Covid-19 Means Good Times for the Pentagon

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In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, Washington has initiated its largest spending binge in history. In the process, you might assume that the unparalleled spread of the disease would have led to a little rethinking when it came to all the trillions of dollars Congress has given the Pentagon in these years that have in no way made us safer from, or prepared us better to respond to, this predictable threat to American national security. As it happens, though, even if the rest of us remain in danger from the coronavirus, Congress has done a remarkably good job of vaccinating the Department of Defense and the weapons makers that rely on it financially.

There is, of course, a striking history here. Washington’s reflexive prioritizing of the interests of defense contractors has meant paying remarkably little attention to, and significant underfunding, public health. Now, Americans are paying the price. With these health and economic crises playing out before our eyes and the government’s response to it so visibly incompetent and inadequate you would expect Congress to begin reconsidering its strategic approach to making Americans safer. But it cannot agree a badly needed stimulus package at the moment.

So Washington continues to operate just as it always has, filling the coffers of the Pentagon as though “national security” were nothing but a matter of war and more war.(Mandy Smithberger, Tom Dispatch, slightly edited, June 28 2020).

Comment:  There have been persistent rumors that the President is set upon a war, possibly with Iran, starting before November. (Time is running out. Ed!) The point is that a war against the ayatollahs, were it to happen, is handled half as well as the the fight against Covid 19, then the likelihood of winning is slight, and the deaths are even more pointless than other half- baked wars in history. Hopefully, war now seems unlikely, but you never know.

My comment: Epicureans should advocate, not for war, but for rescuing the poor, the sick, the old  and the helpless, without jobs, income or adequate diets, from being the chief sufferers of an epidemic which, if there were a will, could be halted in its tracks in a handful of weeks. We should be ashamed.

Youth needs face time

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To The Times

As a young person who has the misfortune of entering the job market during this crisis, one of the things I’m looking at when applying for jobs is the companies’ attitudes toward home working – unusually, I am looking for companies that are encouraging employees to return to the office. From my perspective, there are many negatives to home working: it’s hard to establish yourself, and even more so to learn from your superiors. It’s difficult to develop relationships and contacts, and as a result it’s hard to imagine a situation in which those working from home would not suffer from lower prospects of advancement. I fear that this move to home working may only serve to entrench the already distinct generational divide. (The Times, 9 Sept 2020)

My take: I think this is a very mature and sensible letter. He is absolutely right. Working from home is like driving a circuitous route through country lanes – you are missing the main traffic on the highway, which arrives at its destination before you. I feel deeply about the young people starting out today. They have less job security and lousy pensions. A very bright and thoughtful young man we know, since leaving university, has had a horrible time getting a job. The competition is fierce and he is pipped at the post by others with “more experience” all the time. The jobs are not there. I fear we are creating a new class of deeply alienated people.

Critical thinking

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“Falsum etiam est verum quod constituit superior”.

False becomes true when the boss decides it is. (Syrus, Maxims).

My comment: One of the most important gifts a good education gives you is critical thinking. (When did you last hear tell about this concept?). To be able to read a newspaper article by a writer you otherwise respect and to spot errors of fact or interpretation is (or should be) part of the mental equipment of a good citizen.

I was speaking the other day to an acquaintance of mine, who told me that voting by mail was riddled with corruption and falsification. Say something often enough on TV and people start to believe it. The current fuss about postal voting has never been a huge issue before. Why? Because the number of proven cases of problems have been infinitesimal. We all know why this is suddenly a huge “problem”, and I don’t want to get into party politics. But since it has been researched to death, and I believe the academics and scientists, I intend to vote confidently by mail. The ballots look incredibly difficult to tamper with – you can see clearly if anyone has altered a ballot. It doesn’t take a bloodhound!

Leftovers of slavery

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Britain is “descending into a cultural war zone”, said Leo McKinstry in the Daily Express. “Bombarded with continual accusations of bigotry and bias”, our institutions are “surrendering to the woke fanatics”. The BBC decreed that “Rule, Britannia!” and “Land of Hope and Glory”would be played, but not sung at the Last Night of the Proms, reportedly as a sop to Black Lives Matter – until it abruptly U-turned this week (while reiterating its insistence that the original decision had been an “artistic” one).

At the British Library, staff have declared a racial “state of emergency”; its “Decolonising Working Group” rails against “Eurocentric maps” and relics of “colonial violence”.

The British Museum, meanwhile, has knocked its founding benefactor, Sir Hans Sloane, off his pedestal, because of Sloane’s links to the sugar trade. A bust of the 18th century physician will now feature alongside signage explaining his work in the “exploitative context of the British Empire”, and will be locked in a cabinet.

One question that is seldom asked is what Britain’s ethnic minority people actually think about these culture wars, said Sunder Katwala on Politics.co.uk. The answer is: “not much”. Polls show around two-thirds of non-white Britons support removing statues of slavers; but a clear majority also feel that this is a distraction from the real issues of race equality. On the Proms anthems, an informal poll of ethnic minority opinion on Twitter “resulted in a broad landslide for indifference”. Overwhelmingly, people think it’s a trivial and divisive argument. “In other words: have your silly season media culture war over the Proms, if you must. But not in our name, thank you very much.”
(The Spectator, Daily Express, Politics.com, and The Week, 5 September 2020)

My comment: I agree with the sentiments in the last paragraph. History is history, often cruel and messy. Put images of these historical figures in museums and let the public draw moral lessons from what they learn, without preaching and finger-pointing.

Read Epicurus , a poem

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Theypeddle fear here;
They peddle fear of terrorists and sudden death;
They peddle fear of rapists and angry drivers;
They peddle fear of government and paying tax;
Of deer ticks, butter, sugar, fat, untested drugs;
Of unknown visitors and dark-skinned men;
Of invasion, war and sudden death;
Of gunmen holding up cashiers;
Of bombs in culverts, school kids murdered with guns;
They peddle inquietude, nervousness, distrust,
And to the terrified, apprehensive, cowed,
They preach damnation, hellfire in the afterlife.
The more they frighten us the more it gains the vote,
And the opinion-makers drivel on in biased turpitude,
Yapping in support of party, church and power.
Command, empire, sway, rule, dominion, supremacy
All depend on mongering fear and bald mendacity.

But then there is Epicurus,
His character assassinated by the church,
Maligned, misrepresented, damned by rote.
He only sought a tranquil mind, a life of peace,
Fearing nothing. For fear, he said, brings pain.
And politics? Striving, ambition, restlessness.
There are no active gods said he, no afterlife,
No spirit out there, evil or benign,
Rewarding, punishing, damning you to hell,
No trumpets, choirs, or seats of the almighty.
Just atoms, molecules, and,in them, everlasting life.
No devils, angels, harps, or golden cities;
No god resembling, oh!, coincidence! a man!
No omniscient god who reads your thoughts,
Or manages the minutiae of your life.
Your life, indeed! Your life it is, subject to fortune,
Tribulations, ups and downs, but in the end just yours.

Try not to chafe and fret, but seek a mental peace.
Pursue the arts, activities you love.
Don’t worry over things you can’t affect.
Seek simple pleasures, food and friends.
Forsake consumerism, shops and malls,
Buying only what you really need.
Do no harm. Mend fences where required.
Cultivate your garden and your peace,
Or get a dog.
All to be done in moderation and with joie de vivre,
For simple pleasures trump all wild excess.

Be fun, be smiling, for life is to be lived – –
What follows lasts a long, long time,
Should some abuse you as an atheist.
Remember! it is a propaganda word, and just a word,
Spoken by people with their own agenda
Read Epicurus! Till your garden, walk your dog,
Enjoy Nature while we have it still.
Reject all superstition, think for yourself
Believe not the religious memes of modern life.
Be gentle, thoughtful and and ask yourself…
Why do they peddle fear here?

Robert Hanrott, January 2006

The Supreme Court nominee

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Here is a problem no one has thought about (you read it first on Epicurus Today):

We will soon see Amy Coney Barratt on the Supreme Court. Ms. Barrett is a member of extreme and exotic christian group who “speak in tongues”.

In the last 80 years I have failed to discover in which “tongues” these people actually speak: Babylonian? Assyrian? This puzzlement must be true of most Americans. Thus, when she pontificates upon some issue or other, who, aside from her fellow charismatics, will understand a word she says. She will certainly need an interpreter – but from where?

As it happens, in a former life i was High Priest in a Temple dedicated to the God, Sham. Our tongue was Ancient Babylonian. Although my Babylonian is now a bit rusty, I may be the only person able to translate it with ease. For instance, Ms.Barratt, interpreted by me, will advocate for women’s rights, birth control, a woman’s right to choose, separation of church and state, abolition of church schools, fair elections, higher taxes for the super-rich and counting all mail-in ballots.

Problem: keeping her in a trance.

Does this feel familiar?

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Drumbeats of Doom

France has a new political buzzword: “ensauvagement”, meaning “descent into savagery”. Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Rally party, has long used it to depict a country she claims is under siege by criminal violence she blames on immigration.

And, after a spate of violent incidents this summer, the term is gaining traction. In July, a bus driver was beaten to death in Bayonne after telling a group of young men to wear face masks. Then, a young woman died in Lyon after being dragged along the road by a car taking part in an illegal race. Last month, fans of the Paris Saint-Germain football club rioted when their team lost the Champions League final. Such incidents have attracted “wall-to-wall coverage” on right-wing websites and social media. And they seem to be driving a change in attitudes: some 60% of French people now think violence is on the rise, and Le Pen’s inflammatory rhetoric is being echoed by politicians from President Macron’s government. But the idea that France is descending into “some apocalyptic twilight world of migrant-driven violence” is a lie aimed at stirring up racial hatred: violent crime has actually fallen steadily since the 1990s. Alas, “facts or no facts, the drumbeat continues”. (Político (Brussels) and The Week, 19 September 2020)

My comment: The United States is not the only country where lies and disinformation abound. I blame social media. The sort of people who seek to undermine sane government and tranquil life were always around. They are nutters – people who think, for instance, that Hitler never died, but is still around (now aged about 140!). But now they have limitless outlets for hate and discontent, used by ruthless politicians and born trouble- makers, picking on immigrants, black people etc, fixing Courts and elections, everything that benefits them, not society at large.

Epicurus was unusual in that he welcomed slaves, women (unusual then), people of a variety of races, backgrounds and origins to his garden. We, too, should champion humanity – decent, law-abiding people, preferably with senses of humor!

Learning from experience

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“Dives sum, si non redo eis quibus debeo” (Plautus, Curculio, 377)

Translation:
“I am a rich man as long as I don’t pay my creditors”.

Comment: Who do we know who fits this bill? No prizes for guessing!

Meanwhile, once upon a time I ran a company in London. There were three large and prominent potential customers in Wales. A friendly competitor told me to avoid them – they didn’t pay their bills. Naturally, I was a bit cavalier about this advice, nice guy though he was. I duly got the business and, guess what? None of the said companies ever paid us. Stupid of me? Yes? I believed the customers more than the competitor. I hope the creditors had super tropical holidays at my expense. Somebody had to benefit from my stupidity.

Relevance to Epicureanism? Peace of mind; being satisfied with what you have; be careful about ambition; trust those you know and be careful of those with “reputations”.

People who keep seeing the same doctor have lower death rates

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Seeing the same doctor doesn’t just give the comfort of a familiar face – it might save your life.

An analysis reveals that 18 of 22 studies from nine nations with varying health systems found that people who saw the same doctor over time had lower death rates (BMJ Open, doi.org/crmj). The studies used different methods to measure continuity, so it wasn’t possible to get an overall estimate for how big the fall in mortality is. However, one recent study of people with diabetes found that those with a high level of continuity had a death rate half the size of those with low continuity.

The link could be down to people with poor health needing to see different doctors, but the studies tried to account for this. Earlier research showed that people who see the same doctor consistently take up preventative care such as immunisations more often, are more likely to follow medical advice and have fewer unnecessary hospital admissions.

Familiarity may also improve patient-doctor communication.

(The above appeared in print under the headline “Having one doctor is better than many” in the New Scientist. 7 July 2018).

My comment: The current news is that GPs in small practices are finding hard to stay in business. Fewer people are attending surgeries, and reimbursement from insurance companies does not cover expenses. This is a threat to all of us, especially the elderly, who rely on doctors to keep them fit. This is just one aspect of the dysfunctional US health service, which seems to concentrate on profit first and health of the sick second, if that.

Light relief

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Two 80 year old men, Mike and Joe, have been friends all of their lives.

Joe was dying and Mike visited him every day.

One day Mike says ” Joe, we both loved our rugby all our lives, and we

played together on saturdays for many years. Please do me favour, when

you get to heaven, somehow you must let me know if there is rugby up

there”. Joe looks up at Mike and says ” Mike you have been my best

friend for many years. If its at all possible I`ll do this favour for you”.

Shortly after that Joe snuffs it.

At midnight a couple of nights later, Mike is awakend from a sound sleep

by a blinding flash of white light and a voice calling out to him “Mike—

Mike wake up its me Joe” You’re not Joe he just died a few days ago”.

“I`m telling you its me, Joe” insists the voice.

“Joe where are you?”
p
” I`m in heaven”, replies Joe, “I’ve got some really good news and a little

bad news for you”.

“Tell me the good news first” says Mike.

” The good news is there is rugby played in heaven, and, better yet, all our

old friends who died before us are here too. Better yet, we`re all young

again. Better still, its always spring time and it never rains or snows. And

better yet, we can play rugby all we want and never get tired or injured”.

“That`s fantastic” says Mike. ” Its beyond my wildest dreams, so what`s

the bad news?”

” You’re in the team for Saturday”.

The Basics of Epicureanism

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From time to time I post information on Epicureanism and what it stands for:

Epicureanism is a system of philosophy based on the teachings of Epicurus, founded around 307 B.C. It teaches that the greatest good is to seek modest pleasures in order to attain a state of tranquillity, freedom from fear (“ataraxia”) and absence from bodily pain (“aponia”). This combination of states is held to constitute happiness in its highest form, and so Epicureanism can be considered a form of Hedonism, although it differs in its conception of happiness as the absence of pain, and in its advocacy of a simple life.

Epicurus said that this state of tranquillity could be obtained through knowledge of the workings of the world and the limiting of desires. Thus, pleasure was to be obtained by knowledge, friendship and living a virtuous and temperate life. He lauded the enjoyment of “simple pleasures”, by which he meant abstaining from bodily desires, such as sex and appetites, verging on Asceticism. He counselled that “a cheerful poverty is an honourable state”.

He argued for moderation in all things, so that when eating, for example, one should not eat too richly, for it could lead to dissatisfaction later, such as indigestion or the grim realization that one could not afford such delicacies in the future. Likewise, sex could lead to increased lust and dissatisfaction with the sexual partner, and Epicurus himself remained celibate. Even learning, culture and civilization were discouraged, as they could result in disturbing one’s peace of mind, except insofar as knowledge could help rid oneself of religious fears and superstitions, such as the fear of the gods and of death.

Generally speaking, Epicureans shunned politics as having no part in the quest for ataraxia and aponia, and likewise a potential source of unsatisfiable desires and frustration, which was to be avoided.

Like Democritus and Leucippus before him, Epicurus was an Atomist, believing that all matter, souls and gods are all comprised of atoms, and even thoughts are merely atoms swerving randomly.

Epicurus was one of the first to develop a notion of justice as a kind of social contract, an agreement “neither to harm nor be harmed”. He argued that laws and punishments in society are important so that individuals can be free to pursue happiness, and a just law is one that contributes to promoting human happiness. In some respects, this was an early contribution to the much later development of Liberalism and of Utilitarianism.

Forced labour

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Ürümqi, China

The World Uyghur Congress, a group of exiles monitoring the plight of the Muslim minority group in China’s Xinjiang province, has pointed to evidence that Uighur forced labour was used to keep Chinese factory production running at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic earlier this year.

Uighurs were packed into blacked-out trains and charter flights, and transferred to key technology and textile factories. The scale of the forced migration from the closed “prison province” has been uncovered via videos posted to the Chinese social media site Douyin, and retrieved by exiles. The findings echo those of foreign academics, who have documented the use of Uighur forced labour. More than a million people have been interned in “re-education” camps in Xinjiang in recent years.

My comment: It’s not just the Uighurs. We now discover that the Chinese are already using computerized face recognition (challenging while face masks are being worn!) and listening devices that can track every citizen, monitor their conversations, record where they have been, who they have been with, and what their political opinions are.  This Orwellian, “1984” effort is a dire threat to the Western way of life, infuriating as it is already under the influence of social media.  The latter spy on us, but not yet (comprehensively), as they do in China.  Apparently the Serbian government is now buying and installing this capability.  Maybe other governments are doing so, or will certainly do so.  This is the antithesis of Epicureanism and is truly scary.

If you are not concerned about vigilantes you should be

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Arson,looting and street protests are a volatile enough combination in themselves. But what made the runrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and other US cities even more incendiary is the growing presence of armed vigilantes.

These self-styled militia, or “civilian patrols”, claim to be helping keep the peace, yet their arrival simply makes violence more likely. Witness the killing of two men in Kenosha, allegedly by a 17-year-old vigilante. That Kyle Rittenhouse was able to walk down the street with a semi-automatic rifle on his shoulder was bad enough. But according to news reports, the police didn’t even stop him when protesters shouted that he’d shot someone. Video footage from before the shooting shows an officer tossing water bottles to Rittenhouse and other armed men. “We appreciate you guys,” says the cop. “We really do.”

It always spells trouble when people start taking the law into their own hands. But this is what happens when elected leaders turn a blind eye to lawlessness. Officials have allowed a form of mob rule to take root over the summer in several cities. In the case of Seattle, they allowed rioters to claim control over part of the city for nearly an entire month. The city’s Democratic mayor dismissed it as a “block party”. When leaders fail to keep people safe and prevent property damage, vigilantism is the inevitable result.

The militia-style groups – some of whom are affiliated with the “boogaloo” movement, which wants to foment a civil war – are not out to protect; they’re out to intimidate. Increasingly they’re making their presence felt at events unlinked to any pretence of restoring order. They’ve demonstrated against the removal of Confederate statues; in May, they sought to enter the legislative chamber in Michigan’s state capitol to protest against lockdown measures. This isn’t like the vigilantism America saw during the LA riots of 1992, when some shop owners brandished pistols to protect their businesses. These are partisan groups armed with military-grade weapons, looking for trouble. If President Trump and his allies “don’t turn the temperature down” by regulating their rhetoric, the violence could get a whole lot worse.
(Chicago Sun-Times, National Review, Los Angeles Times and The Week).

My comment: Fascist groups and so-called “strong men” have reappeared. My father and two uncles spent 6 years of their lives putting vicious fascist thugs back in their boxes (also known as coffins). Had governments had the conviction and courage they would never have had to risk their lives. I fear this type of politics,lying and violence, has returned. Young people, read your history! This is not a B movie. Epicurus sought peace of mind and a pleasant, rewarding life – and so should we.

Church bailouts during a pandemic

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The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (Cares) Act, the 2 trillion dollar bill passed last March, granted forgivable loans to “qualifying businesses and non- profits”. The Small Business Administration, which administered part of the Act, declared (but tried to keep it secret) that houses of worship and religious private schools qualified under the Act, and handed out $ 7.3 billion in taxpayer money to over 88,000 religious organizations. In late July banks started forgiving these “loans”, thus making them grants that don’t have to be repaid. Five hundred church representatives were involved in negotiations over this give-away, along with the White House Faith and Opportunities Initiative team, the surgeon General (for some weird reason), and the Deputy assistant to the President, Jenny Lichner.

Churches and other religious organizations are tax-exempt charities that do not have to disclose their income to the IRS. Not only that, but this whole thing is blatantly unconstitutional (separation of church and state). Church leaders were assured that no strings were attached and that they were still free to discriminate on the basis of race, gender or sexual orientation!

But maybe the most obnoxious aspect of this story is that the Catholic church, with 17,000 parishes, got $1.4 billion in taxpayer-backed coronavirus aid, with millions going to dioceses that had to pay huge settlements (or sought bankruptcy protection) owing to clergy sexual abuse cover-ups. The Catholic church has, in short, received approval for an estimated 3,500 forgivable loans, while holding property which, in 1918 was valued at half a billion dollars ( yes a hundred years ago!).

We, dear reader, are paying to restore the finances of a church that has been abusing choirboys and others, and was caught doing so.

I don’t think the word “corruption” quite captures what we are seeing, do you?

A Poem about a Tree, now destroyed by a hurricane

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The Strangler Fig tree. at The Moorings, Islamorada:

Were you a harmless, nameless tree, just standing there

Motionless and proud, your boughs spread wide,

The product of a hundred fruitful summers,

Surviving the convulsions of Caribbean hurricanes,

Cold fronts and brisk north winds,

You might neither notice nor much care about

The arrival, perching quietly, of yet another bird.

Thousands stop from year to year,

Resting on their pilgrimage

To Antigua or St. Kitts and back.

You welcome them. They chatter. It passes time.

But be alert! One single bird could be your nemesis,

Sitting, resting, eating lunch – –

A juicy fig from some distantly related tree.

The bird pecks. It flies. You give it no more thought.

But resting in a crevice between your trunk and bough

It might have left behind a single seed,

Worried fiercely from the dark, ripe fig,

Falling ignored and overlooked.

Beware! This solitary seed in good conditions sprouts

And little tendrils grow, vertical and true,

Descend beside your trunk and seek the soil below.

Well, no problem. All are welcome here.

These are the tropics, just hang out, relaxed.

Trees have a long perspective and are cool.

This is not the first parasite you’ve met – –

Vegetable, animal, lichen, fungus.

All in all they bring some mutual benefits

In the relentless struggle for survival.

Lulled into a sense of false security,

You’re pre-occupied with problems common to your kin – –

Nutrients, moisture, humidity, all aspects of dendrology,

Not to mention the weather and condition of your bark.

You fail to see the lurking danger till it’s right upon you.

Suddenly you do become aware!

The roots of your tenant tree have dropped and rooted in the soil,

Thickened and become a tough and healthy wood,

Like pinions or cross-braces screwed into the earth.

Where the aerial roots cross, they fuse and merge,

Creating a hard, thick lattice of stout roots.

It cribs, confines you like a prison.

On windy days you barely move or sway.

You struggle like a ship against a hawser,

Trying to break the bonds that hold you from the sky.

Yes, this crafty Strangler Fig is now in competition

For the nutrients, light, and water you have taken for granted.

You panic, struggle, but to no effect.

You stand there, bound, a prisoner in chains,

Making small, if any gains.

Your visitor’s no vampire, sucking at your blood,

But battens on you, using up your vigor and your strength,

In fruitless struggle, using little effort of its own.

You cease protesting, give in, weaken, rot away.

Where once you stood, a proud and flourishing tree,

There is in time a poor and rotting hulk,

Gently decaying in the Florida half-light,

Attracting the attention of beetles, grubs and other mites,

The vultures and hyenas of the vegetable world.

In your place, your very own spot,

Now stands a sinister, shapeless mass of crisscross roots,

Huge and spreading, center-less, without a form,

Impenetrable, jungle-like and dense.

The irony is that this triumphant Strangler Fig,

By its very nature a thousand rather shallow roots,

Is itself vulnerable, in dire and imminent danger.

Whereas you, its host, withstood the weather for a century,

A serious hurricane might well uproot it, blow it down.

Its roots are insubstantial faced with wind and rain;

They loosen in the meager soil, become unstable and give way.

Thus all will be to no avail; the Strangler strangled where it lies,

Bloated and overgrown, a victim of its own success.

Would it had stayed modest, or remained that single seed,

Worried fiercely from a dark, ripe fig,

Falling ignored and overlooked, not so reckless and ambitious.

Too late! It cannot be revived or disentangled now.

Maybe there is some crude justice in the natural world.

Robert Hanrott, March 2007

(The Strangler Fig is also called the Banyan tree. In India it is also
called the kalpavriksha, or the wish-fulfilling tree, representing eternal
life, because of its host of ever-expanding branches).