing your attention on the negativity in your surroundings and in your habitual thoughts of resentment, try using your attention to pay attention to some sort of beauty or quality in the world, and ask yourself what makes it beautiful or of high quality, and how you could create that or improve upon it. There are endless nuances of beauty to be explored and endless degrees of ability to be developed towards its creation.

You have 16 waking hours today. What you choose to use them to focus on is completely up to you. You might not be able to help the fact that negative ideas float up into your mind now, but if you consciously choose to let them be and instead turn your attention to developing some avenue of creation of quality or beauty those thoughts will fade away without your attention and emotional energy input strengthening them.

Then you will eventually be able to free yourself from these thoughts that white people are preventing you from being happy and begin to realize your life purpose.

Anonymous said...

Scarlett Johansson's Lawyer Robot says:

There is no legal proof whatsoever that my client has ever sucked the chrome off a trailer hitch: I strongly suggest that you retract that statement.

Anonymous said...

Scarlett Johansson's Lawyer Robot says:

My client does not know, and has never known, this alleged "Dirty Sanchez": I suggest you call your lawyer. Now.

Anonymous said...

Scarlett Johansson's Lawyer Robot says:

Is your statement now that you said "fetch" in regards to my client, rather than "felch"? I hope you realize we have audio.

Guildofcannonballs said...

Beta my impression from The Man Who Wasn't There was Birdie ended up wooing Reidenschneider, the greatest lawyer of all time.

The movie world is limited after all, unlike you.

Tyrone Slothrop said...

You're not paying attention, Terrible Reading Comprehension Guy. Be fair.

http://althouse.blogspot.com/2013/05/reese-witherspoon-scarlett-johansson.html

http://althouse.blogspot.com/2012/12/scarlett-johansson-nude-photo-hacker.html

http://althouse.blogspot.com/2014/01/i-would-love-to-work-for-sodastream.html

http://althouse.blogspot.com/2013/04/bill-richardson-says-maybe-im.html

http://althouse.blogspot.com/2008/01/im-imagining-this-23-year-old-guy-with.html

And cetera.

lemondog said...

A video for cat/animal lovers:
LOL. This Cat Found The Tiniest Bowl Possible to Sleep In — And He Loves It!

Saint Croix said...

Althouse continues to take photos of things that have nothing to do with Scarlett Johansson -- it is almost comical at this point.

LOL.

wildswan said...

(Some error on the Hobby Lobby post is preventing me from seeing the comments so I'm posting here)

The whole entire argument in the post on the Hobby Lobby issue is right out of Planned Parenthood's playbook. It's a consequence of the acceptance of these arguments by Planned Parenthood that already, right now, the African-American birth rate is below replacement level. That birth collapse isn't really "wholesome."

Obamacare provisions related to contraception which target minorities are predicted to accelerate the decline in the African-American birth rate. Should the government be in the business of wiping out a race within this country just because that race includes many poor and poorly educated people? Genocide is against the law and is not "public health."

A really key point is that it is acknowledged by many demographers (but not by Planned Parenthood) that contraception on a world wide scale is creating a unprecedented demographic disaster because of its unpredictable effects on the family systems in different countries. Different family systems respond differently to chemical contraception and for this reason government should not be in this issue at all.

This applies at home and abroad. WE, if we promote contraception through foreign aid, WE will be responsible for poor African women without a support system twenty years from now. Hilary and Barack are living in the past when they act as if contraception is known to be a favor we are doing the world. It's more like sending blankets infected with smallpox to the Indians and then saying that the reservation will have more resources and be a better place now that 90% of the tribe is dead. It isn't wholesome, it isn't public health, it's disaster - a disaster denied by cynical politicians for their own short term gain.

chillblaine said...

Emcee:

"Man's Search for Meaning" by Viktor Frankl. Its a start, anyway.

Best,

Matt

traditionalguy said...

My friend Crack is a thinker. He needs mental boundaries to feel safe. Religious cults and quack medical treatments offend him totally.

Crack's discovery of the existence of murderous Nazi Eugenics ideas among white supremacists since the 1800s offends him totally. OK, welcome to the world of the white people that are just as offended as he is by all three heresies.

If Crack wants revenge, then he can start by loving the good white people. It's about people's ideas, not the color of human's skins like the Eugenics idiots claim.

And maybe we can refuse to drive Ford products or live on streets named Lindbergh Drive.

Hagar said...

The Democrats - and the MSM - seem to take it for granted that all "Hispanics" are in favor "amnesty" for all illegal aliens who make it across the border.

I saw one article that said ICE has "re-united" 290,000 illegal children and youngsters with their parents or other near relatives (no proof of actual relationship required) since April of this year.

That is an awful lot of kids to absorb, even spread over the "Hispanic communities" all around the U.S.

I wonder how the actual "Hispanics" may take to all this?
I would certainly think there would be a lot of mixed emotions, including resentment of the blatant attempt at political manipulation.

Hagar said...

And I think that in a few months at the latest, there will be a lot of horror stories about what has happened to many of these kids.

Hagar said...

If the "Hispanics" I know have one thing in common ii is that they take strong exception to being disrespected (one of the new words that I actually like!), and this is disrespect on a grand scale.
I hope they teach the Administration a lesson!

MathMom said...

Crack Emcee -

Earth has no sorrow that Heaven cannot heal.

Ask God to come into your life and ease your burden. You don't even have to mean it at first.

I have been praying for you for some time.

Donna B. said...

Crack... you've been abandoned and it hurt like hell, so to prevent that hurt you kick everybody to the curb.

And... if skin color is all that means anything to you... well then, who have you abandoned?

Yourself, I'd say...

Your humanity.

Get real, please.

Try to remember the time I reached out to you and you didn't even notice. Wonder if there might be others like me.


George M. Spencer said...

Funny how that Joan-Rivers-Obama-is-Gay story went nowhere. Radioactive. The logical follow-ups would be:

a) to ask her why she thinks that;

b) or more interestingly, of all possible stories in the world to highlight why Drudge used that story.

But, no.....

The Crack Emcee said...

Saint Croix,

"Crack, I know you've had bad experiences with Christianity in the past, but please give us another chance."

No. After my experience, I am analytically, emotionally, and (thus) physically incapable of joining in anything offering transcendence, beyond friendships. Jesus ain't gonna bring justice to this land, and trying to offer him in exchange for it doesn't speak well of the unchanging nature of this nation's character. What's next, if I don't? Before death comes beads, trinkets, and whiskey, right? There will never be another option in America.

Kieth Nissen,

"CrackEmcee, how are white people supposed to walk?
not walk at all? die?"

Like they understand the magnitude of what they've done - as well as who, how, and and what fueled this. You want to be free individuals in an ethical nation when, by design, you're really ahistorical actors in an immoral 400-year old costume drama. You are your Fore Father's children. Your attitudes about black lives are as practical as Jefferson's. Reparations? He wouldn't have gone for that - impractical, financially and otherwise. This is how you talk about mass murder and theft, as generations of blacks lick our wounds and lose hope whites will ever discover their humanity.

Donna B.,

"If skin color is all that means anything to you... well then, who have you abandoned?

Yourself, I'd say...

Your humanity."


Now you see, white folks go and give me my humanity and now, I've gone and lost it. Ain't that a bitch? (I imagine whites used to keep black's humanity in an ornate box, somewhere,...for safe keeping.) Whites knew this would happen, didn't they? Weird. It's almost like it's predestined to work out this way. Ta-Nehisi Coates showed, conclusively, it was. The response, so far? A shrug and how about that gay pride?

The World Cup, now that's what the whites of this nation deem culturally important to spread, here. An idea of justice, rationally, integrity - what's that? Yelling at an empty spectacle in a coliseum instead, that's where we are, again.

How'd everybody enjoy the coach's Ted Cruz leadership style, announcing we couldn't win before leading the charge? Did you hear Rand Paul whispering to Mitch McConnell that "We can win this thing" before the inevitable, pre-determined, outcome happened? Did you enjoy it? Losing, I mean. Get used to it. I'm trying to adjust. To this country wasting my life.

Cont'd.

The Crack Emcee said...

Cont'd.

traditionalguy,

"If Crack wants revenge, then he can start by loving the good white people."

The problem is whatever it is, that turns the word "justice" into "revenge," in the white mind.

And I've always loved you, Tg, so that obviously ain't enough. What I can't do is trust you.

SomeoneHasToSayIt,

"If one changs one's thinking, one can change one's life."

Somewhere embedded in there in the assumption black lives are supposed to continue to be filled with struggle here - whether to cope, or survive, or succeed. This is a fucked-up country for making struggle a required component. Especially when our demise is predicated on the success of those in a position to offer such pithy "advice". (A clear-eyed logic, right up there with Dillinger's, to rob banks because "that's where the money is.") The best part? Whites never have to do anything - blacks do all the work. As always. And the end result benefits whites, too - no money ever changes hands - amazing how everything keeps working out like that.

MathMom,

"Ask God to come into your life and ease your burden. You don't even have to mean it at first.

I have been praying for you for some time."

Thank you - sincerely - but no. Instead, why don't you ask God to bring justice into American life and ease my burden. You don't even have to mean it at first.

I have been waiting for whites to want that for some time.

For some reason, even though it only relies on their patriotism and goodwill, my prayers are never answered,….

MathMom said...

Well, Crack, you can't stop me from praying for you.

Rusty said...

The Crack Emcee said...
I've been up all night, trying to figure out reasons not to kill myself. Still coming up short.


If you're determined to go through with it I can rent you a gun, but your going to have to pay for the bullet.
Better luck on your next endeavor.

Fernandinande said...

wildswan said...African-American birth rate is below replacement level.

It's higher than the white and Asian (US) fertility rates. Do you have any concern about "wiping out" those races?

traditionalguy said...Crack's discovery of the existence of murderous Nazi Eugenics ideas among white supremacists since the 1800s offends him totally.

FWIW, Galton's eugenics were based on encouraging certain people to reproduce more, not restricting, much less murdering, anyone else. The Nazis were just using the word, at least in respect to Jews and Poles; the US programs of the 30s+ were political crap run by progressive politicians.

The only currently operating eugenics program that I'm aware of is in China; does Steve Hsu's work with BGI make him a "white supremacist"?

SomeoneHasToSayIt said...

The Crack Emcee said...
SomeoneHasToSayIt,

"If one changes one's thinking, one can change one's life."

Somewhere embedded in there in the assumption black lives are supposed to continue to be filled with struggle here - whether to cope, or survive, or succeed.


Nope. Not true at all. No such 'assumption' exists, except in your own mind. I deliberately used the words homo sapiens in order to reference the widest possible inclusion -- of ALL persons.

This is a fucked-up country for making struggle a required component.

Perhaps you have not studied and read wide enough to understand that ALL LIFE on this planet must engage in a constant struggle against all other life, for scarce resources and reproductive success. That's just reality. The way things are and always have been.

But few better places have ever been carved out as a setting for that struggle, than this place here and now - the United States of America. If you don't understand that, you simply lack perspective, or perhaps choose to engage in wish-casting rather than facing reality and truth head on.

You are I are extraordinarily lucky to have been born here.

Especially when our demise is predicated on the success of those in a position to offer such pithy "advice". (A clear-eyed logic, right up there with Dillinger's, to rob banks because "that's where the money is.")

I sorry you feel that way. I was and am sincerely trying to help you to the right path. TAKING that path is up to you.

to be Cont'd.

SomeoneHasToSayIt said...

Cont'd.

The Crack Emcee said...

The best part? Whites never have to do anything - blacks do all the work. As always. And the end result benefits whites, too - no money ever changes hands - amazing how everything keeps working out like that.


Neat thing about money is that it is green, and doesn't care about the color of the folks who are exchanging it, value for value.

I'll say again. I'm betting that if you have ever even thought about it in the first place, you likely think that thoughts and feelings and emotions are all separate unrelated things that exist all jumbled up in a person's mind and body.

Not so at all. Thoughts come first in what amounts to a 'chain' of events.

Thoughts are made up of silent'spoken' (to our inner selves) words. Words are sounds that denote 'concepts', and concepts refer to things we have experienced in the real world.

Those 'experiences' had/have emotions and feelings attached to them, different for each of us but all eventually arrived at by the thought that started it all.

You may have a favorite musician. One I am unfamiliar with. YOU hear that person's name, and the thought of them occurs in your mind. That thought reminds you of a pleasant experience and emotion you had and felt when listening to their music, or attending their concert. Makes you immediately 'feel' good. Puts you in a good mood. Thought. Then feeling. Then mood. That's the order of things. Would have done nothing for me though. I don't know the musician. The 'thought', upon hearing the name, goes nowhere with me.

But that illustrates the process, which can go somewhere or nowhere.

But lets say you and I hear a word we both know, and see where it might lead. 'Cotton'. We both could hear the word and end up with the same feelings and in the same mood. For example, if we both love cotton shirts, hearing the word may give us both the thought of a sale at Wal-Mart we know is going on in men's cotton shirts. We like new clothes, so we both resolve to head out to Wal-Mart and make an addition to our wardrobe. Thought. Feeling. Emotion. And in this case, also action.

But of course, a different thing may have happened to you when you heard the word 'cotton'. In rapid succession, you may of thought of both cotton the fabric, and cotton the crop. You then had the CHOICE of following one of the two lines of thought.

The one that leads to Wal-Mart and happiness, or a different one that, say, goes 'cotton', 'crop', 'needs picking', 'slavery','back breaking work' 'my aggrieved ancestors', 'they would make me do it today if they could get away with it', 'mother-fuckers', 'I hate Whitey', 'fuck this country'.

And if you chose that path. If you let your mind travel those concepts, what would you be feeling now? What mood now?

A thought and then a choice leads to both paths. YOU can choose the path you go down. You can suppress the first follow-up thought that leads to slavery, and go back to fabrics.

You can. You really can.

Go to Wal-Mart an get a shirt on sale in this wonderful country.

Choose to be happy.

Or not. But don't fool yourself into thinking you have no choice. You do. It's on you.

Take command of your thoughts.

Hagar said...

I think the Obama White House created the present border crisis with the children from Meso-America, perhaps inadvertently by careless speech writing, but now that it is here, they are deliberately aggravating it and exploiting it for their political purposes, never mind how much damage they do the kids and their families.

Wilbur said...

Just for the sake of accuracy, Dillinger didn't say it. Willie Sutton did.